Gopher softball 2023

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I look for the pain and suffering of those that leave. ;)
 

mngolf said:
I look for the pain and suffering of those that leave. ;)
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I think she is good at teaching softball but she is not a good coach because she lacks much of what is necessary to be a good leader and build a program.
 

I think this is a big trip to East Lansing. If they can get their act together and limit mistakes I think they could get a road sweep and be in good shape coming back home. If they struggle I think the struggles will likely continue.
 

They pull Pease because we really don’t want her to play against any easy teams..just the toughest teams. Yet they dont change out any batters to give others a chance to play. So you send the message that if you’re doing your job this season we don’t care, but if you’re sucking ass you get even more play time. Seems like this would be the game to find some more jewels and develop some players from the bench. Really amazed that we don’t get to see anyone else bat or field. I guess we wait until we are forced by injury to give others playtime.
 

Okay so you pull your pitcher to protect her I can understand that…yet you don’t pull your catcher who has to be just as over worked. You don’t give anyone else a chance to play first base. You don’t let anybody else play outfield? You mean to tell me that the rest of the team is incapable of playing on the field.
 


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* note: I admit I have criticized player performances before, but not incessantly and by name. “

Sorry folks I guess wanting to see some new players out on the field was viewed as negative from some one…I just would love to see some girls get a chance to show us what they could do if they got a chance. When you get ahead and it is clear you have the game in control I just think you have the opportunity to see what they can do in a game. Sorry to the one that felt I was negative.
 


1 - DenHartog had one of her better hitting games, if not her best.
2 - In all fairness to our bats, we were making very good contact with the ball. However, Michigan State outfielders were catching some of them at the fence or running some of them down.
3 - After that ump review, you still could not see that Enter hit the second batter. On the plus side, I think that review gave her time to clear her head and settle in.
4 - Yes very positive we won 13-1 on the road with Enter pitching for the most part.
5 - We left a dozen or so batters stranded on the bases so it would have been nice to see us keeping the pressure on and ending it sooner than we did. Like I said in #2 our opponents' defense had something to do with that.

Here's hoping we keep up the wins the rest of the weekend.
 




It’s always a little difficult to know how to respond to posters who call for more playing time for players who mostly ride the pine. Are these impartial assessments, friends of said bench players, former bench players with an axe to grind? We just don’t know, so I usually refrain from responding to said posts.

What I will say is that I disagree about the game being in-hand. If so, why didn’t the mercy rule apply in this game? Ahead 13-0 in the 3rd inning is in-hand. Big Ten opponents, playing at home, no matter how feeble they may appear at a point in time, are still dangerous. With a 4-5 conference record, I see no margin for error here. You think the coaches take heat for not playing Connell, Ceynowa, and Werner more (everybody else who is healthy either hit or played in the field), wait until we blow a 7-run lead to a conference cellar dweller and lose.

For those who want to see everyone play, I encourage them to come out to the fall games. The competition isn’t the greatest, but you really get a feel for where various players are in their development (especially those younger players who haven’t seen much playing time this spring) and which different positions players can play effectively (or not, sometimes).

I shouldn’t have to remind anyone of this, but the coaches see these players every single day. There are no undiscovered gems on this roster at this point in the season. Each player’s strengths and weaknesses are well-known to the coaches.
 
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is Hambrick injured or just not being utilized lately?

Another great left field running catch for Michigan State top of 4th.
 

Second game top of 1st- some pretty pathetic coaching with bases loaded and getting caught in TWO rundowns. If not coaching, I don't know what the runners were doing or thinking. That was bad.
 

4EverAGopher said:
Second game top of 1st- some pretty pathetic coaching with bases loaded and getting caught in TWO rundowns. If not coaching, I don't know what the runners were doing or thinking. That was bad.
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Strongly agree. That was absolutely horrible. Don't believe it was coaching in that situation but rather that the players weren't thinking at all.
 



That bases loaded sequence was hard to watch. WTF are you guys doing? At least one run, but nope a strikeout and then GIDP. Why do I keep coming back, hoping things will change? An excellent first game, and now struggling in the last two.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
That bases loaded sequence was hard to watch. WTF are you guys doing? At least one run, but nope a strikeout and then GIDP. Why do I keep coming back, hoping things will change? An excellent first game, and now struggling in the last two.
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Happens on all levels of baseball and softball as to the 6th inning situation. Yes, it was very unfortunate. Game not over, who knows when though due to the rain delay.
 

#2Gopher said:
Happens on all levels of baseball and softball as to the 6th inning situation. Yes, it was very unfortunate. Game not over, who knows when though due to the rain delay.
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Hey guess what, Strelow can't handle a ground ball and they lose. Losing to the worst team in the B1G, a Minnesota specialty.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I mean… come on!

Gophers softball got a conference win on the road 13-1. Can’t the coaches catch a break from the criticism if only for today
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#2Gopher said:
Strongly agree. That was absolutely horrible. Don't believe it was coaching in that situation but rather that the players weren't thinking at all.
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I would think that by the time these players reach this level they should already know how to handle that run down. If they don’t, it should have been uncovered in fall ball and gone over in practice. It is really hard to tell which is the issue, but as one fan on gopher hole stated earlier, ”the coaches see these players every single day ,Each player’s strengths and weaknesses are well-known to the coaches” they should know what the player is capable of doing. Its been clear multiple times in that situation we tend to have a player that kind of anchored themselves to base and wait way to long to react.
 


#2Gopher said:
Strongly agree. That was absolutely horrible. Don't believe it was coaching in that situation but rather that the players weren't thinking at all.
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That was the first of the three situations that led to them not getting the sweep this weekend. After the horrendous base running in the first came Chavez error in the third inning which allowed the 2 unearned runs. The third was the 6th inning bases loaded with no outs and failing to get a single run. I didn’t see Strelow error in the 7th but for me the game was lost in the 6th.
 


When this team is locked in, they are tough. The problem is, and has been all year, they seem to lose focus too often and this has led to some losses to teams they shouldn’t ever lose to. There’s no way to sugarcoat it — not sweeping the Spartans is a horrible outcome.

Maybe this will finally be the wake-up call that this team needs. The season is winding down, but there are plenty of opportunities for redemption ahead.

I figure this team’s current B1G record is two games beneath its capabilities. To catch up, they need to at least split with Wisconsin, sweep Iowa, and sweep one of Ohio State or Michigan while not dropping a series to anyone. That’s 9-2 the rest of the way (34-18 overall; 15-8 B1G). Barring a total collapse leading to a sub-.500 B1G record, this team is still well-positioned for another NCAA bid.

Getting to 15 B1G wins will not be easy given the inconsistency we’ve seen from this team but it’s well within the realm of possibility. This team needs to embrace that challenge and show the grit, determination, and focus it will take to accomplish it.
 
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Nipomo 56 said:
That was the first of the three situations that led to them not getting the sweep this weekend. After the horrendous base running in the first came Chavez error in the third inning which allowed the 2 unearned runs. The third was the 6th inning bases loaded with no outs and failing to get a single run. I didn’t see Strelow error in the 7th but for me the game was lost in the 6th.
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I agree with all of this especially the bold.
 

To illustrate just how difficult it is to lose to the Spartans, we failed to execute in all three of those situations and yet it still required a seeing-eye blooper to tie the game and put Michigan State in a position to win the game later on. We had plenty of at bats between the third and sixth innings to scratch across another run or two and provide ourselves a cushion heading into the seventh.

I understand the temptation to blame something or someone after a frustrating loss, but I’m not in favor of ever trying to pin full responsibility for a loss on one or two players. Sure, the Chavez and Strelow misplays played a part in the loss, but on the other hand, without their bats in that game we score zero runs. What does that say about the other hitters? Do they not bear any responsibility for the team’s failure to score more than two runs?
 

Hrothgar and I have had our disagreements over the past few years on how we have viewed the Gopher softball team’s capabilities. However, one way in which we do agree on is the importance of pitching in the sport of college softball.

This year it is so clear to me that if Pease is the starting/prominent pitcher in a Gopher game, we have a pretty good shot at winning. If Pease is resting, our chances of victory are not so good. That was true again this past weekend.

Looking backward in time, I think the same dynamic was largely true over the past few years with Groenewagen, Fiser and now with the 2022 and 2023 version of Pease. If our number 1 pitcher starts or throws a great majority of the innings, then the Gophers likely win the game. If the game is largely left to a pitcher who was not our number 1 pitcher, a loss was a likely outcome.
 
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ClassOf98Gopher said:
11 more regular season games to go; each one of them are now very important and I am sure our team knows that. They have to be at their best for this late season stretch.
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rwlarson said:
To illustrate just how difficult it is to lose to the Spartans, we failed to execute in all three of those situations and yet it still required a seeing-eye blooper to tie the game and put Michigan State in a position to win the game later on. We had plenty of at bats between the third and sixth innings to scratch across another run or two and provide ourselves a cushion heading into the seventh.

I understand the temptation to blame something or someone after a frustrating loss, but I’m not in favor of ever trying to pin full responsibility for a loss on one or two players. Sure, the Chavez and Strelow misplays played a part in the loss, but on the other hand, without their bats in that game we score zero runs. What does that say about the other hitters? Do they not bear any responsibility for the team’s failure to score more than two runs?
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I don’t blame any individual player for the loss as softball is a team sport. Sometimes a unfortunate play will allow the opponent the extra opportunities to get back into a game or win the game.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Hrothgar and I have had our disagreements over the past few years on how we have viewed the Gopher softball team’s capabilities. However, one way in which we do agree on is the importance of pitching in the sport of college softball.

This year it is so clear to me that if Pease is the starting/prominent pitcher in a Gopher game, we have a pretty good shot at winning. If Pease is resting, our chances of victory are not so good. That was true again this past weekend.

Looking backward in time, I think the same dynamic was largely true over the past few years with Groenewagen, Fiser and now with the 2022 and 2023 version of Pease.
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I agree on the importance of pitching...I think everyone would agree on that. Pease not pitching the last game was not the reason we lost. Errors, lack of hitting, bad baserunning...all of it contributed.

The Chavez error hurt, but the throw from right field that was no where near to home (which doesn't show up in a box score) allowed the second run to score.

The lack of effort on the first single in the 7th to Cox, doesn't show up in the box score.

The general lack of baserunning knowledge (outside of Strelow-its actually the one thing I think she does well)

There is so much this team doesn't do well, at some point it has to come back to the coaching. Yes, players play, but we do some really dumb stuff throughout games. Combine that with no running game, average hitting, and the stuff listed above....it's hard to think that this group will ever be in the top tier of the B10.

My opinions....and yes....I can be wrong.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Hrothgar and I have had our disagreements over the past few years on how we have viewed the Gopher softball team’s capabilities. However, one way in which we do agree on is the importance of pitching in the sport of college softball.

This year it is so clear to me that if Pease is the starting/prominent pitcher in a Gopher game, we have a pretty good shot at winning. If Pease is resting, our chances of victory are not so good. That was true again this past weekend.

Looking backward in time, I think the same dynamic was largely true over the past few years with Groenewagen, Fiser and now with the 2022 and 2023 version of Pease.
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Yes, we agree on the role of pitching. If we had 2 pitchers of Pease's caliber, the past weekend would've been a sweep of 3 straight shutouts. Given decent run support, Pease would be a 20-game winner now, and a second pitcher near her level a winner in the double digits. And, yes, similar situations have existed with the Gophers for the past 3-4 years, not enough pitching, not enough on-field drive. Never knowing who will show up to perform well on a given day.....Saturday's second game was the first Gophers game I've missed for a few years. Kinda glad I did, as I had bad vibes, knowing past results vs. other bottom feeders.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I agree on the importance of pitching...I think everyone would agree on that. Pease not pitching the last game was not the reason we lost. Errors, lack of hitting, bad baserunning...all of it contributed.

The Chavez error hurt, but the throw from right field that was no where near to home (which doesn't show up in a box score) allowed the second run to score.

The lack of effort on the first single in the 7th to Cox, doesn't show up in the box score.

The general lack of baserunning knowledge (outside of Strelow-its actually the one thing I think she does well)

There is so much this team doesn't do well, at some point it has to come back to the coaching. Yes, players play, but we do some really dumb stuff throughout games. Combine that with no running game, average hitting, and the stuff listed above....it's hard to think that this group will ever be in the top tier of the B10.

My opinions....and yes....I can be wrong.
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So many dumb plays, like trying to bunt the ball on the ground vs. rise balls or making the final out in an inning at 3rd base. A myriad of similar basics should be second nature to college-level players. The only thing I can blame it on is poor coaching or poor recruiting of players. Personally I feel the present coaching staff is virtually invisible. Whether a fan liked the 2 previous coaches or not, you at least knew they were there and on the front line. Players who made bonehead plays under them either didn't make them again or didn't play much after that.
 


Hrothgar said:
So many dumb plays, like trying to bunt the ball on the ground vs. rise balls or making the final out in an inning at 3rd base. A myriad of similar basics should be second nature to college-level players. The only thing I can blame it on is poor coaching or poor recruiting of players. Personally I feel the present coaching staff is virtually invisible. Whether a fan liked the 2 previous coaches or not, you at least knew they were there and on the front line. Players who made bonehead plays under them either didn't make them again or didn't play much after that.
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You don't stop do you?
 

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