Gopher softball 2023

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Optimistic. DenHartong will be back with some freshman on campus that I have confidence will contribute; especially Oakland, Schwartz, and Leaschber.

Most importantly for us, Northwestern and Michigan should both be a touch weaker next year. I think, as it stands today, we may be odds on favorite for the Big Ten championship.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Optimistic. DenHartong will be back with some freshman on campus that I have confidence will contribute; especially Oakland, Schwartz, and Leaschber.

Most importantly for us, Northwestern and Michigan should both be a touch weaker next year. I think, as it stands today, we may be odds on favorite for the Big Ten championship.
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I like your optimism. I am hoping that the pitching staff sorts itself out.
 

Imagine where we'd be right now if Allister doesn't go to Stanford and Lindaman doesn't transfer out.
 




We wouldn’t have had Hope Brandner, who turned out to be almost as good statistically, and much more clutch than Lindaman, and we likely wouldn’t have been awarded the #7 seed in 2019, either, because Allister didn’t believe in scheduling to appease the selection committee and enhance her team’s RPI. Trachsel did many things wrong taking over for such a well-liked coach as Allister, but scheduling proficiency wasn’t one of them.

Piper coached under both, and this year clearly indicates which scheduling philosophy she prefers moving forward. The tough non-conference games help attract better players, and if we have the right players on the roster in a given year, help us get post-season home games. The players we recruit often are overlooked by the big guns, but they want to match up against the talent those teams have in venues they’ve seen on TV again and again.
 
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rugger14 said:
Ugh. Hopefully some incoming portal players can make a difference.
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I will admit that I am not a big fan of building a team on transfers. I much prefer trusting what we have as a team. Autumn Pease and Sydney Smith And Alli Arneson are/were exceptions; but in general I am not enthused for bringing in a bunch of transfers where we only get a year or two out of them.
 
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But a transfer pitcher for next year is just simply necessary. I would try for Tory Kniesche.

And Hollifield should be working on her location for the next 8 months straight to make herself much more usable. If there is ever a moment for her to make a semi-regular spot for herself on a top 50 NCAA team, it is this one.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I will admit that I am not a big fan of building a team on transfers. I much prefer trusting what we have as a team. Autumn Pease and Sydney Smith And Alli Arneson are/were exceptions; but in general I am not enthused for bringing in a bunch of transfers where we only get a year or two out of them.
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It works though where the top programs are bringing in multiple impact players. Elish, Sides, Trautwein all made big differences to reach supers and fit in their teams as 1 year transfers
 



Storako has 1 year left if she transfers instead of moves on, makes conference easier

 

I’m a very long time reader but first time poster. I just wanted to point out after looking at our roster the last couple years that we have lost 9 girls over the last 2 seasons. That means that about 30% of the girls that have been on the team under these new coaches have left. Not only that, but of those 9, 3 of them have quit softball all together. Even stranger, the girls who have left are all types of players (starters or non starters, upperclassmen or lower, hometown and far away recruits). The only exception to this is that all the pitchers, but pease and Hollifield miraculously, have left. Given all of this, it really makes me wonder if there’s something else going on. It is rare that you see such widespread transfers from 1 team with only playing time or a bad record as the reason. I’m not saying that the coaches are to blame since I’ve been a ritter fan for some time and admittedly haven’t played or coached D1 softball myself, but it is very curious to me especially after seeing Beckstrom’s, Costa’s, and Pease’s posts online about mental health issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if more girls leave based off of what I have learned from just simply digging around. Is anyone else noticing this?
 
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Gopheralum02 said:
Is anyone else noticing this?
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Yes. There's widespread issues with NCAA that will have to get addressed that some of the recent deaths like at JMU and Wisconsin have brought up, but I think there's also very significant lacking with the Gophers staff/leadership over past 5 or so years in that area.

It's also one of the downsides of carrying such a large roster that there are players barely treated as part of the team.
 

Gopheralum02 said:
I’m a very long time reader but first time poster. I just wanted to point out after looking at our roster the last couple years that we have lost 9 girls over the last 2 seasons. That means that about 30% of the girls that have been on the team under these new coaches have left. Not only that, but of those 9, 3 of them have quit softball all together. Even stranger, the girls who have left are all types of players (starters or non starters, upperclassmen or lower, hometown and far away recruits). The only exception to this is that all the pitchers, but pease and Hollifield miraculously, have left. Given all of this, it really makes me wonder if there’s something else going on. It is rare that you see such widespread transfers from 1 team with only playing time or a bad record as the reason. I’m not saying that the coaches are to blame since I’ve been a ritter fan for some time and admittedly haven’t played or coached D1 softball myself, but it is very curious to me especially after seeing Beckstrom’s, Costa’s, and Pease’s posts online about mental health issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if more girls leave based off of what I have learned from just simply digging around. Is anyone else noticing this?
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My guess would be if you look around, that percentage is similar at other schools as well. This transfer portal has really made a mess of things. Super tough to be a coach/recruit at this level when every year is like going into a new period of free agency.
 


With portal so crowded could be a lot of players lost in shuffle. Predicting Leavitt and Costa to San Diego St or Fresno St, Evans to Wisconsin, Denson to a Texas state school like UTSA
 

I agree except I think Leavitt will go to a larger school than SDSU or Fresno. She has lots of potential but was thrown into the fire this season basically being the ace while Pease battled her injury.
 

smcouvillion said:
I agree except I think Leavitt will go to a larger school than SDSU or Fresno. She has lots of potential but was thrown into the fire this season basically being the ace while Pease battled her injury.
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This is emphatically true. Leavitt will wind up at a top 20 softball school. I know people here were frustrated by her ERA against very hard competition… but they are wrong.

She was the day one starter for Minnesota as a Freshman against Georgia. She was the starter against Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament.

She will will be a very good get for some high quality team. Posters who disagree with that Leavitt assessment… well they are wrong.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
This is emphatically true. Leavitt will wind up at a top 20 softball school. I know people here were frustrated by her ERA against very hard competition… but they are wrong.

She was the day one starter for Minnesota as a Freshman against Georgia. She was the starter against Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament.

She will will be a very good get for some high quality team. Posters who disagree with that Leavitt assessment… well they are wrong.
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While the talent is there, let's not forget why she is probably leaving. There were issues on this team chemistry-wise, buying into "team". Most issues this season stemmed from two players, of which are now leaving. Addition by subtraction. While talent-wise Leavitt should land somewhere, I'm not sure what the market is for an outfielder or kids that didn't get time. The grass isn't always greener, but when you can get rid of your own weeds....the grass sure looks better.
 

All I can say is: Delanie Cox to right field. Coach Ritter and staff, get her ready for that position. She can replace Evans’ power.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
All I can say is: Delanie Cox to right field. Coach Ritter and staff, get her ready for that position. She can replace Evans’ power.
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I'm not sure where you are seeing the optimism. I hope so, but expecting that from someone that has 10 strikeouts in 20 career at bats might be wishful thinking.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I'm not sure where you are seeing the optimism. I hope so, but expecting that from someone that has 10 strikeouts in 20 career at bats might be wishful thinking.
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Maybe right… but by all appearances she has a positive demeanor and looks like a real team player. Other commenters seem to really care for “team chemistry”. I think a lot of teammates would agree that Cox has earned the promotion to the regular lineup.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Maybe right… but by all appearances she has a positive demeanor and looks like a real team player. Other commenters seem to really care for “team chemistry”. I think a lot of teammates would agree that Cox has earned the promotion to the regular lineup.
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On the flip side anyone that wasn't a regular starter I wouldn't be surprised to see transfer for more playing time given how sparingly any pinch hitting or lineup changes were made
 

The Gophers' focus needs to be on winning the BIG. To do that, they need very strong pitchers and more than one of them. If Pease comes back herself again in 2023, they need another starting pitcher just as good or even better than her, plus competent third and fourth pitchers to fill in. A tall order, but I don't see any other way to win the BIG. NW did it with only one ace in 2022 but I think that was with help from Nebr, who swept two from MI. Say what we want about the Gophers' team in the field in 2022, they would have won the BIG with their infield defense and a deep and strong pitching staff. Win the BIG, then worry about the NCAA......
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
All I can say is: Delanie Cox to right field. Coach Ritter and staff, get her ready for that position. She can replace Evans’ power.
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Where is the speed that you need in outfield? Just replacing a power bat will not fix the issues with being unbalanced. This team just lost it's speed and best base runner, you have to fill more void then power hitting. This team needs speed, to many missed opportunity's because we just can't unhook the wagon. Speed would have earned us a few more runs in those very tight games this year.
 

Hrothgar said:
The Gophers' focus needs to be on winning the BIG. To do that, they need very strong pitchers and more than one of them. If Pease comes back herself again in 2023, they need another starting pitcher just as good or even better than her, plus competent third and fourth pitchers to fill in. A tall order, but I don't see any other way to win the BIG. NW did it with only one ace in 2022 but I think that was with help from Nebr, who swept two from MI. Say what we want about the Gophers' team in the field in 2022, they would have won the BIG with their infield defense and a deep and strong pitching staff. Win the BIG, then worry about the NCAA......
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We loss 2-0 against Wisconsin in the tournament. Seems like pitching was alright.
 

Chase the Rise said:
While the talent is there, let's not forget why she is probably leaving. There were issues on this team chemistry-wise, buying into "team". Most issues this season stemmed from two players, of which are now leaving. Addition by subtraction. While talent-wise Leavitt should land somewhere, I'm not sure what the market is for an outfielder or kids that didn't get time. The grass isn't always greener, but when you can get rid of your own weeds....the grass sure looks better.
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