Gopher softball 2023

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Piper hits the portal hard for an established ace, even if that pitcher only has one year of eligibility remaining. If Autumn is named B1G Pitcher of the Year, the evidence that Piper knows how to develop ace pitchers, which is already strong, becomes overwhelming.

That doesn’t mean we will actually land anyone. Every top program is shopping for the same transfer pitchers. Established D1 aces go to Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. We would probably be shopping along with the top teams in the SEC, PAC, and ACC for great mid-major pitchers (like Pease) who want to take the next step, so no guarantee we get anyone. Now that Piper has established some staff depth, she won’t take anyone she doesn’t think can develop into a high-level ace, so we will either get someone really good or she will roll with what we have.

Tori Kniesche is who I am hoping for… if any out-transfers create any roster space.

We will have a high number of potential pitchers on the roster (5) even without an in-transfer.
 

Tori Kniesche is who I am hoping for… if any out-transfers create any roster space.

We will have a high number of potential pitchers on the roster (5) even without an in-transfer.
Kniesche has had great numbers at SDSU. The Gophers have hit her pretty well when she has faced us though. She’s tough, nonetheless, and would make a great addition if the chips fall into place down the road.

Oh, and can you believe Iowa has nine players listed as pitchers on their roster?
 

Besides establishing a pitching staff for the upcoming season(s), there will be the matter of filling known vacancies for 2024 at 1b, 2b, lf, and cf. A plus is that Piper is likely to stay at MN for a long while; thus her successs with pitchers should be an attraction. What incoming potential ace would object to following up on the aces preceding them? Ritter, Moulton, Groenewegen, Fiser, Pease.
 

Besides establishing a pitching staff for the upcoming season(s), there will be the matter of filling known vacancies for 2024 at 1b, 2b, lf, and cf. A plus is that Piper is likely to stay at MN for a long while; thus her successs with pitchers should be an attraction. What incoming potential ace would object to following up on the aces preceding them? Ritter, Moulton, Groenewegen, Fiser, Pease.
Wouldn't Ehlke or Schwartz be able to take 1B?
 

The signing of Kinch was considered a big win for the program at the time. She may have been the highest-rated player we had ever signed out of California (at the time) and she played club ball with Athletics Mercado, one of the top teams in the country, although she was not their everyday catcher the entire time she was there.

Emily Leavitt also played for Athletics Mercado and surpassed Kinch as the highest-rated player a couple years later. The irony of course, is that they both ended up transferring to schools in more prestigious softball conferences.

That’s one of the problems with going after players from the prestige clubs. Those clubs love to brag about all the players they sent to Oklahoma, the PAC, and the SEC. That may condition some of these players to think that they are “settling” when they have to accept an offer from a B1G school. I’m not saying Kinch felt that way at all. It’s just something to consider when recruiting players from those types of club teams.
I think with UCLA leaving, the PAC becomes much less desirable or something to brag about. And I still go off of what Warren said last year, "he expects we'll be paying players at some point". Something only the B1G and SEC can pull off.
 


Wouldn't Ehlke or Schwartz be able to take 1B?
Yes, hopefully, but why hasn't Ehlke played there this season? And how often will Schwartz be in the circle next year? Just thoughts, I know nothing.
 

And how often will Schwartz be in the circle next year?
In my opinion, this is a very big question for the team next year. Will Schwartz focus on the 1B/DH role or the P/PH/DH role?
 
Last edited:

I found it interesting that the BTN announcers, without any apparent sense of irony, kept praising OSU's explosive offense, while Oakland & Ehlke hit liners off the wall that, pardon my hyperbole, nearly knocked it down. Ehlke's drive was described simply as "a single." Which raises the question, if we have a lefthanded hitter w/ that strength, why did she not play for 2+ years?
 

I found it interesting that the BTN announcers, without any apparent sense of irony, kept praising OSU's explosive offense, while Oakland & Ehlke hit liners off the wall that, pardon my hyperbole, nearly knocked it down. Ehlke's drive was described simply as "a single." Which raises the question, if we have a lefthanded hitter w/ that strength, why did she not play for 2+ years?
I was just thinking about how I love watching Ehlke at the plate. Now, with that being said, what is the outlook for her to continue "pounding the ball" against better pitchers than Ohio States? She is certainly focused and in the zone, IMO. I just love her enthusiasm on this team.
 



I found it interesting that the BTN announcers, without any apparent sense of irony, kept praising OSU's explosive offense, while Oakland & Ehlke hit liners off the wall that, pardon my hyperbole, nearly knocked it down. Ehlke's drive was described simply as "a single." Which raises the question, if we have a lefthanded hitter w/ that strength, why did she not play for 2+ years?
Looks like Ehlke only had 8 at-bats in her first two seasons, which resulted in 4 strikeouts and 3 walks meaning she only put the ball in play once. Now I have no idea why she got so few at bats, but the results she showed in those at bats were not promising. From watching her, I think she's made some adjustments in her swing even since the beginning of this season. At the beginning of the season, I remember commenting about how long her swing was. She always seemed behind on the ball, but she swung with such strength that if she ran into one, she was gonna hit it hard. Seeing her over the last couple months, her swing looks a bit shorter IMO. I think that has helped her dramatically and has resulted in her incredible season. If that is in fact true and not just in my mind, I don't know why it took the hitting coach 3 years to make that adjustment.
 

Looks like Ehlke only had 8 at-bats in her first two seasons, which resulted in 4 strikeouts and 3 walks meaning she only put the ball in play once. Now I have no idea why she got so few at bats, but the results she showed in those at bats were not promising. From watching her, I think she's made some adjustments in her swing even since the beginning of this season. At the beginning of the season, I remember commenting about how long her swing was. She always seemed behind on the ball, but she swung with such strength that if she ran into one, she was gonna hit it hard. Seeing her over the last couple months, her swing looks a bit shorter IMO. I think that has helped her dramatically and has resulted in her incredible season. If that is in fact true and not just in my mind, I don't know why it took the hitting coach 3 years to make that adjustment.
Do they have a new hitting coach?
 


I found it interesting that the BTN announcers, without any apparent sense of irony, kept praising OSU's explosive offense, while Oakland & Ehlke hit liners off the wall that, pardon my hyperbole, nearly knocked it down. Ehlke's drive was described simply as "a single." Which raises the question, if we have a lefthanded hitter w/ that strength, why did she not play for 2+ years?
I kept thinking about it the whole game. As our pitchers we're shutting them down. Must have been going off of season stats and not really knowing about MN this year. I think the success we've had this year is a surprise to the whole conference. Heck, it was to me after much of the non-con season.
 



I kept thinking about it the whole game. As our pitchers we're shutting them down. Must have been going off of season stats and not really knowing about MN this year. I think the success we've had this year is a surprise to the whole conference. Heck, it was to me after much of the non-con season.
It might be surprising to people who don’t follow the team and only look at numbers from last year. They might look at Pease’s numbers and conclude that while she was a good #2 pitcher, she couldn’t ever be an effective ace. Of course, those people also wouldn’t have known that last year she was rehabbing and then suffered some setbacks, so she was on a pitch count most of the season, and couldn’t even throw overhand to first base. Coupled with the unfortunate lack of depth that resulted from Dueck’s retirement and Hostettler’s transfer after fall ball, and the brutal non-Conference schedule, it was a miracle this coaching staff somehow got the team into the NCAA tournament last season.

The fact that they did make the tourney shouldn’t have been lost on anyone, yet the prognosticators chose instead to focus on the transfer of Emily Leavitt, our “highest-rated recruit in history,” and our best clutch hitter, Chloe Evans, as evidence that we were trending in the wrong direction.

To me, it felt like last year’s team just got beaten down during the non-conference, and they didn’t have the team unity and culture to pull it back together early in conference play, until the doubleheader sweep of a hot Wisconsin team and that final series against Northwestern barely got them an NCAA bid.

This 2023 team also suffered some inexplicable losses in non-conference, and the sweep at the hands of Northwestern, but they gradually picked up the pieces and slowly gained momentum. Now they are playing the best softball I’ve seen from a Minnesota team since 2019, and are giving us reason to believe their best could be yet to come. If DenHartog and Krapf start getting really hot as we enter postseason, oh my, this team could be WCWS good.
 
Last edited:

It might be surprising to people who don’t follow the team and only look at numbers from last year. They might look at Pease’s numbers and conclude that while she was a good #2 pitcher, she couldn’t ever be an effective ace. Of course, those people also wouldn’t have known that last year she was rehabbing and then suffered some setbacks, so she was on a pitch count most of the season, and couldn’t even throw overhand to first base. Coupled with the unfortunate lack of depth that resulted from Dueck’s retirement and Hostettler’s transfer after fall ball, and the brutal non-Conference schedule, it was a miracle this coaching staff somehow got the team into the NCAA tournament last season.

The fact that they did make the tourney shouldn’t have been lost on anyone, yet the prognosticators chose instead to focus on the transfer of our “highest-rated recruit in history” and our best clutch hitter, Chloe Evans, as evidence that we were trending in the wrong direction.

To me, it felt like last year’s team just got beaten down during the non-conference, and they didn’t have the team unity and culture to pull it back together early in conference play, until the doubleheader sweep of a hot Wisconsin team and that final series against Northwestern barely got them an NCAA bid.

This 2023 team also suffered some inexplicable losses in non-conference, and the sweep at the hands of Northwestern, but they gradually picked up the pieces and slowly gained momentum. Now they are playing the best softball I’ve seen from a Minnesota team since 2019, and are giving us reason to believe their best could be yet to come. If DenHartog and Krapf start getting really hot as we enter postseason, oh my, this team could be WCWS good.
An excellent assessment!!! I'd add that with an intact pitching staff the Gophers would surely have won the 2022 BIG title.
 

An excellent assessment!!! I'd add that with an intact pitching staff the Gophers would surely have won the 2022 BIG title.
No, I cannot get behind this. You're saying that the only thing separating last year's Minnesota team from Northwestern, a WCWS participant and top 8 team nationally, was a healthy pitching staff? Looking at just conference record from last year alone, Minnesota scored 2 runs or less in 8 of their conference games and 7 of those were losses. Even with a healthy pitching staff, Minnesota does not lose only 4 or less games in conference play.
 

No, I cannot get behind this. You're saying that the only thing separating last year's Minnesota team from Northwestern, a WCWS participant and top 8 team nationally, was a healthy pitching staff? Looking at just conference record from last year alone, Minnesota scored 2 runs or less in 8 of their conference games and 7 of those were losses. Even with a healthy pitching staff, Minnesota does not lose only 4 or less games in conference play.
Yes, that's what I'm saying: I've said it before. With Pease pitching at full strength in 2022 and Leavitt and the other pitchers who quit contributing, I feel confident MN would've swept MI (which they almost did anyway) and won the NW series (which they did). They would not have blown an 8-0 lead at Iowa and not a big lead at Nebr either. That's only my opinion, and it's water over the dam at this point anyway. So I'll let it rest there.
 






From where we were sitting more or less behind home plate, it appeared Strelow's HR was a leaping catch by the MI CF, who then banged off the wall. Did anyone see what actually happened? Did the ball go off her glove, then over the wall? Or did it clear the fence?
 

From where we were sitting more or less behind home plate, it appeared Strelow's HR was a leaping catch by the MI CF, who then banged off the wall. Did anyone see what actually happened? Did the ball go off her glove, then over the wall? Or did it clear the fence?
Michigan's CF literally caught the ball at the wall, collided into the wall, and then dropped it over the wall. That ball would not have gone out of the park on its own.
 

Think they have now clinched no worse than 3rd in conference regular season.
 

Even with a healthy pitching staff, Minnesota does not lose only 4 or less games in conference play.
One thing that is clear, is that our pitching staff was so very thin last year (2022).

Given what we know now after these Pease interviews (I watched a lengthy one yesterday on BTN), Pease was pitching at about 50 percent or lower. She had pain and was was honestly only contributing because she needed to for the team as we had nobody else besides Leavitt (a freshman) to pitch. Hollifield, who I admit I had high hopes for, just couldn’t get it in the strike zone, and Valencia (who like Pease put team first) is a position player and had no business being in the circle at the college level.

It is amazing we won as many games in 2022 as we did.
 
Last edited:

I get the sense Hutch would have had a total meltdown with the player that just made the terrible base running gaffe with 1 out (top of the 2nd).
 

There is no doubt this is, absolutely. not the same Minnesota Gopher softball team we saw at the beginning of the season......both pitching and hitting. Go Gophers!

Krapf Day....keep it up.

Top of three Gophers up 9-1.
 
Last edited:

Wow. What a butt whoopin after Krapf's second HR (bottom of 2nd 9-1). Granted, I've been too busy watching small college SB this year and not BG10, but Michigan looks to be a shell of it's former self.
 

Hambrick doing her job but, unfortunately, Gopher infield fell asleep in top of 3. Lucky to get out of that with only 1 run for Michigan.
 




Top Bottom