Gopher softball 2023

Donate To GopherHole
rwlarson said:
Once again this year, we have a good number of regional upsets. It appears this could become the norm with the increased popularity of softball and as a result the talent distributed more evenly, with one notable exception.

But perceptions die hard. Here is a conversation about the Seattle regional between two Gopher fans.

Gopher Fan #1: We had two chances to knock off the team that, last I checked, led 6-0 going into the 7th inning of the regional championship game. And we lost both games by one run, one in 13 innings.

Gopher Fan #2: Oh, so we lost two one-run games to Washington and took them to extras in one of them. That’s not so bad. We wanted to see how we would stack up against them, so it seems we didn’t do too badly.

Gopher Fan #1: No. We lost to McNeese twice.

Gopher Fan #2: Oh, that’s terrible. A Big Ten team should never lose to a team like McNeese.
Click to expand...
Gopher Fan number #1 is right though.
rowdaboat said:
Gophers in Clearwater next year
Click to expand...
This is what is interesting to me now; the future. Rugger14 is going to have to set up a new 2024 Softball board for us.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Gopher Fan number #1 is right though.

This is what is interesting to me now; the future. Rugger14 is going to have to set up a new 2024 Softball board for us.
Click to expand...
The lack of situational hitting and inability to move runners along, especially late in ballgames, was a recurring theme for this team, one I hope will be identified by the coaching staff in post-season assessments and remedied by whatever means necessary.

Hopefully Piper makes the right hire for the new third paid coach the NCAA is finally allowing. Our approach at the plate needs some fine-tuning, and if the current staff had the ability to get it done, they would have.
 
Last edited:

WayOfTheGopher said:
I really don't want to single any player out, but where the hell was Krapf? Lead the team in RBI and HR, totally non-existent in the postseason.
Click to expand...
Well you just did and give me a break. Taylor has kicked ass the whole season coming into a new program. She stepped up on defense and offense. She was probably one of the best additions to the gophers last season. Time to really take a look at overall run scoring and how they can improve it . It has nothing to do with her. This is a trend for the last 5 years of declining batting averages and unable to have a meaningful running game. Lack of speed and the inability to steal bases. You have to have the little extras to make it in post season.
 

twinsbballfan said:
Well you just did and give me a break. Taylor has kicked ass the whole season coming into a new program. She stepped up on defense and offense. She was probably one of the best additions to the gophers last season. Time to really take a look at overall run scoring and how they can improve it . It has nothing to do with her. This is a trend for the last 5 years of declining batting averages and unable to have a meaningful running game. Lack of speed and the inability to steal bases. You have to have the little extras to make it in post season.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Especially in post season against all good teams, it's helpful to have a handful of speedsters that constantly put pressure on the defense, get on base even via error, take extra bases on pitches in the dirt, stay out of double plays, etc. Nothing worse than getting a couple runners on base just to have them doubled up because of lack of speed.
 

Wow, just saw that Washington came all the way back to win!

Good, F McNeese, whatever the hell that little school is. Byeee
 








The only common denominator the past few years is Piper Ritter our pitching coach who is now the HC. Yet we have seen a lot of the same approach to hitting with how many different hitting coaches. That is what I have a hard time wrapping my head around.

There is no doubt we have been known for our power, but there is so much more than that to winning in softball......TIME FOR A CHANGE.
 

rowdaboat said:
Kept Vallejo in for 7th after 80+ pitches and Washington tied it
Click to expand...

Wow. I just noticed Washington scored 7 runs in the 7th inning to take the 1-run lead. That's an incredible meltdown. The McNeese players must be devastated.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
If you want to be competitive, you can't be losing 1-0 to teams like McNeese State. If they played at their potential, they had a really good shot at taking down Washington but I guess we'll never know now.
Click to expand...
I know the losses to McNeese hurt, can you imagine how the Cowboys must feel on their long flight home to Louisiana after blowing a 6 run lead in the 7th inning with a trip to super regional in their grasp. Talk about poor coaching. I was rooting for the cowboy’s because I wanted to see what the scenario would be when both regional hosts lost. This situation has never happened before. Oh well, with more parity maybe I will get another chance to see it play out.
 

Nipomo 56 said:
I know the losses to McNeese hurt, can you imagine how the Cowboys must feel on their long flight home to Louisiana after blowing a 6 run lead in the 7th inning with a trip to super regional in their grasp. Talk about poor coaching. I was rooting for the cowboy’s because I wanted to see what the scenario would be when both regional hosts lost. This situation has never happened before. Oh well, with more parity maybe I will get another chance to see it play out.
Click to expand...
Plus the super-regional would have been in their home state.
 



twinsbballfan said:
Well you just did and give me a break. Taylor has kicked ass the whole season coming into a new program. She stepped up on defense and offense. She was probably one of the best additions to the gophers last season. Time to really take a look at overall run scoring and how they can improve it . It has nothing to do with her. This is a trend for the last 5 years of declining batting averages and unable to have a meaningful running game. Lack of speed and the inability to steal bases. You have to have the little extras to make it in post season.
Click to expand...
I think you have to go back more than five years to make the case for declining batting averages. Time does fly! Here are the Gophers team batting averages for the past 10 years:

.285 (2023)
.282 (2022)
.244 (2021)
.262 (2020)
.284 (2019)
.287 (2018)
.343 (2017)
.318 (2016)
.339 (2015)
.284 (2014)

And while I'm at it, here are the Gophers team ERAs for the last 10 years:

2.21 (2023)
4.56 (2022)
2.06 (2021)
2.24 (2020)
1.67 (2019)
1.90 (2018)
1.19 (2017)
2.72 (2016)
2.34 (2015)
2.00 (2014)
 
Last edited:

let'sbeclear said:
I think you have to go back more than five years to make the case for declining batting averages. Time does fly! Here are the Gophers team batting averages for the past 10 years:

.285 (2023)
.282 (2022)
.244 (2021)
.262 (2020)
.284 (2019)
.287 (2018)
.343 (2017)
.318 (2016)
.339 (2015)
.284 (2014)

And while I'm at it, here the Gophers team ERAs for the last 10 years:

2.21 (2023)
4.56 (2022)
2.06 (2021)
2.24 (2020)
1.67 (2019)
1.90 (2018)
1.19 (2017)
2.72 (2016)
2.34 (2015)
2.00 (2014)
Click to expand...
Time to get back to the 2015-2017 numbers
 

twinsbballfan said:
Time to get back to the 2015-2017 numbers
Click to expand...
Thanks for putting that together let’s be clear! Level of competition will affect the numbers some, so it’s tricky to jump to conclusions without weighing the numbers by strength of schedule. However, one can clearly see that batting average trended down under Trachsel and bottomed out in Piper’s first year, before once again trending upward.

I think there are other factors at play — on base percentage, advanced stats like % of fly balls vs ground balls, and how quickly hitters adjust to what they are seeing from a particular pitcher, that need to be looked at and improved. I know pop ups are part of the game when you are trying to hit home runs, but I don’t like to see them in certain game situations like a close game against a tough pitcher when we need to advance a runner with a grounder to the right side, for example. It seems the current group of players is much more free-swinging than the late Allister teams, although we may actually strike out less because we went deeper in counts more often.
 

Quoting rwlarson: "we need to advance a runner with a grounder to the right side against a tough pitcher in a close game". I totally agree, but do many team's today actually play that type of softball?
 

4EverAGopher said:
Quoting rwlarson: "we need to advance a runner with a grounder to the right side against a tough pitcher in a close game". I totally agree, but do many team's today actually play that type of softball?
Click to expand...

Yes. Via sac bunt. Very common. Getting that properly placed grounder with a swing would be extremely difficult, though, if the pitcher stuck to the opposite side of the plate. They handcuff lefty slap hitters like that all the time.
 

Just watched some of the second super regional Between Oklahoma And Clemson. Oklahoma get a 3 run shot in the 7th to tie it and a solo in the 9th for the win. This looks like the team to beat stated Mr. Obvious. This were where A lot of your NCAA sports are headed. Whoever can pay the most will dominate.
 

Northwestern vs. Alabama. 6th inning. Alabama players leaning over the plate trying to get hit. Reminds of 2017 vs Sara G. Gawd I hate Alabama.
 

dlw4gophers said:
Just watched some of the second super regional Between Oklahoma And Clemson. Oklahoma get a 3 run shot in the 7th to tie it and a solo in the 9th for the win. This looks like the team to beat stated Mr. Obvious. This were where A lot of your NCAA sports are headed. Whoever can pay the most will dominate.
Click to expand...
Not a lot different from the very tip-top of the pile in (women's indoor) college volleyball.

Texas bought and paid for an All-Star team. Lo and behold, they won the natty last season. (Took them long enough!)

Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin = pay for play All-Star teams in volleyball.


I assume in softball that Oklahoma is the same thing now. Head and shoulders better than anyone else, top talent will transfer in, in addition to top recruits.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Northwestern vs. Alabama. 6th inning. Alabama players leaning over the plate trying to get hit. Reminds of 2017 vs Sara G. Gawd I hate Alabama.
Click to expand...
Every Alabama slapper was out of the box as well and it was only called once and against Northwestern
 

Copied this from twitter @karissahovinga

Bought and paid for....except the one I'll be rooting for.

1685450319878.png
 

It will be interesting to see how paying the players a salary in the near future affects recruiting for B1G.
 

Two Gophers were honored today as NFCA All-Americans.

Autumn Pease was named to the 2nd team and Taylor Krapf was named to the 3rd team.

The pair are the first Gophers to be named NFCA All-Americans since 2019, when Amber Fiser was named to the 1st team.

This was the first time since 2017 that the Gophers had more than one All-American honoree (Sara Groenewegen and Kendyl Lindaman were both named to the 1st Team that year).
 

Questionable decision from Allister sac bunting with 1st/2nd 1 out with cleanup hitter up just for the 5 hitter to then strike out chasing 2 pitches not even close
 

rowdaboat said:
Questionable decision from Allister sac bunting with 1st/2nd 1 out with cleanup hitter up just for the 5 hitter to then strike out chasing 2 pitches not even close
Click to expand...
Yeah, I never agree with sacrificing with one out.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Oh, I guess whatever McNeese is, it's in Louisiana! Didn't know they had so many "DI" schools.
Click to expand...
I remember playing college baseball at a university in Illinois in the 1950s. We played colleges in LA each spring break. There were tons of DII schools then but not many DIs. Louisiana was then, I'm sure, Southwestern Louisiana State in Lafayette. They bragged of having great weather, real Cajuns on the team, and an alligator in the student union wading pool.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom