Gopher Softball 2025

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Seen reddit and robo now with no sources saying Duke for her
 

rowdaboat said:
Seen reddit and robo now with no sources saying Duke for her
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That seems a strange move. Krapf left Duke for MN. With the addition of UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, I would think the BIG would be a better conference than the ACC. But, she must have her reasons.
 

Thought Duke still had Sydney Romero and that's why they were recruiting well but she's asst at Oregon now
 

They graduated out 2nd and 3rd hitters and 2nd pitchers guess they'll be better than I was thinking probably on par to where gophers were at in WS season
 





Perhaps related to wanting to get a degree from a top 10 University academically. I saw some reports she will need to sit out this year and will then still have two years eligibility left. Seems like something other than just softball.

Major plus that is not to Texas, Oklahoma, or a another Big Ten school
 




Gopher68 said:
That seems a strange move. Krapf left Duke for MN. With the addition of UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, I would think the BIG would be a better conference than the ACC. But, she must have her reasons.
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At least we don’t have to face her this year.
 

rowdaboat said:
They graduated out 2nd and 3rd hitters and 2nd pitchers guess they'll be better than I was thinking probably on par to where gophers were at in WS season
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Should have checked some facts before posting. Duke had a very good season last year - much better than MN. Jess will have a better chance of getting to the WCWS with Duke.
 

Gopher68 said:
Should have checked some facts before posting. Duke had a very good season last year - much better than MN. Jess will have a better chance of getting to the WCWS with Duke.
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Crazy thing is they only became a varsity D1 program like a couple of years ago. Made their first NCAA tournament appearance within five years and made it to the WCWS last year.
 



WayOfTheGopher said:
Crazy thing is they only became a varsity D1 program like a couple of years ago. Made their first NCAA tournament appearance within five years and made it to the WCWS last year.
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I thought Duke had been around for longer. I know Clemson just started their program a few years ago and they have had tremendous success.
 

I guess I've been pretty much out of it, but losing Oakland does not bode well for 2025. What was needed was players to complement the established core of the team, not to replace it.
 
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Does anyone have an idea how the program deals with losing the best player in the conference? Is there a SS waiting in the wings? Or any one who can hit 20 HRs?
 

The good news is it has been done before (2019). The bad news is we don’t have a bonafide ace in the circle returning like we did with Fiser. In 2019, we also were fortunate to get a transfer (Brandner) and a freshman (DenHartog) who combined for nearly 40 HRs.

We do have a couple of players capable of taking over at SS, from a defensive perspective. We already have one player (Krapf) who could approach 20 HR if she had a good season.

So what else do we need to happen?

1) Someone must emerge as a bonafide ace (under 2.00 ERA in a high number of innings) —either a freshman, one of the sophomores, or a transfer; or we need two or more of them to put up respectable sub-3.00 ERA numbers over a high number of innings.

2) Someone must emerge as a second bonafide power threat. I don’t think we have anyone on last year’s roster who could be that player, and the transfers don’t appear to have that kind of power, so it will have to come from the freshmen. There are a couple who were recruited for their power, but neither was touted as a sure thing, so I think we will have to get a little lucky here.

I too am very disappointed that Oakland chose to leave. When I heard Carly Wynn was leaving, I worried because I knew she had pretty much single-handedly convinced Oakland to come here sight unseen. However, players leave or graduate and they have to be replaced at some point.

While Oakland’s departure is troubling for the offense, our pitching was so horrible last year that it may not be as bad as we think if the young pitchers and transfer pitcher Hosick do well.
 

FWIW I thought Brandner was the best all-round player (offense & defense) MN ever had until Oakland came along. So unexpected elite newcomers aren't unknown; they do exist. But a pickup in the circle like, say, Pease is highly unlikely. Some great and unexpected excellence by the present roster pitchers seems the hope for a good season in 2025. I find it hard to be optimistic. Not even an outstanding team on the field, including Oakland, would win much without great pitching to lead the way.
 

PreacherRoe said:
FWIW I thought Brandner was the best all-round player (offense & defense) MN ever had until Oakland came along. So unexpected elite newcomers aren't unknown; they do exist. But a pickup in the circle like, say, Pease is highly unlikely. Some great and unexpected excellence by the present roster pitchers seems the hope for a good season in 2025. I find it hard to be optimistic. Not even an outstanding team on the field, including Oakland, would win much without great pitching to lead the way.
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lots of unknowns, guess we’ll get some answers in a few weeks.
 

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