Gopher Softball 2025

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Just watched the first two innings against Florida Atlantic. No solid contact followed by a throwing and base running error. Quickly turned that mess off. Maybe I provide bad luck.
 

Chase the Rise said:
Richardson is injured. Susa is the flex, she would never catch…lol…it’s a roster adjustment as Chard is the DP and catching. Creates flexibility in batting order/substitution during the game.
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Watching today's game, I noticed Richardson has a hefty knee brace on her left leg. May not see her this year.
 

DietCokeFan said:
Do you know who they tried to recruit and failed?

I'm not expecting us to compete with the best; but I do see other programs, for an example Virginia that has a staff that can beat a ranked Kentucky team.

At the time of the hire I thought Piper would do wonders; but she has not proven anything and think she lacks as a recruiter. I am sure I will get yelled at for saying that, but just my opinion.
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Don't where anyone is yelling at anyone else... I sure didn't yell at you or anyone. My simple response to you was that I'm sure that they tried to recruit better players. They were obviously not successful or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I DO expect them to compete with the best but Piper and this staff certainly haven't found the ponies to do so. I thought Piper would be a sort of a horse whisperer and either attract or develop some talent on the rubber but I haven't seen the results yet.

Piper likely only has this year and possible next to prove she's up to the task or the seat gets hot. Of course, if Chase the Rise is correct, the U might be demoting a bunch of programs to non-scholarship level so one never knows.
 

A top-10/top-20 program like the Gophers had isn't brought down this fast by accident. I feel the cause must be found in the Administration and what it wants, will actively pursue, and will pay for.
 




DietCokeFan said:
From the two innings I watched we literally looked like a high school team.
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I stopped watching after the home run made it 6-0. Already by then I saw a overthrow to 3rd on a play where it didn't look like the runner had any chance or intention of advancing, and a runner thrown out on a base running error. 🤦‍♂️
 

SomeGopherFan said:
I stopped watching after the home run made it 6-0. Already by then I saw an overthrow to 3rd on a play where it didn't look like the runner had any chance or intention of advancing, and a runner thrown out on a base running error. 🤦‍♂️
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Today’s game against Louisville won’t help, down 4-1 going to the 7th. They could be 1-14 after Mary Nutter next week. 🥺
 





DietCokeFan said:
This is so depressing:(
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I know. I look forward to softball every year. Today was a 5-1 loss. I was looking forward to seeing Richardson and Susa this year, guess I will have to wait another year. The hitting needs more help. Too many weak pop ups and when the lead off hitter gets on base we hit three fielder choice ground balls.
 

Nipomo 56 said:
I know. I look forward to softball every year. Today was a 5-1 loss. I was looking forward to seeing Richardson and Susa this year, guess I will have to wait another year. The hitting needs more help. Too many weak pop ups and when the lead off hitter gets on base we hit three fielder choice ground balls.
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Have we heard anything on Susa? Is she still recovering from injury?
I figured it would be a tough year; but, I didn’t think it would be this rough.
 

DietCokeFan said:
Have we heard anything on Susa? Is she still recovering from injury?
I figured it would be a tough year; but, I didn’t think it would be this rough.
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This really makes one wonder if Jess Oakland could see what was coming and just figured she did not have to live this way… being a Big Ten Player of the Year and all (she had an easy out).
 



ClassOf98Gopher said:
This really makes one wonder if Jess Oakland could see what was coming and just figured she did not have to live this way… being a Big Ten Player of the Year and all (she had an easy out).
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It definitely crossed my mind too.
 




PreacherRoe said:
Personally, I think the program's downward slide began as early as 2020 when the program started relying on transfers-in rather than finding productive recruits.
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2023 was the year they brought in 5 transfers. Trachsel did bring in Brander (Lindaman left) Van der Heide, and Pease in 2019.
 

PreacherRoe said:
Personally, I think the program's downward slide began as early as 2020 when the program started relying on transfers-in rather than finding productive recruits.
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I think there have been three extremely impactful in-transfers over the past decade (Allie Arneson, Hope Brandner [yes- it was only one year… but what a year], and Autumn Peace). Sydney Smith was very good acquisition short of great and Lauren Espalin had one very good year. All the other in-transfers over the past decade I don’t feel moved the overall needle much at all.

The big three I mentioned above also were all Sophomores when they started at Minnesota. I just think Minnesota has to be a program based on Freshman recruits with a Sophomore in-transfer every now and then. These Junior and Senior year in-transfers meant to plug holes are really just taking opportunities from younger players to develop. That strategy may make sense at Alabama or Florida (who don’t rebuild, they reload), but Minnesota Softball needs to be about being a part of a long-term, overall (U of M as an academic institution) culture and experience, not about softball mercenaries.
 
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On the other side of that coin, the Lindeman, Leavitt, and Oakland out-transfers did devastation to the trajectory of this program. The immediate impact of the Lindaman transfer was mitigated by the extreme loyalty of Partain, Fiser, and DenHartog and Pease. But the program just hasn’t had heroes since those four greats.

But Lindaman set the precedent that Gopher players with high-end potential will transfer South.

The baseline potential for this Softball program has been noticeably and significantly lowered by those 3 out-transfers and we are only left with thoughts of “what could have been.”
 
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True, lots of changes in athletes, but the most important and damaging "out-transfer" of all was the young, charismatic, and highly successful HC. The admin. let Allister go without a concerted effort to keep her (which might have been impossible but....you never know) or even show the public that it cared that much. What is worse, there was no apparent effort made to replace the HC with a dynamic and/or proven successor. A couple more recruiting classes like Allister's last one would have solidified the program to where it was headed under her. As it is, imagine if Denhartog and Pease hadn't come along and Brandner had stayed...it's been a relative mish-mash since 2018. Correct me if I'm wrong...what has stayed is the loyal fan base. Will it remain?
 

The House settlement this summer will chart the course for all sports going forward. This is timed perfectly with when Piper could be replaced. Maybe you find the right person once you have that big answer
 

Watching Louisville game and don’t understand why this team does not sacrifice players. 6th inning tied game lead off on and then they hit into double play. Next inning Louisville gets inside park home run. Another loss is pending.
 

Gophers lose 2-1. Drop to 1-6 on season.
Schwartz pitched a good game only giving up 3 hits. Appears Krapf had costly error that ended up costing them the game.
Freshman Cosgriff appears to be swinging well.
 

Nipomo 56 said:
Watching Louisville game and don’t understand why this team does not sacrifice players. 6th inning tied game lead off on and then they hit into double play. Next inning Louisville gets inside park home run. Another loss is pending.
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Another double play ends the game. Now 1-6. Decent pitching performance wasted because of poor hitting and coaching.
 

Nipomo 56 said:
Watching Louisville game and don’t understand why this team does not sacrifice players. 6th inning tied game lead off on and then they hit into double play. Next inning Louisville gets inside park home run. Another loss is pending.
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Was following stats and was trying to determine how they scored. Looks like they gave Krapf an error too?
 

PreacherRoe said:
True, lots of changes in athletes, but the most important and damaging "out-transfer" of all was the young, charismatic, and highly successful HC. The admin. let Allister go without a concerted effort to keep her (which might have been impossible but....you never know) or even show the public that it cared that much. What is worse, there was no apparent effort made to replace the HC with a dynamic and/or proven successor. A couple more recruiting classes like Allister's last one would have solidified the program to where it was headed under her. As it is, imagine if Denhartog and Pease hadn't come along and Brandner had stayed...it's been a relative mish-mash since 2018. Correct me if I'm wrong...what has stayed is the loyal fan base. Will it remain?
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One area where Preacher Roe and I will always disagree is in our attitudes towards Coach Allister.

I can’t stand even hearing that name anymore. She is so long gone.

There was zero chance for her to stay here the nanosecond they (Stanford University!… not a bad final destination after all!) came calling for her. If I could never hear that name again I would be in a slightly less cranky mood.
 

Sitting at 1-6 really would like Piper to play Easton and get her developed for next year. Tobias is not it. (Now I’m sure she will go 4-4 to prove me wrong lol)
 

Nipomo 56 said:
Watching Louisville game and don’t understand why this team does not sacrifice players. 6th inning tied game lead off on and then they hit into double play. Next inning Louisville gets inside park home run. Another loss is pending.
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Bunt with a three base error.
 


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