Gopher Softball 2025

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rwlarson said:
I’ll be very surprised if Piper isn’t given two years after this one no matter how bad the team performs in the field. Softball just isn’t enough of a priority here that coaches are fired just for losing unless it becomes more than 5-6 years straight.
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Losing to Purdue today is another low point. Gophers have had 3 hits in 3of their last 4 games. Even good pitching can’t win with that little amount of hitting.
 

One hit through 6 innings today against Purdue. We need a hitting coach as 6 players in the lineup are hitting below 250. Pathetic!!!
 

We just need a recruiter that hits home runs with the players they bring in. The previous hitting coach didn’t teach Oakland how to hit.
 

You all have read a lot from me over the years on this message board; but I am out.

I just don’t care about Gophers softball at all anymore; not even a little bit.
 



Knew they were bad this year didn't realize it was 3-10 in conference bad
 


Here I am in the familiar 2025 quandary, i. e., whether to drive 140 mi round-trip to see Gophers softball or do some work at home. Can't bear another blowout loss.
 

Unfortunately, Oregon is a bad team to come see if you want to avoid seeing blowout losses. I don’t know that Michigan is much better, but I’d trust us against them more than Oregon. If you came, I hope they get a really good pitching performance tonight.
 






Nipomo 56 said:
There’s a very strong possibility that the gophers will be winless at home this year.
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In B1G play, yes. They have some non-conference games coming up though.

But there’s more than a strong possibility that the Gophers will not qualify for the B1G tournament.
 



rwlarson said:
In B1G play, yes. They have some non-conference games coming up though.

But there’s more than a strong possibility that the Gophers will not qualify for the B1G tournament.
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I’ve already eliminated them from the B1G tournament. Such a disappointing year from all aspects of the game (pitching, batting and fielding).
 

I said this over a year ago and I'll say it again louder for those of you in the back who missed it the first time. You will NEVER win a championship EVER with Piper as a head coach. EVER! She is NOT a leader nor a head coach period. Wake up! I would NEVER recommend sending my child, a friend, or any person to play under her. Pathetic.
 

Seems that errors cost the gophers yet another game? Even Chavez's usual brilliance has failed her a bit.
Gophs Fan or Bust said:
I said this over a year ago and I'll say it again louder for those of you in the back who missed it the first time. You will NEVER win a championship EVER with Piper as a head coach. EVER! She is NOT a leader nor a head coach period. Wake up! I would NEVER recommend sending my child, a friend, or any person to play under her. Pathetic.
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I would add a charisma quotient of zero, but everyone here is surely already aware of what you say. The message should go more aptly to the AD, who most likely knows but doesn't care.
 

Well that was disappointing yesterday. The defense seems apathetic.
 

I've been to a fair number of games this season. It hasn't been pretty. First the negatives:

1) We are last in the country in stolen bases-3 total for reference, going into the weekend Oregon had 140+ and one player with 43 alone.
2) We are second to last in the B10 in fielding percentage. That's embarrassing. More to come on that later.
3) We are second to last in the B10 in batting average at .247 again...embarrassing. Coupled with our inability to steal/bunt/etc. it's not good.
4) We are 12th in the B10 in pitching. Not good by any means, but some teams that are near us in the pitching category are still having good seasons. Ohio St, Northwestern, Indiana. Coupled with our offensive deficiencies and fielding miscues, along with all of the non-plays...the pitching hasn't been good enough to pull us through.
5) A few individual players have seemingly stepped backwards-that is frustrating.

Reasons for optimism
1) losing Oakland was a serious blow. Offensively, the production, the protection in the lineup for Krapf, the fielding (causing Tobias to move to SS). Hard to pin this on anyone as it happened mid-year, but losing a player like that is going to have multiple effects.
2) Looking at current RPI rankings, the goal has to be beat every team that is above 50. We didn't do that this year, but I really feel, with Oakland here we win almost all of those games.

Our losses to 50+ rpi teams:

Utah 0-2/8-9 98
Villanova 8-10 111
St. Thomas 6-8 106
McNeese 0-2 85
Michigan State 11-13 168
Penn State 1-5 86
Purdue 1-2/0-4 62

Thats a 9-game swing.

Couple those with some of the close games we've had against the likes of Louisville, Duke, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue...you get the idea.

3) we have been playing better; Schwartz seems to pitch ok on her first game of the weekend and Susa seems to be getting better. we have been in some close games but have either a couple of misfires or can't get the hit that we so desperately need. Valencia has been a bright spot in the lineup.

We can all agree that this season isn't what we wanted, but I'm not buying into the sky falling on this program.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I've been to a fair number of games this season. It hasn't been pretty. First the negatives:

1) We are last in the country in stolen bases-3 total for reference, going into the weekend Oregon had 140+ and one player with 43 alone.
2) We are second to last in the B10 in fielding percentage. That's embarrassing. More to come on that later.
3) We are second to last in the B10 in batting average at .247 again...embarrassing. Coupled with our inability to steal/bunt/etc. it's not good.
4) We are 12th in the B10 in pitching. Not good by any means, but some teams that are near us in the pitching category are still having good seasons. Ohio St, Northwestern, Indiana. Coupled with our offensive deficiencies and fielding miscues, along with all of the non-plays...the pitching hasn't been good enough to pull us through.
5) A few individual players have seemingly stepped backwards-that is frustrating.

Reasons for optimism
1) losing Oakland was a serious blow. Offensively, the production, the protection in the lineup for Krapf, the fielding (causing Tobias to move to SS). Hard to pin this on anyone as it happened mid-year, but losing a player like that is going to have multiple effects.
2) Looking at current RPI rankings, the goal has to be beat every team that is above 50. We didn't do that this year, but I really feel, with Oakland here we win almost all of those games.

Our losses to 50+ rpi teams:

Utah 0-2/8-9 98
Villanova 8-10 111
St. Thomas 6-8 106
McNeese 0-2 85
Michigan State 11-13 168
Penn State 1-5 86
Purdue 1-2/0-4 62

Thats a 9-game swing.

Couple those with some of the close games we've had against the likes of Louisville, Duke, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue...you get the idea.

3) we have been playing better; Schwartz seems to pitch ok on her first game of the weekend and Susa seems to be getting better. we have been in some close games but have either a couple of misfires or can't get the hit that we so desperately need. Valencia has been a bright spot in the lineup.

We can all agree that this season isn't what we wanted, but I'm not buying into the sky falling on this program.
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Add to that the loss of the associate head coach in late fall.
 


Does anyone know what kind of NIL money the program has? Really difficult to compete if other schools can steal your players or offer recruits more money.
 

rowdaboat said:
When the HC specializes in pitching and all of the pitching staff has horrible ERA/WHIP that's a pretty large problem
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Not going to entirely agree or disagree. But having to get 5 outs each inning...not the greatest for any pitcher. Tell me what pitcher, freshman or transfer is going to want to come here know we are second to last in the B10 in fielding and second to last in run support. Seems like a great time.

We are 3rd to last in the B10 in runs scored. 5 teams have scored double the runs we have this year.

We've also had three pitchers hurt/banged up this year. Larger problem is the lack of hitting/pressure on the bases/ then fielding/then pitching. But all phases have problems.
 

When coaches leave a very successful program and players leave what's been a very successful program or the gifted ones who stay show little or no improvement, wouldn't it seem likely the root of the problem lies within higher echelons of the Athletic Dept? It's possible to win pretty darn big at MN with a proper investment in personnel and recruiting.
 


The southland and west coast to a lesser extent have really taken over the sport since the portal and NIL. Nebraska and Ohio State are getting some token acknowledgement at the low end of the rankings, but things have changed.
 

Panthadad2 said:
The southland and west coast to a lesser extent have really taken over the sport since the portal and NIL. Nebraska and Ohio State are getting some token acknowledgement at the low end of the rankings, but things have changed.
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This is very accurate. Nebraska is an outlier, without Jordy Bahl, this team is very average. With her, they can compete with almost anyone. OSU on the other hand, has a team ERA in the B10 more than 7.00, that's a more than a run over the MN team ERA. Runs scored...OSU has scored 123 runs in conference...MN 67

Offense wins games unless you have Jordy Bahl, UCLA's staff, or Oregon's staff
 

And to think five years ago Minnesota was near the top of the softball world while Rhonda Revelle nearly lost her job due to allegations of “toxic culture” and player abuse. And Jordy Bahl had committed to Oklahoma at about that time. Revelle (like Piper a school legend as a pitcher) was reinstated and apparently all the negative reports didn’t dissuade Bahl from returning or other portal recruits from going there. She’d been killing it in the portal even before Bahl came.
 

Chase the Rise said:
This is very accurate. Nebraska is an outlier, without Jordy Bahl, this team is very average. With her, they can compete with almost anyone. OSU on the other hand, has a team ERA in the B10 more than 7.00, that's a more than a run over the MN team ERA. Runs scored...OSU has scored 123 runs in conference...MN 67

Offense wins games unless you have Jordy Bahl, UCLA's staff, or Oregon's staff
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Agreed that Bahl in the circle makes them dangerous. But they’d been going to NCAA tournaments in the last few pre-Bahl years after some very lean years. When you are just a stud pitcher away from being really good and competitive against anyone,
I can live with that.

I was envious when Ohio State finally fired their old coach and hired the Miami of Ohio coach. Look what she did at Miami with that offense. Now same thing with Ohio State. She’s the real deal. Will Ohio State make a legitimate effort to be nationally relevant in softball and not let her escape to the SEC in a few years? They certainly have the money to make that happen.

The B1G as a whole has purged most of their worst coaching hire mistakes, even without the addition of the West Coast schools the conference is in a better spot from a coaching competitiveness perspective.

So Minnesota softball now finds itself at a crossroads. Choose to be competitive or choose mediocrity long-term.
 

rwlarson said:
And to think five years ago Minnesota was near the top of the softball world while Rhonda Revelle nearly lost her job due to allegations of “toxic culture” and player abuse. And Jordy Bahl had committed to Oklahoma at about that time. Revelle (like Piper a school legend as a pitcher) was reinstated and apparently all the negative reports didn’t dissuade Bahl from returning or other portal recruits from going there. She’d been killing it in the portal even before Bahl came.
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I'd like to hear who Revelle had transfer into Nebraska prior to Bahl getting there. The only two I know of is Mya Felder and Cam Ybarra. All the others came after Bahl got there. And just to be clear, 4 of the other 6 grew up in Nebraska and played travel ball for Nebraska Gold. So, 5 of the 7 are Nebraska born when you include Bahl. She most definitely wasn't "killing it" in the portal before Bahl got there.
 

rwlarson said:
Agreed that Bahl in the circle makes them dangerous. But they’d been going to NCAA tournaments in the last few pre-Bahl years after some very lean years. When you are just a stud pitcher away from being really good and competitive against anyone,
I can live with that.

I was envious when Ohio State finally fired their old coach and hired the Miami of Ohio coach. Look what she did at Miami with that offense. Now same thing with Ohio State. She’s the real deal. Will Ohio State make a legitimate effort to be nationally relevant in softball and not let her escape to the SEC in a few years? They certainly have the money to make that happen.

The B1G as a whole has purged most of their worst coaching hire mistakes, even without the addition of the West Coast schools the conference is in a better spot from a coaching competitiveness perspective.

So Minnesota softball now finds itself at a crossroads. Choose to be competitive or choose mediocrity long-term.
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This is spot on. However, the crossroads are going to be dictated by money, not coaching. Take a look at the top teams in the conference by standings....the top 7 are not a surprise by any means. With OSU being the surprise at #6. Even Northwestern looked below average this past weekend vs Nebraska.

We've had 6 close losses in conference. The only non-competitive series has been Nebraska...which Jordy pitched in every game. The sky isn't falling.
 

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