(SB) Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Walsh was perfectly fine defensively. Mia is not a 3b. If anyone was the issue it was ss. That’s why tag outs didn’t happen not Mia. Y’all have loved to attack Mia since last year. Yes she’s not perfect but who do you have to replace her? Nobody. Obviously Comia couldn't beat her at 2b either or she would’ve dpd. Obviously she had the lowest fielding percentage. Rylee Holtorf was there with her. And there were a lot of Holtorf ones that were not called errors that should’ve been. I also didn’t say squared up balls were her problem. I said that defense has become more difficult because of offense, Mia’s range is average. It’s not spectacular, but it’s not horrible either, do you watch other 2b all the time? There are many average second base players. A lot of the time it is ss that doesn’t have the range or arm for ss at this level so they’re moved to second,
Again, Mia improved this year, I don’t know why nobody can see that. You can’t expect perfection all the time, if you think you can recruit better or go coach better or play better go do it. I will say once again, there were issues as to why this team is at home now and it was not errors at 2b.

 

As we speak Texas’s second base just made an error to cost a dp. Better move her somewhere different or replace her.

 

It's actually really funny the 2B is getting ALL the action this inning

 

It’s be really funny if it’s wasn’t for the fact I want OU to lose and that would’ve kept them off the board.

 

Where did anyone say they expect perfection? Where did I say that we had someone on the current roster who is better at second?
It's so silly when someone gets angry or frustrated like you appear to be getting in this thread on a message board. It's just a conversation, brother. No, I can't go recruit better, nor coach better, nor play better. Nor can you unless you are secretly CTW or player on the team, lol.
And I didn't see one instance in which someone said second base errors were the reason we are home. Again, softball is a collective sport - unlike say singles tennis.
If the goal is to get back to OKC and try to have a better showing, then you look at all the areas you can improve/upgrade. If you improve and upgrade areas where we fell short, then we'll have a shot once again. One of those spots is second base and that happens to be the one thing we are focusing on now. There are others.

 

Statistically probably at msot 5 more errors. But that is becasue she put glove on more balls this year than last. Her range did improve. Last year there were many "hits" that she didnt get glove on that we all consider need to be caught. Therefore they were errors that didnt go down as errors. Her improvement this year led to her getting to many more balls then last year and some of them yes went down as errors. If you dont watch the difference between also year and this year you dont see that. And no im not saying you didnt watch. Im just saying if you dont pay attention to it you don't notice it. The amount of routine balls she screwed up this year were much less.

 

You seem to really expect a lot from Mia when she has made improvements.

 

Enormous improvements at the plate. Incredible, in fact. Again, she is vital to this team's success and she's part of the reason we almost won 50 games this year.
I did not see the improvements defensively from year 1 to year 2 that you are suggesting. And it's also not her fault. She's awesome! She's just playing out of position defensively.

 

I have evidence from conversations with people in the travel circuit and who were familiar with her high school days. Yes she can play anywhere. However, 3b is her natural position.
And yes I misspoke it was Dowling that year that was playing ss because Prange was at 3b.

Maybe those conversations and information I've been told isn't accurate who knows. But I've been told Kenleigh was a natural 3b and I belive it watching her there.

 

Ocala... im not trying to argue you with you. Im just telling you what I've been told. Kenleigh was already getting reps at 3b before AK left anyway. She is a very versatile player. She does not have great lateral range for ss though.

 

We are going to stay on different pages on this. But the good thing is it doesn't matter. I trust who told me that and I saw Kenleigh look very uncomfortable to begin with at ss at bama.

This years over. Once we see who leaves and who we get in the portal we can figure out next years lineup.

 

WE have to get Lamars bat in the line up no matter what. Taylor, Mia, Lamar, Jocey and Brown will be the leading HR hitters next year IMVHO.

 

Well, I read the last two pages and don't really have a dog in this hunt. Mia's defense does need to improve, wherever she lands, and I'll leave it at that. It is not unfair to compare her to Hannah although that she should or could match that excellence is unrealistic. BTW, someone mentioned that the Texas second baseman made an error today. Yes, that was her second error of the entire season. I'll take that yesterday, today and tomorrow. What I did feel in my bones, and has not been mentioned, was I felt that Mia has, to some extent, reverted back to last year....home runs or not much else. The entire month of May she hit .267. She had eight hits the entire month and four were home runs. She had eight rbis for the month so that averages (not the greatest of ways to look at it) about 32 for the season. She walked seven times but she struck out five. Her strikeout ratio to plate appearances was 7.4 which isn't very good. By comparison, I would like to see Taylor strike out a little less but her ratio for strike outs to plate appearances is about 12. I am not dumping on Mia. Far from it. Her improvement at the plate over last season was far, far, more than I ever expected. Just that I had a nagging feeling we were reverting to some extent to last year so I looked it up. All in all, I think we need to get off the Mia analysis train (strange thing to say with my above) and move on. She needs to find the proper home in the lineup. I'm not sure where that might be. But I hope it is somewhere.

 

I do think you are right about that with her hitting.... it was more inconsistent as of late.

 

Lamar has a lot of power but I think shes gotta get more consistent from what Tim has said.

 

I am not on or off Layla's bandwagon. I simply only saw scatterings of her travel days. She has a ton of power. Consistency from what I saw might be another issue. I don't recall ever seeing her playing third. Just first base. But, again, it wasn't many opportunities to see her play. I just don't know if she can play third at our level. Time will tell, I guess. We had a lock down player at third with years left in her career and we drove her off when it did not need to happen.