Well, I am almost out of words. "Almost". To the chagrin of the assembled here, not quite. I suppose UT finally winning it was a just reward. Just not sure. In the deepest recesses of my memory...and nothing I can specify with any clarity, I believe I have seen something similar where the home run hitter missed home and then went back and touched it and it was ruled a home run. The difference here is that she was led back to the plate by a UCLA player (who should get a medal for this) who knew she missed the plate. She did not leave the batter's area. The problem I have with all of that is don't tell me it is unreviewable. It is either legal or illegal and that should be the ruling. That is above my pay grade. I just don't know. The home plate ump did not miss it. They immediately went to conference and then the ruling was up to the faces behind the scene. Apparently there was another issue, which I missed, where a runner screwed up the infield fly rule and was called out for leaving the base. Or something like that. As I said, I missed that one. But that's not my primary rant. And you all thought I was done. No chance. I have over and over and over ranted about the sheer stupidity and blatant ignorance of not mandating a safety bag at first base. Not just because somewhere during a season, somewhere across the country, it may save a violent collision at first with multiple players seriously injured. If it was just once, that's enough. But that isn't, and never has been, my other point. A safety bag keeps the batter running to first base in the proper lane. In this case in the 6th inning the UCLA batter was absolutely running the entire way one to two feet in the proper lane. Not a question. Her last one to two steps she MUST veer to the left in order to touch a bag that is 100% in fair territory. There is no safety bag in her proper lane of travel. In this case she did veer to the left, as she must, and was still on the foul line AND THEY CALLED HER OUT FOR INTERFERENCE. There are so many rules in this game that are dumb on their face. Interference...obstruction...etc. Not only are the rules absurd on their face but the interpretation and enforcement of the rules is even more insane. There is no consistency and often what seems to be an ultimate ruling in conflict with the written rule. Stupidity is ruining this game. Yes, I'm done...unless I think of something else. Rant over to your relief.
It is true. I refrained from posting it here. There are some unhappy campers in Mudville. I don't know how deep it goes. But that should have stayed in the locker room and not on social media for all to see.
This was posted by Keagan on IG. keaganrothrock A year full of growth and learning around the ones who make it all worth it. Go Gators forever
Well, I guess that means at a minimum that Jocey, Keagan and Taylor are back. I hope Red is back. I think Olivia is a lock to come back. Mia's mom's inflammatory post also said that "Mia will be playing with a new bunch of girls" so I guess that means she is back. There are clearly some internal issues that have to be resolved. We will see what happens.
I guess these internal issues somewhat explains why some posters seemed to think something was off all year with this team. In reference to what Mrs Williams posted, who exactly was CTW going to ask to bunt and play small ball with? Outside of Falby, I don't know of too many that are great at bunting in the lineup put out everyday.
Rant on...so now a pitcher, who is within the time clock...can't have her hands together for more than five seconds???? Who comes up with this crap?
A post like what Mia's mom posted is not acceptable. Mia probably does not even play anywhere and gets benched last season at any other school (possibly even this season), but Walton always gave her the benefit of the doubt she would produce. Also, Walton has stated he has tried to get top pitchers but most don't want to pitch behind rothrock/brown or they go somewhere that offered them more NIL. If she wants to talk bad about the pitchers we have, then maybe she should give NIL money to the program so that they can get a top pitcher. A lot of people on the robocoach softball forum agree this looks bad on her part and just screams entitlement. Mia does not give off those vibes, I wouldn't be surprised if she told her mom to take it down.
I'm usually a fan of CTW and he has forgotten more about the sport than I'll ever know, but why did he start a pitcher with the highest ERA on the team to pitch our last game in WCWS.
Don't know but there is something related that confuses me. He was asked why he pitched Kara. He replied something to the effect "Keagan is dealing with a blister issue. If we had been in the winner's bracket it might have been different." I don't understand the point about winner's bracket versus loser's bracket. Another day of rest? Can't think of anything else. Perhaps someone can explain that to me.
I thought Ava Brown was underused in the circle this year, especially down the stretch and in the post season. She's proved her value last year as a true freshman when she & Keagan carried the load pretty much by themselves.
Off topic but of interest here: https://www.mlb.com/news/jac-caglia...s-index&rsid=mlbios.at.bat.new.implementation
Dont know why but seems to me she was underused batting too. Batting role not solidified until later in season. Called on to pitch in many difficult situations and passed over for starts when she was probably our best chance. Wish we knew more.
With regards to bunting, if you can’t bunt a pitch with any consistency, you probably can’t hit the same with consistency by swinging. When the defense opens the door to a bunt you’ve got to be able to execute. Opposing teams have really taken advantage of our strengths and weaknesses at the plate this year. I hope we are never again in a position of not being able to bunt when the opportunity presents. You cant let the defense adjust to gain the advantage due to your weakness. I would also love to see our batters have the green light to swing whenever a good pitch comes. The idea of making a pitcher work deep into counts shouldn’t be the predominate goal. It probably had more value in the past, but pitching has gotten so refined, that it isn’t really a dependable strategy today. More often than not, it gives away the first strike or two, and then puts all the pressure on the batter to try and survive on one strike. This generally results in a strike out or weak hit ball. With regards to pitching and the portal, we do have recruit Leah Steven’s coming. I don’t know anything about who assessed her skills and how they project her skill set will do at the top level, but she has outstanding stats from her Highschool career. The caveat here is we’ve had other pitchers with similar stats unable to be competitive at D1, so we shall see if she possesses a mix of pitches that will allow her to be competitive. Go Gators!
Ava was struggling hitting beginning of the season. Walton spoke about it. Her pitching was good and we needed her arm more than bat when Keagen was out. Her bat finally came alive as the season went on and he opportunities there didnt go away.
