It is amazing that Texas Tech paid $1 million to bring in Najaree Canady who not once during the season had to intentionally walk a batter. When the time came in the bottom of the 6th inning last night against Texas, Canady tossed 3 borderline hit table balls to the catcher before the slightly off the plate throw that the Texas batter wisely swung at for a two run rbi base hit. May end up being the play of the year. Who was at fault? Did the TT catcher stay too close to home plate? Did the pitcher fail to through wide or otherwise unhittable pitches? Was it a failure to repair by the coaching staff?
Just my opinion here but if the coach is calling pitches until it’s executed (pitch & location) it’s just the suggested pitch. The catcher sets the target also as a suggestion. Only the pitcher can throw and locate the pitch (or fail to do so).
I don’t argue that at all. When I was coaching/calling pitches my guys always had the option to go to a different pitch and/or change locations—they just had to have a sound reason for it.
Wasn't watching but hard to call it a " million $ choak" when Texas Tech would be nowhere near OKC without her.
Honestly, I thought the SS was as much at fault as anyone. That was a routine ground ball and it took her completely by surprise. It had no business leaving the infield.
NiJaree Canady is the best softball pitcher I've seen since Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott. At Stanford and at Texas Tech, she's had very little offensive support and still is dominant in the circle. Her teammates and coaches love her, she's a bulldog and to refer to her as choking is, to me, stupid and uninformed.
That is a serious level of empowering your staff. With all of the analytics and coach control, when do you ever see a pitcher shake off a pitch call anymore. I love your method because not only does it empower the pitcher, it also allows the coach to learn what the pitcher feels comfortable throwing in a difficult situation, what's working for him, and what he feels is his best pitch on any given night. That's puts the human element back into it - something Trackman doesn't account for.
Exactly—I always believed and told my guys that I was feeding them what appeared to be the high percentage chance for success but I never wanted to take away from them their own sense of edge. My objective was to teach them the system and they could apply it to in game scenarios. It was never about me being in control of their game, it was always about them learning how to pitch instead of throw. My guys added pitches with their glove and head shakes moved the pitch to the other side of the plate. In other words he could want that pitch but on the other side of the plate—so all the hitter saw was a head shake (which most hitters thought you were changing pitches which increased their guessing game). That way I could key in (more importantly) pitch to pitch on staying on top of their mechanics. We had a system where key one-two word adjustments made it easier for them to adjust while the pitch count’s running, helping out tremendously with only having two trips to the mound before changing pitchers. Thanks for seeing this.
Canady shook off several pitches last night including in the 7th inning when she shook off two or three on the same pitch and ended up throwing an off speed pitch that was taken for a strike.
Exactly Horns ! I also gave my pitchers full autonomy to shake . Bottom line , it’s the guy or gal executing at nut cuttin time
I’m not a Texas fan but it does my heart good to see Canady getting rocked in game three. Tech tried to buy the championship by giving this incredible pitcher a million dollars and it almost worked for them. Would hate to think that Tech and or other teams will start offering the elite players that kind of money in the non revenue sports. Great for whichever player can get paid but not the path I think anyone wants to see for the sport.
"Hate to think that other teams start offering players that kind of money?" This championship has been bought for the last four years. That's the reasons I am fully satisfied when the Gators make it to the WCWS. Unless you have blank checks, getting to the WCWS needs to define a successful season.
Yeah, TTU is a good story, but the idea of a school that’s never had even remotely this level of success throwing completely irrational cash at one player who can single-handedly carry you to a title goes against everything college sports is supposed to be about. I am not at all a Texas fan, but rooting for them tonight.
Loved that the TT pitcher got bombed in the first inning and they lost. Their public bragging that same day about another million dollar deal was disgusting.
