Texas Softball 2024 - Farewell to the Big 12 (and back to OKC?)

[BurntOrange&White 38905]

4 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

Multi-purpose Waste Tank Facility?

Please respect our women.

[Js1 83786]

5 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

Texas played lazy and uninspired for most of that series with the ags. Ford and her team did not display that potent of an offense all year....take away Cannon's incredible run at the plate and a fluke dinger from Grimace, and we win convincingly. If Texas and the ags played 10 games, I would be shocked if the Horns didn't win 7-8 of them. Texas and OU are the two best teams in the country, and I don't think it is that close. Both can be beat if they play lazy and uninspired, or if the pitching has a off day, but they are by far the best two teams.

I said at the time, I felt like we played with too much pressure on our shoulders.  More than 1 coach has said that the super regional at home carries almost as much pressure as OKC - the expectation to win and advance, at home, in front of your own fans.  We look like the pressure just got to us early every game, combined with an underseeded aggy team playing over thier heads. Young team, #1 seed, expected to advance to OKC, playing your in-state rival.... we didn't handle it well, but we fought and clawed our way out of the supers and look at us now. 

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

Yeah now we have another super but this time as a road team.

[dcar00 13962]

27 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Yes our defense has been very good minus a hiccup here or there, which all teams have. OF defense especially has been excellent at the WCWS. Team just hit a different level after aggy put the fear of god in us

If I’m Trisha Ford, I’m stabbing a voodoo doll everyday of the committee who seeded them 16. That was just such bullshit 

the Texas v aggy NCAA/media matchup hyperventilating giveth and taketh away.

Edited June 4 by dcar00

[kingkoopa6 8279]

So that bunt was ass right, for our run?

bad bounce back to ocanada? Lucky Alyssa a pickle monster. 
 

plus why we ain’t keep bunting with no outs. With runners on second and third?

 

[The_Great_Hornsby 3306]

3 minutes ago, kingkoopa6 said:

So that bunt was ass right, for our run?

bad bounce back to ocanada? Lucky Alyssa a pickle monster. 
 

plus why we ain’t keep bunting with no outs. With runners on second and third?

 

Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Honestly, in softball the bunt is much more effective and really should be employed more against elite pitchers. Lots of things can go wrong trying to field a bunt. 

[perfectchaos007 6544]

I wouldn’t mind seeing our speedier players (Bella, Henry) attempt to lay down bunts with 0 outs more

[Js1 83786]

3 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing our speedier players (Bella, Henry) attempt to lay down bunts with 0 outs more

That's what I been saying

Bella, Scott, Henry need to be laying down bunts to get things going.  Force the defense to make plays.  One or two successful bunt singles and suddenly the infield pinches in and you hit away your next at-bat right past them. 

[BurntOrange&White 38905]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

That's what I been saying

Bella, Scott, Henry need to be laying down bunts to get things going.  Force the defense to make plays.  One or two successful bunt singles and suddenly the infield pinches in and you hit away your next at-bat right past them. 

I also think we saw a very conservative approach yesterday, likely by design.

[Js1 83786]

23 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I also think we saw a very conservative approach yesterday, likely by design.

Risky but glad it worked out. 

Mike did the opposite of Patty and threw TK, going for the win in the circle instead of knowing you have an elimination game in your back pocket.  But I thought we weren't aggressive enough at the plate with the lack of small ball until late.  Could have come back to bite us in the butt. 

Anyone who watched the rest of the WCWS after Thursday knew the Canady we saw on Thursday night wasn't the same one that pitched Friday and Sunday.  She's been so money in elimination games and last night was no exception.  

Edited June 4 by Js1

[Hard Times 286]

27 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing our speedier players (Bella, Henry) attempt to lay down bunts with 0 outs more

Sure, I like it when it's executed correctly, but Henry almost cost a double play bunting a high pitch. Maloney has lived on the bunt all season. But the batters have to understand you can't bunt a high pitch, you have to pull back. And Canady's ride ball is very hard to bunt anyway, moving upward at that velocity. She's trying to get a pop out.

They have to also understand if the pitcher isn't going to give you a good pitch to bunt, let them walk you.

[FloridaHorn 4726]

36 minutes ago, Js1 said:

That's what I been saying

Bella, Scott, Henry need to be laying down bunts to get things going.  Force the defense to make plays.  One or two successful bunt singles and suddenly the infield pinches in and you hit away your next at-bat right past them. 

Small ball used to be the name of the game. Now, everyone wants to hit HRs...The greatest coach to ever live, Mike Candrea, once famously said "Get em' on, Get em' over, and Get em' in." That stategy still works when you have speed like Texas, especially when facing an elite pitcher. It makes the pitcher move and field the position, it puts pressure on the defense, and it only takes one misplay to score a few runs. I would like to see Maloney, Bella, Henry and occasionally Scott play this way. Scott less so, because she also has great gap to gap power. 

 

The bunt that scored Washington appeared to me to be a safety squeeze, where Washington is supposed to read the play before running. She broke for home instantly, and almost got picked off. Luckily for the Horns, Stanford played that pickle situation totally wrong. From little league on you are taught to force the runner back to the previous base. They decided to chase her all the way home. 

[Js1 83786]

2 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

Small ball used to be the name of the game. Now, everyone wants to hit HRs...The greatest coach to ever live, Mike Candrea, once famously said "Get em' on, Get em' over, and Get em' in." That stategy still works when you have speed like Texas, especially when facing an elite pitcher. It makes the pitcher move and field the position, it puts pressure on the defense, and it only takes one misplay to score a few runs. I would like to see Maloney, Bella, Henry and occasionally Scott play this way. Scott less so, because she also has great gap to gap power. 

 

The bunt that scored Washington appeared to me to be a safety squeeze, where Washington is supposed to read the play before running. She broke for home instantly, and almost got picked off. Luckily for the Horns, Stanford played that pickle situation totally wrong. From little league on you are taught to force the runner back to the previous base. They decided to chase her all the way home. 

Washington said she recognized the ball was in the glove, not her hand, so she knew she had time bc the fielder needed to transfer the ball first to make the throw home. A very seasoned move by an infielder to see that and make a decision 

[Gut Wagon 8039]

8 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

Small ball used to be the name of the game. Now, everyone wants to hit HRs...The greatest coach to ever live, Mike Candrea, once famously said "Get em' on, Get em' over, and Get em' in." That stategy still works when you have speed like Texas, especially when facing an elite pitcher. It makes the pitcher move and field the position, it puts pressure on the defense, and it only takes one misplay to score a few runs. I would like to see Maloney, Bella, Henry and occasionally Scott play this way. Scott less so, because she also has great gap to gap power. 

 

The bunt that scored Washington appeared to me to be a safety squeeze, where Washington is supposed to read the play before running. She broke for home instantly, and almost got picked off. Luckily for the Horns, Stanford played that pickle situation totally wrong. From little league on you are taught to force the runner back to the previous base. They decided to chase her all the way home. 

Speed and short basepaths clearly are made for small ball. As noted, we have speed aplenty.

We're extremely lucky to have had Stanford botch that rundown...not to mention their terrible E4 to get that rally started. But faced with the option of hitting Canady for power vs. getting errors from an infield that's been lulled to sleep watching her dominate, I'll take my chances with the latter every time. 

Edited June 4 by Gut Wagon

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

5 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Washington said she recognized the ball was in the glove, not her hand, so she knew she had time bc the fielder needed to transfer the ball first to make the throw home. A very seasoned move by an infielder to see that and make a decision 

That’s smart ball right there. And also why pickles are taught to show the ball up high and only bring it back to your glove if you are making a tag- quicker throw and the other player can see it at all times. 

Edited June 4 by Pato del Muerto

[Jive Turkey 12444]

[Jive Turkey 12444]

12 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

The first walk in the 7th today when they were down 9-3 or whatever was real funny. At least the second girl handled herself. 

Homegirl caught hell on social media. 

 

[Js1 83786]

I commend other coaches for not encouraging or allowing their team to do the same in response. Like Kirby Smart, Gasso can find any slights to use to turn her supremely talented, experienced 3 time champ team into the plucky, motivated underdog 

[Cairn Horn88 8089]

1 hour ago, kingkoopa6 said:

So that bunt was ass right, for our run?

bad bounce back to ocanada? Lucky Alyssa a pickle monster. 
 

plus why we ain’t keep bunting with no outs. With runners on second and third?

 

Bunts are highly under-valued in softball…..

[Js1 83786]

Only because @LTtxfan mentioned it 1000 times Thursday night -

Only 1 walk for TK this time. And that AB featured 6 strikes with 4 of them being called balls 

[bschoolprof 6221]

lulz.  Love the CDC reference.  

 

[FloridaHorn 4726]

15 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

Homegirl caught hell on social media. 

 

The funnier moment was when Boone was on 1st celebrating, not realizing her ball was caught by the Florida CF. I hope OU wins and then I hope we beat their clown asses in two straight to end the streak.

[bschoolprof 6221]

32 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

The bunt that scored Washington appeared to me to be a safety squeeze, where Washington is supposed to read the play before running. She broke for home instantly, and almost got picked off. Luckily for the Horns, Stanford played that pickle situation totally wrong. From little league on you are taught to force the runner back to the previous base. They decided to chase her all the way home. 

In my day, the traditional safety squeeze had the runner read the bunt down on the ground (as opposed to a take or a ball up in the air), and then go.  There is of course still the risk of getting thrown out.  But that's ok - it was the right call ex ante and I don't have a problem that it might not have worked out.  MW talked about this in his PC; even if we get thrown out there, we still have runners at 2 and 3 with one out.  Of course Canday balled out after that!

[Js1 83786]

1 minute ago, FloridaHorn said:

The funnier moment was when Boone was on 1st celebrating, not realizing her ball was caught by the Florida CF. I hope OU wins and then I hope we beat their clown asses in two straight to end the streak.

I don't think Florida wins, but if they did, the softball world might be on notice - two of the youngest teams in the country in the finals.

Just now, bschoolprof said:

In my day, the traditional safety squeeze had the runner read the bunt down on the ground (as opposed to a take or a ball up in the air), and then go.  There is of course still the risk of getting thrown out.  But that's ok - it was the right call ex ante and I don't have a problem that it might not have worked out.  MW talked about this in his PC; even if we get thrown out there, we still have runners at 2 and 3 with one out.  Of course Canday balled out after that!

I'm sure our strategy would have changed had that out been recorded. I'd hope....

[MrX 693]

I hope OU loses today 75-0. If they don’t, then I hope they lose tomorrow 80-0. 

[BurntOrange&White 38905]

After the squeeze I feel like our next two batters were trying too hard instead of just trying to make contact. Both were terrible ABs but I'll chalk it up to being excited about the moment.

Edited June 4 by BurntOrange&White

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

2 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

In my day, the traditional safety squeeze had the runner read the bunt down on the ground (as opposed to a take or a ball up in the air), and then go.  There is of course still the risk of getting thrown out.  But that's ok - it was the right call ex ante and I don't have a problem that it might not have worked out.  MW talked about this in his PC; even if we get thrown out there, we still have runners at 2 and 3 with one out.  Of course Canday balled out after that!

You talking about baseball with a walking lead from 3rd?  I’m guessing a safety squeeze is a little bit different mechanically with how the girls take off from the bases as the pitch is thrown. More momentum headed home, everything shorter, so even less time to be able to read and react. 

[Goodman 3272]

24 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

Me yelling at my kids during pickle drills: Start walking up the line a few feet in order to give 3rd baseman a good target and not allow a slide to beat you.

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

After the squeeze I feel like our next two batters were trying too hard instead of just trying to make contact. Both were terrible ABs but I'll chalk it up to being excited about the moment.

Those were the abs to slap looking for soft contact or a high chopper. 

[RockyMountainHighHorn 888]

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Those were the abs to slap looking for soft contact or a high chopper. 

Yeah but it was way too quick-2 pitches 2 easy pop outs. Why not wait for the right pitch?

[Rickylovesweed 14087]

The wild thing about the winning run is there's no way Washington even goes home unless she thinks Mitchell is headed to 3rd,

That would have likely been 1st and 2nd with 1 out had Mitchell not acted like she was headed to 3rd. 

[dcar00 13962]

42 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

You talking about baseball with a walking lead from 3rd?  I’m guessing a safety squeeze is a little bit different mechanically with how the girls take off from the bases as the pitch is thrown. More momentum headed home, everything shorter, so even less time to be able to read and react. 

good point.  you can't really gain an advantage with your lead in SB.  It was a helluva a play by washington.  

it wasn't a particularly good bunt.  needed to be to the first base side.

[Hard Times 286]

35 minutes ago, RockyMountainHighHorn said:

Yeah but it was way too quick-2 pitches 2 easy pop outs. Why not wait for the right pitch?

I think he/she answered that, trying to hard; overanxious. But true that's the worst thing you can do is swing at Canady's rise ball up in the zone. You can't get on top of it, it's just going to be a pop-up. 

And Canady will probably be at gooner next year. She's not going to win a NC at Stanford unless they get 9 new batters that can hit the ball. She'll fit in with the gooners perfectly. Acting like a drunk animal when you're down 6 in the last inning and stomping up and down like a moron when you get a strikeout is par the course for those idiots. I'm glad our pitchers show class. Seems to me like someone once said, "act like you've been there before".

[dcar00 13962]

43 minutes ago, RockyMountainHighHorn said:

Yeah but it was way too quick-2 pitches 2 easy pop outs. Why not wait for the right pitch?

that would have been a good time for an offensive TO.

[dcar00 13962]

1 minute ago, Hard Times said:

I think he/she answered that, trying to hard; overanxious. But true that's the worst thing you can do is swing at Canady's rise ball up in the zone. You can't get on top of it, it's just going to be a pop-up. 

And Canady will probably be at gooner next year. She's not going to win a NC at Stanford unless they get 9 new batters that can hit the ball. She'll fit in with the gooners perfectly. Acting like a drunk animal when you're down 6 in the last inning and stomping up and down like a moron when you get a strikeout is par the course for those idiots. I'm glad our pitchers show class. Seems to me like someone once said, "act like you've been there before".

she can add the Jordy Bahl exaggerated head nodding to the repertoire.

[Js1 83786]

7 minutes ago, Hard Times said:

And Canady will probably be at gooner next year. She's not going to win a NC at Stanford unless they get 9 new batters that can hit the ball. She'll fit in with the gooners perfectly. Acting like a drunk animal when you're down 6 in the last inning and stomping up and down like a moron when you get a strikeout is par the course for those idiots. I'm glad our pitchers show class. Seems to me like someone once said, "act like you've been there before".

Maybe, maybe not.  Allister has taken them to 2 WCWS on the arm of Canady.  Stanford has an issue taking transfers, but they did land Kern last cycle, and they're about to move to a much much easier conference (ACC) that they should do well in.  

They're young-ish too - Canady (soph), Mahler (soph), Chan (soph), Berry (freshman), Jones (soph), Gall (freshamn), Kern (sophomore).  Canady's pitching coach is a former Stanford pitcher and Allister is also a former Stanford catcher.   They're also bringing in a class that features #5 and #6 ranked players. 

I think probably Allister can convince her to stay for one more year to get the Stanford degree first. 

Edited June 4 by Js1

[dcar00 13962]

1 hour ago, Jive Turkey said:

I watched the play again.  the key(besides our player's speed) is the catcher and 1B kind of get confused.  the C starts to back up to take the throw which causes the 1B to back up. then the C moves out of the way but the 1B is behind the plate and only gets a little closer causing her to catch the ball at the plate instead of in front of it.

C probably should have stayed to take the throw.

[chiu1040 62]

I feel like the Stanford infielder making a soft underhanded toss made a difference also.

[dcar00 13962]

5 minutes ago, chiu1040 said:

I feel like the Stanford infielder making a soft underhanded toss made a difference also.

maybe but I thought the toss was pretty good from that short distance.  the problem was she held it too long and kept the ball in the glove.

you've got to get the ball back to the plate quicker.  your worst case situation is a run scores.  out or bases loaded is better.  she obviously thought she could run her down.

I know it is bad rundown procedure for baseball coaches but you also can't fake a throw when the ball is in your glove either.

Edited June 4 by dcar00

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Catcher probably should have brought the ball/glove to the ground instead of trying to tag her head. 

[Js1 83786]

They ain’t all so smart I guess 

[FloridaHorn 4726]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Maybe, maybe not.  Allister has taken them to 2 WCWS on the arm of Canady.  Stanford has an issue taking transfers, but they did land Kern last cycle, and they're about to move to a much much easier conference (ACC) that they should do well in.  

They're young-ish too - Canady (soph), Mahler (soph), Chan (soph), Berry (freshman), Jones (soph), Gall (freshamn), Kern (sophomore).  Canady's pitching coach is a former Stanford pitcher and Allister is also a former Stanford catcher.   They're also bringing in a class that features #5 and #6 ranked players. 

I think probably Allister can convince her to stay for one more year to get the Stanford degree first. 

I also heard last night that Canady's brother plays football at Cal, so apparently the family is serious about their kids academics.

44 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Catcher probably should have brought the ball/glove to the ground instead of trying to tag her head. 

That's the 1st base person. The catcher ran herself out of the play on the throw to 3rd.

[Cairn Horn88 8089]

51 minutes ago, Js1 said:

They ain’t all so smart I guess 

The catcher really blew this play.  She should’ve run the runner back to 3rd.  She threw the ball too soon, allowing the runner to break to the plate.  Great base running, bad defense execution.

[Js1 83786]

Maxwell starts off with a walk.  Excellent. 

[bschoolprof 6221]

I was on the other thread.  homer!

[Js1 83786]

BOOOOOOOOOOM

2-0 Gata

[InkaUtexas 24936]

Fuck off OU!

I am a gator fan today for sure.

[FloridaHorn 4726]

damn, what a start.

[Js1 83786]

My bad, wasn't paying attention my tabs haha

[BurntOrange&White 38905]

TBH I'd rather root for OU to lose....just seems right