2019 Texas Softball - Connie's overboard, Anchors Aweigh!

[bamachine 1,230]

Congrats, hope your girls enjoy their trip to Tuscaloosa but not too much.

[Valmy77 13,092]

14 minutes ago, bamachine said:

Congrats, hope your girls enjoy their trip to Tuscaloosa but not too much.

I hope your girls enjoy having them as guests but not too much.

[pacman 7,309]

Hey now, dark times of late. They can do whatever in year one of rebuild.

[Js1 85,056]

14/16 regional host seeds have moved on.

2 more will be decided today. 

There was drama -

Regionals who went to game 7 - Norman, Evanston, Austin, Knoxville, Oxford, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles

Some big time performances on Sunday - no-hitter thrown by Washington; Elish throwing 2 straight regional championship games and 4 elimination games in a row over 2 days; Ole Miss walked off to the supers

Some interesting things - OU's offense didn't look that good in their regional outside of their first game - 4, 1, 2 runs in their final 3 games (2-1); Alabama gave up 14 runs in 3 games and needing to come back and win over ASU in game 6 (9-8); UF didn't allow a run in their regional

[Js1 85,056]

Since the disaster versus OSU in the Big 12 tournament, Elish brought her ERA down from 1.93 to 1.68 and has gone: 

31 IP
20 hits
4 runs / 2 ER
3 BB
32 K
ERA for that stretch: 0.45
 

[bschoolprof 6,232]

Miranda is a beast.  I just hope she can hold up.

Really proud of this team and Coach White for getting it done when we had to.  

 

[Js1 85,056]

4 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Miranda is a beast.  I just hope she can hold up.

Really proud of this team and Coach White for getting it done when we had to.  

 

From the Houston Chronicle article about it:

Quote

As for Elish, she’s prepared for the next challenge. She looked almost incredulous when asked about being tired after all those pitches.

“No,” Elish said with a smirk. “I’m ready for Alabama.”

 

[Machinator 32,097]

 

[TrashMaster G 17,379]

I'm proud of the Longhorns and am excite for the Supers.  We are miles away from where we were a year ago and that is good.

Miranda is the truth.  Taking the bat and smacking a big double while pitching a SO in the final last night was so kickass.

I hope Connie is choking on all that money she stole from UT.  (Not that I am bitter)

14, 15 or 16 regional hosts winning points to a sport that is not at all deep.  That's just kinda sad and uninteresting.  Upsets and underdogs make these tournaments exciting.

[Kel Varnsen 8,425]

Elish is allowed to date and marry my son.

[Pato del Muerto 52,321]

She’s real quick with the hookems for a year 1 transfer who probably didn’t give Texas a look in high school. 

[Kel Varnsen 8,425]

I'm sure Connie never even contacted her

[Js1 85,056]

14 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

14, 15 or 16 regional hosts winning points to a sport that is not at all deep.  That's just kinda sad and uninteresting.  Upsets and underdogs make these tournaments exciting.

True to an extent.  I think the top 4 are heads and shoulders above the other 12 hosts.  But seeing nearly half of all seeds go to a winner-take-all shows a little parity?  Home field still rules to an extent.  It is so fucking important to be a top 16 seed. 

[Js1 85,056]

Just now, Kel Varnsen said:

I'm sure Connie never even contacted her

1) She's from Indiana.  If they aren't from Texas or California, did Clark even look at them?

2) She committed to Oregon in 2012, as a high school freshman.  Clark's dumb ass "lady's agreement" was to never recruit someone who was already committed elsewhere.  Meaning she never had a chance to even give Elish an offer. 

[TrashMaster G 17,379]

8 minutes ago, Js1 said:

True to an extent.  I think the top 4 are heads and shoulders above the other 12 hosts.  But seeing nearly half of all seeds go to a winner-take-all shows a little parity?  Home field still rules to an extent.  It is so fucking important to be a top 16 seed. 

The tournament is almost the same format as baseball. (Identical until you get to the CWS) I don't recall that nearly so many hosts winning in the baseball Regionals, but I could be wrong.

[Js1 85,056]

That made me curious to go back and look:

2009 - all but one player from Texas/California (Desiree Williams from Arizona)
2010 - everyone Texas/California
2011 - Texas/California
2012 - Texas/California
2013 - all but one player from Texas/California (Taylor King from Florida)
2014 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Lauren Slatten from Ohio but played freshman/sophomore ball in Texas)
2015 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Slatten)
2016 - all but one player from Texas/California (Reagan Hathaway from Kansas)
2017 - all but one player from Texas/California (Hathaway)
2018 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (Hathaway and MK Tedder from Alabama)
2019 - all of Connie's recruits from Texas/California except Hathaway and Tedder;  Espinosa was a late Mike White add after his hire (Colorado)

She was a lazy bitch of a recruiter.  Grab the 2nd-tier Texas recruits after Evans, Gasso, Torina, Murphy and Walton snatched up the 1st tier and used her CSF connections to get some California girls.  Rarely if ever deviated from these 2 states. 

[Js1 85,056]

6 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

The tournament is almost the same format as baseball. (Identical until you get to the CWS) I don't recall that nearly so many hosts winning in the baseball Regionals, but I could be wrong.

It looks a lot like WBB - there's not a lot of upsets in the first couple rounds (that are at a team's home site).  

[TrashMaster G 17,379]

Makes you wonder how many of those non-Texas/Cali recruits has some personal connection to Connie or initiated recruiting contact themselves.

There are sad similarities between her recruiting and the final years of the baseball program under Gus.  The difference being her lack of skins on the wall.

[LTtxfan 48,928]

16 minutes ago, Js1 said:

2017 - all but one player from Texas/California  2018 - all but 2 players from Texas/California  2019 - all of Connie's recruits from Texas/California except Hathaway and Tedder;  Espinosa was a late Mike White add 

She was a lazy bitch of a recruiter.  Grab the 2nd-tier Texas recruits after Evans, Gasso, Torina, Murphy and Walton snatched up the 1st tier and used her CSF connections to get some California girls.  Rarely if ever deviated from these 2 states. 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Js1 85,056]

10 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Makes you wonder how many of those non-Texas/Cali recruits has some personal connection to Connie or initiated recruiting contact themselves.

There are sad similarities between her recruiting and the final years of the baseball program under Gus.  The difference being her lack of skins on the wall.

It was very Mack/Greg Davis at the end there.  Stayed close to home or in familiar ground (California). I'd imagine Clark has connections to the California travel ball coaches from her playing days in the state.  That's probably the connection.

[FloridaHorn 4,735]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

It looks a lot like WBB - there's not a lot of upsets in the first couple rounds (that are at a team's home site).  

This is because the game still revolves around dominant pitching, and the big programs have the most dominant pitchers. A girl like Barnhill or Elish can throw every inning and gives your team a chance to win every game. The Barnhills of the world ain't going to Sam Houston State. The fact that the game has evolved from a short game mentality to a long ball mentality compounds this. Big swingers are more prone to the K than slapper kids. The transfer portal, unfortunately will make this worse. If a Mid Major program gets lucky and finds that dominant ace, they then have to worry about keeping them for 4 years. Much like Shannon Saile at OU....dominant at FIU for a few years, and then jumps at the opportunity to be the #3 on a great team. 

[TrashMaster G 17,379]

1 minute ago, FloridaHorn said:

This is because the game still revolves around dominant pitching, and the big programs have the most dominant pitchers. A girl like Barnhill or Elish can throw every inning and gives your team a chance to win every game. The Barnhills of the world ain't going to Sam Houston State. The fact that the game has evolved from a short game mentality to a long ball mentality compounds this. Big swingers are more prone to the K than slapper kids. The transfer portal, unfortunately will make this worse. If a Mid Major program gets lucky and finds that dominant ace, they then have to worry about keeping them for 4 years. Much like Shannon Saile at OU....dominant at FIU for a few years, and then jumps at the opportunity to be the #3 on a great team. 

Not disagreeing with any of this, but the other big issue is that there is just not the depth of talent.  WBB is a prime example of this.  Contrast it with MBB, where there is so much more top talent to go around.  They can't ALL go to the same schools, so it spreads around, creates more parity and, as a result, more upset and excitement come tourney time.

[ruitxn 295]

25 minutes ago, Js1 said:

That made me curious to go back and look:

2009 - all but one player from Texas/California (Desiree Williams from Arizona)
2010 - everyone Texas/California
2011 - Texas/California
2012 - Texas/California
2013 - all but one player from Texas/California (Taylor King from Florida)
2014 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Lauren Slatten from Ohio but played freshman/sophomore ball in Texas)
2015 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Slatten)
2016 - all but one player from Texas/California (Reagan Hathaway from Kansas)
2017 - all but one player from Texas/California (Hathaway)
2018 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (Hathaway and MK Tedder from Alabama)
2019 - all of Connie's recruits from Texas/California except Hathaway and Tedder;  Espinosa was a late Mike White add after his hire (Colorado)

She was a lazy bitch of a recruiter.  Grab the 2nd-tier Texas recruits after Evans, Gasso, Torina, Murphy and Walton snatched up the 1st tier and used her CSF connections to get some California girls.  Rarely if ever deviated from these 2 states. 

Interesting.  Thanks for the research

[Js1 85,056]

15 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

This is because the game still revolves around dominant pitching, and the big programs have the most dominant pitchers. A girl like Barnhill or Elish can throw every inning and gives your team a chance to win every game. The Barnhills of the world ain't going to Sam Houston State. The fact that the game has evolved from a short game mentality to a long ball mentality compounds this. Big swingers are more prone to the K than slapper kids. The transfer portal, unfortunately will make this worse. If a Mid Major program gets lucky and finds that dominant ace, they then have to worry about keeping them for 4 years. Much like Shannon Saile at OU....dominant at FIU for a few years, and then jumps at the opportunity to be the #3 on a great team. 

Yeah the transfer portal is going to change the game.

Look at OU, Texas and Ok State.  OU was FUCKED in the circle before they got Saile and G Juarez - Lopez is good, but it was just her.  Texas was going to be ass without the Oregon 4.  Show carried OSU for a chunk of the season. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Js1

[Js1 85,056]

Statesman says Texas 2019 is one of only 5 teams in the last 11 seasons to come out of the loser's bracket in the regional round and win the regional - Texas 2019, Texas 2012, OU 2017, Tennessee 2012, Jacksonville State 2009. 

See how important it is to a) host and b) win your first game? There's 16 regionals a year x 11 seasons = 176 regionals x 4 teams per regional = 704 teams - only 5 of those teams lost game 1 and made it to supers (less than 1%). 

[Js1 85,056]

Texas @ Alabama gets the Thurs/Fri/Sat regional dates along with OSU @ Florida State.

Everyone else is Friday/Sat/Sunday

[Huckleberry 32,685]

Not disagreeing with any of this, but the other big issue is that there is just not the depth of talent.  WBB is a prime example of this.  Contrast it with MBB, where there is so much more top talent to go around.  They can't ALL go to the same schools, so it spreads around, creates more parity and, as a result, more upset and excitement come tourney time.

As compared to baseball it's because of one pitcher being able to dominate an entire regional like Elish just did. You just can't do that throwing overhand.

 

Basketball is almost all because depth of talent but it takes more than that in a sport like baseball where upsets are way more common. The difference in pitching style is huge in softball in terms of limiting upsets in the long run.

 

[FloridaHorn 4,735]

You simply can't compare the number of upsets in MBB or WBB march madness tournament to upsets in the softball regionals. They are two totally different animals. Double elimination is set up to make sure that the best team wins, more often than not. A mid major program may have a pitcher that gets hot and beats a P5 school once, but the odds are slim that she is going to beat them twice on Sunday, for all the marbles. That is exactly what happened to Houston vs. our Horns. There is lots of talent is the game, but the true dominant pitchers are usually sitting in the P5 dugouts. Unfortunately, kids like Meghan Good at JMU or Nicole Newman at Drake are few and far between. Most would rather sit and have a chance at a ring, than be the ace at a smaller school. Small school softball is like minor league baseball....lots of long bus rides, subway sandwiches, and Comfort Inns....I can promise you that the Florida Gators are riding a bus to OKC and they are grabbing "to go" items from Subway either. 

[FloridaHorn 4,735]

Speaking of Meghan Good and JMU...she just threw a 5 hit shutout in game one vs. Michigan. Let's see if she has enough left in the tank to get them a second time.

[Js1 85,056]

Minny is through.  Michigan/JMU is the final game for a berth to supers.

[spystud13 2,371]

ESPN2 for anyone interested, scoreless in top 2. 

[VirginiaLonghorn 4,750]

1 hour ago, FloridaHorn said:

Speaking of Meghan Good and JMU...she just threw a 5 hit shutout in game one vs. Michigan. Let's see if she has enough left in the tank to get them a second time.

She’s ready ...

[spystud13 2,371]

Solo yack for Good in top 4. #16 this season, she’s fucking skinny too. 

[Kel Varnsen 8,425]

Good is good! HR to take the lead vs MI. She kinda hot too.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Kel Varnsen

[LTtxfan 48,928]

3 hours ago, Js1 said:

Texas @ Alabama gets the Thurs/Fri/Sat regional dates along with OSU @ Florida State.

Everyone else is Friday/Sat/Sunday

Wish Horns had the extra days rest and started on Friday -- any idea how the Thurs vs Friday start for the Bama Super Regional was determined??

[dcar00 14,023]

goes to show 1 great pitcher can get you a long way. get a couple and you are in the catbird seat. Clark failed in that area tremendously the last 5 years.

hope White can change that situation long term also.

I am also somewhat happy our coach doesn't walk to the mound with a clipboard anymore.

[FloridaHorn 4,735]

while an extra days rest would have been nice...the girls will be fine. These kids are used to playing 5 or more games every weekend from their travel ball days.

[Aleemay 304]

5 hours ago, Js1 said:

That made me curious to go back and look:

2009 - all but one player from Texas/California (Desiree Williams from Arizona)
2010 - everyone Texas/California
2011 - Texas/California
2012 - Texas/California
2013 - all but one player from Texas/California (Taylor King from Florida)
2014 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Lauren Slatten from Ohio but played freshman/sophomore ball in Texas)
2015 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (King and Slatten)
2016 - all but one player from Texas/California (Reagan Hathaway from Kansas)
2017 - all but one player from Texas/California (Hathaway)
2018 - all but 2 players from Texas/California (Hathaway and MK Tedder from Alabama)
2019 - all of Connie's recruits from Texas/California except Hathaway and Tedder;  Espinosa was a late Mike White add after his hire (Colorado)

She was a lazy bitch of a recruiter.  Grab the 2nd-tier Texas recruits after Evans, Gasso, Torina, Murphy and Walton snatched up the 1st tier and used her CSF connections to get some California girls.  Rarely if ever deviated from these 2 states. 

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't King also a walk-on? I thought she was on some kind of an ROTC scholarship. 

[LTtxfan 48,928]

58 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Solo yack for Good in top 4. #16 this season, she’s fucking skinny too. 

2-0 JMU leads Michigan after 6 innings...

[spystud13 2,371]

Last 3 for Mich. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Solo yack, 2-1 with 1 out. 

[LTtxfan 48,928]

2 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Solo yack, 2-1 with 1 out. 

Great game.... next batter singles to left for Blue.

One on and still only 1 out

Edited May 20, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Cairn Horn88 8,148]

1 hour ago, spystud13 said:

Solo yack for Good in top 4. #16 this season, she’s fucking skinny too. 

Obviously, could not play for bama.

[LTtxfan 48,928]

5 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Great game.... next batter singles to left for Blue.

One on and still only 1 out

Shot to center.... straight at centerfielder....

2 outs and runner on 1st and

JMU still up 2-1

Edited May 20, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Cairn Horn88 8,148]

Mitch gun is out.

[spystud13 2,371]

JMU wins. 

[LTtxfan 48,928]

Megan Good & JMU upset Michigan...... 2-1

Only unseeded team to advance to the Supers....

(Michigan was the #15 seed)

Edited May 20, 2019 by LTtxfan

[perfectchaos007 6,593]

B1G softball sucks outside of Minny

[Js1 85,056]

Michigan got lucky to host because they won the B1G tournament.  

[Js1 85,056]