BulldogBear's Softball thoughts after being shooed out of Knoxville with a broom
I am very disappointed after this series. I really never dreamed we would be swept and hoped we had more in us to possibly pull the upset series win. So after two SEC weekends and 32 games into the season here are some of my very much off the cuff observations:
1) Tennessee is better than Auburn. Much better. They will continue to rise through the rankings. Not once this weekend, did I really truly honest-to-God feel we were a threat to win past the middle of the 2nd inning. I am referring to just the eye testy feely tension-filled spirit of the game. You could just feel we were in over heads. With the exception of an error and 1 or 2 timely hits, we were not a threat offensively (enough to be considered a threat to come back and win), not once.
2) See above. We still have a long way to go to compete for SEC titles.
3) With but a handful errors, one critical, this season, our OF is solid and Amanda Ivy is everywhere. Her hitting and reliability at the plate has come along superbly as well. She has become quite the gamer in her senior year and is the best outfielder we have, even the best defender period.
4) Our infield is okay but has hurt us at times with sloppy play. It's not that they fall apart that often but when they do it's critical. The kind of thing where a 2 out error results in a big inning instead of zero points and that sort of thing. Again, it's not often but is often decisive.
5) Seitz is sort of our own "high profile" player but although she has some great days (like today!!) doesn't seem to be quite as crisp as last season, neither at the plate nor in the field. She'll probably get back in form.
6) I don't think anybody cares more or gives more effort than Bailey. Adams gets an honorable mention.
7) We don't bunt too much, although it seems to cost us more than it helps us. We bunt when we should or it could be reasonably argued that we should. It's just frustrating to see how we bunt with the right attitude for the most part but it so often turns out that we end up maybe wishing we'd had the out back and tried to see what the hitter could do. I have not observed us turning, nor having turned on us, very many double plays at all. They seem to come once per game if it all. They're just not that common. So, perhaps we should try swinging away. What I mean is that it doesn't seem that the sac bunt, while putting a runner in scoring position, is helping to avoid DPs because they're not that big of risk anyway. I'm talking sac bunts. We're pretty decent at bunting for hits, especially with our slap hitters. Now, I can't really call all of those bunts because the slap sometimes feels like just a hard bunt anyway. But when you slap or bunt it just right, the infield almost no chance. Combine that with speed, like Wink and Nichols, and it's pretty effective at times. The only other thing I would say about the sac bunts is maybe we ought to let 'em throw us a couple of pitches first. If they're trending toward giving us a free base runner, let 'em and if they throw a juicy one, knock it through a gap.
8) I could live with a temporary hiatus on attempting to steal against SEC pitcher-catcher tandems. I feel like we've shot ourselves in the foot in the last two series, killing in infancy the innings when it seems we might manufacture some points.
9) Silkwood still has the stuff but isn't near as nasty as she could be last season. That said, I know nothing of the nature of nor the status of the injury that kept her out the first few weeks of the season, so there's that.
10) Our freshman pitchers, Cori Cooper and Megan Green, have bright futures.
11) No one is more patient at the plate than Toler nor IMO opinion does anyone have a better eye.
12) Holly Ward has come along marvelously. Although, today's game was forgettable in all aspects including pitching, Ward is a real threat to overtake Silkwood as our "best" pitcher. She's right there.
13) I think our offensive strategy is impatient. See 7 and 8 above. I think we could stand to slow down and see what we can do. In this case I think we would be better to see if we might have more success letting things play out on offense instead of trying to force/manufacture runs.
