As for next year, there were two things that many are concerned about.

First, with Hoover and Walljasper gone, will our pitching be among the worst in the SEC?

Absolutely not. In the series with Florida, that question was answered. We didn't have two good pitchers on the team, we had FOUR. To see two freshman hold Florida down the way they did, I think we will be not just alright, but have the best pitching crew in the SEC. Florida will have Barnhill, but Ocasio is gone. In Georgia, they have lost Gray, their ace. Kentucky lost Rethlake. Auburn has lost Carlson and Bilodeau just transferred to Fla State. Tennessee will return Moss, and Arnold, but they are middle of the road.

We will be ok with pitching, and Beth is as good a pitching coach as anybody else... she did a great job with Carly, Allie, Maribeth, and Shelby. Next year, Wickersham will play for us, and though she may end up #3, I have confidence in Beth's ability to develop her and the other freshman coming in.

The other question, not yet answered is, will next year's lineup look exactly the same, the only difference being Griggs will not be there?

I hope, if Schulte returns to the starting lineup, that she has a totally new batting approach. She has power, if she can get her hitting straight, she will be an asset to the team for next year.

Beth now finds herself in a tough spot. Weinberger, Thornhill, Springfield, and Sunseri, if put in the right position, are good enough to start. Many complained about Beth alternating Antoine and Weinberger, and for some reason, Antoine got the nod. I think part of the reason is because Weinberger is probably the best and smartest base-runner on the team, and that is the role she plays. Sad, because she is a rock solid outfielder. Her OBP was good.

Thornhill has to start her senior year. Pinch-hitting is not going to show you how good someone can hit. If you really want to know, let her play four or five games in a row, four at-bats per game. She is a smart kid.

Then we got Bourg coming back, and she is a natural ball player, versatile, can bunt really well. I am sure she is expecting to either play centerfield or second base.

One thing I hope Beth does move away from is playing the same lineup every single game. Florida and Tennessee move their players around. UCLA's coach sat her team down at the beginning of the year and warned them their role they play may change from week-to-week, and they all understood it.

We cannot PENCIL-IN anybody. Any promises made to the players has to be conditional....HIT, or sit. I dont care how good you play in the field..

They say we have some good recruits coming in.... we will have to wait and see. Their numbers they put up in high school are meaningless. When we see them play, how they approach batting, how they field and how they throw, their mechanics, that will give us an idea of how well they will do.

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Posted by LSUGrad9295

Baton Rouge

Member since May 2007

33566 posts

Posted on 5/29/18 at 10:42 pm to Bhs1983

quote:
We cannot PENCIL-IN anybody. Any promises made to the players has to be conditional....HIT, or sit. I dont care how good you play in the field..

The unquestioned givens are Andrews, Antoine, Sunseri and Doyle. There should be no doubt about these 4. But here is what I think will also happen:

Sanchez is going to play. She played an above-average 3rd base and I think her batting average doesn't tell the story of how good a hitter she was this year. She seems to be one of the best at working counts and it seems to me like she hit a LOT of loud outs this year and she had a ton of clutch hits. She isn't going anywhere, nor do I think she should.

Serrett is going to play. She makes plays at shortstop that most in the league can't make. She also isn't going anywhere....whether anyone thinks she should or not. But she has got to figure out where her hitting stroke went. We have seen her do it. Even if she hits .275, that's fine. Just get above .220.

Thornhill is going to play. From what I heard from several places, she was absolutely on a tear before Hoover broke her arm with a pitch in a pre-season scrimmage. Once she came back, she never really had a chance to get into the lineup because Antoine had won right field. I think she will be a big contributor.

Bourg is going to play. I don't think they brought her back to sit and watch her senior year. She can play 2nd or outfield, so unless she has a terrible pre-season, I think she fits somewhere.

So, where does that leave Schlattman, Springfield, Schulte, Goff, Weinberger, and Caccamise?

I honestly don't follow recruiting at all...but from what I have picked up on, apparently we have signed a good defensive catcher. Schlattman showed that she can be a torrid power hitter when she gets hot, and I honestly think she got a lot better defensively as the season wore on and she learned the position more...but is she an SEC-caliber catcher?

I think Weinberger is still going to be the pinch-runner and occasional outfielder. I have never thought she would be a starter, even though some of the resident know-it-alls kept clamoring for her to get more AB.

I would hope to God that Schulte isn't guaranteed a spot anywhere. I also thought she was an above average defender, but it seemed like her errors were very glaring (the ball through the legs at Tennessee and the dropped throw at 1st vs. ULL in the game we lost come immediately to mind). I sincerely hope that kid can put her offensive misery behind her and have a good fall and spring and be ready to compete for playing time.

From what little we saw of Caccamise, I don't really see her fitting into the future plans here.

As for Goff and Springfield...who knows. Springfield has shown flashes, but not consistently enough. Her injury didn't help, of course.

It is 2018 and we live in the age of college free-agency. Who is going to transfer? It is almost a given. I have zero knowledge on the inside, but if you told me someone was going to transfer, I would think it would be from the trio of Springfield, Caccamise, or Goff. Just my 2 cents.

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Posted by semjase