re: Softball Assistant Lindsey Leftwich named HC @ NC State

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Why would anyone ask her to leave when her group, the defense, was the strength of the team.

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Leftwhich managed the defense (infield) and catching, along with helping with scouting report and hitting w/Dobson.

I think Leftwich brought great things to the table while at LSU. Last year was the first time in quite a while LSU showed pretty good improvement on defense and at catcher, which she SHOULD be given credit along with the rest of the staff and players. But excluding this past season, LSU has been a pretty hot mess on the infield (specifically at catcher) especially since the graduation of Jaquish.

I thank Lefwhich for what she did at LSU and wish her the best at NCST. If you look at stats, LSU was not bad in any category really yet they still finished 6th in the SEC and somehow lost to a young ULL team at home not getting past regionals two years in a row.

New blood was needed somewhere on the coaching staff... Next season will be the last of the COVID seniors, we then proceed to lose Pleasants, Coffey, Briggs, Newland, Carson, Petty and Gutierrez. That will be a lot to replace the following year and will mark the first season where OU and Texas join. So Beth's job (and the rest of the SEC) is only going to get significantly more difficult.



But to me, HITTING quality pitching remains the biggest hurdle for this program, and without improvement in that category, we will struggle to compete for SEC titles and get back to OKC.

OU’s offensive power pressures the opposing teams batters to keep up. So while they do have good pitching there are staffs around the country that are better. They are aided by their powerful offense.

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if I didn’t know any better, I’d think they’d have move the mound back a bit

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That's exactly what happened late 2000s.. the pitching rubber was moved back from 40 to 43 feet. I was coaching HS softball in Texas when you were dating a HS coach there.

Good for NC State and LSU. I've said I don't think that her or Dobson are bad coaches, but that it is just time for them to move on. A little bit of new blood on the coaching staff would hopefully be a good thing.

NC State’s board is excited by the hire.

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That's exactly what happened late 2000s.. the pitching rubber was moved back from 40 to 43 feet. I was coaching HS softball in Texas when you were dating a HS coach there.

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Well, that certainly explains it. Thank you. That was the only thing that made sense to me, but I figured I’d have stumbled upon such a drastic rule change at some point, even as casual of an observer as I’d been. Guess not.

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NC State’s board is excited by the hire.

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I bet they are. I think student/grad assistants ran the team this season

You want to talk about how many different football teams have won titles in the last 15 years or discuss how many programs would be considered top notch?

Being top 10 is not mediocre in any sport, but carry on.

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If he can get Kenny G., then he should do it. I’m just skeptical that is the case. Texas A&M went after him hard last year when they eventually made Ford the highest paid head coach in the SEC. His wife is an A&M alum and he didn’t make the move. I know LSU fans like to think LSU is a Mecca in all sports but it’s just not true. Softball doesn’t have 4 national titles (and 3 by 3 different coaches in the last 20 years) like football and it’s not just down the road from where he grew up like LSU was for Mulkey.

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I mentioned this in the other thread, I think its acceptable to be discouraged and disappointed in how softball has done the last 4 or so years, they had a better regular season this season (still middle of the pack SEC) but they failed to get out of regionals for the 2nd year in a row again

You don't fire Torina (who they just extended recently) unless there is a SURE BET upgrade. The FSU and OSU coaches come to mind really as the only sure upgrades (Patty is never happening).

But IMO Torina will get one more crack at it, she has the opportunity to make a good hire this offseason. And if she can't get it done with next years team before the vast majority of the contributors exhaust eligibility then the writing is on the wall for Torina as Texas and OU make their way into the SEC.


LSU will lose Pleasants, Briggs, Coffey, Newland, Gutierrez, Carson and Petty after next season. After that its gonna be a massive rebuild replacing that much experience and proven production.