Softball poll, LSU #10 , comments

LSU at #10 after losing two games this past weekend against two teams that are probably going to be in OKC this year.

Since both of the losses were games that were not shown on TV or on ESPN3, most of us followed on Live Stats.

Though I think it is too early to guess at why the offense hasn't scored much, some things that are problematic are not new issues.

We know that we need a catcher that the opponents won't run on. We don't seem to have that, yet.

I do not think we will see 25 home runs this year. I know, though, that we have more than three batters capable of going over .300 for the season. The season is still young. Auburn will be the next real test, March 9th, and once we see them face Martin and Carlson, we will have a better idea.

Decisions will have to be made before the SEC season starts. What to do with a slumping hitter.... bench her and let her climb out of the slump through practice, or leave her in and weather the slump, hoping she will pull through?

If benching a slumping player is the plan, how far down does her average have to go before she is pulled? .200?

Player development was recently mentioned on another thread. Many of us were looking forward to seeing what changes were made in the off-season. Doyle now bats from an open stance, which fixed an issue she had. She seems to have a different mindset and approach, and looks relaxed.

Andrews is a better player than she was last year.

Thornhill was supposedly very impressive in practices and she is a natural ball player, I hope whatever injury she has heals soon. She is a rock solid defensive player, and they say her bat has improved much.

Another issue is people are calling for the replacement of several starters. Some other coaches of the elite teams in the NCAA will pull a player without thinking twice. I think, though, we need to defer to the coaches (we can have our opinions) and admit that they see their players a lot more than we do.

Looking up and down the roster, there are not a lot of choices... pull Sanchez and put who in? or pull Griggs and then hold her replacement to the same standards?

I am hoping Griggs can turn her hitting around and get an All-SEC award. She is a solid defensive player. Sanchez seems to come through with significant hits. I'd leave them in for now and aim at getting their hitting going again.

Too early to know, but the team is 14-2, surely nothing to complain about.

One more thing.... everyone thought Auburn and Georgia would tank this year. Hasn't happened. Auburn looks good, Georgia does too, even though they really need a second starting pitcher, and let Bass do relief. Arkansas, South Carolina.... the other teams are moving up. I hope LSU can finish in the top 15 this year. May be a challenge.

Before Caccamise got here, I saw a video of her on Youtube, a promotional film for her.

I dont know how strong her arm is, but she looks like she blocks well and frames well.

She was hitting pitch after pitch over the fence. Her batting style, though, wasn't something you see a lot. She keeps both feet planted and rocks back and then unloads. Looks like a pitching machine batting stance and swing. I am sure she has gotten better in that area.

Two things in baseball that you can't really change much...first, speed. Most people, even the most improved speed-wise usually are just a little faster from base to base. There's not a lot of room for improvement on someone who grew up playing sports, played high school.

Second, throwing arm strength. If the mechanics are there, and there is not much speed, there is very little chance that will change much.

I think the team will come around, and the batting averages will get better. Young team, they need time.

It be cool to see Antoine have a breakout weekend this weekend. She definitely is capable of a lot. She had a fantastic performance and was responsible for the 1 run win vs Oregon State.

She does have some pop in her bat, she just needs more at bats for sure.

I meant she delivered the game winning run, she wasn't the only factor, hoover pitched a perfect one that day. But she played really well and she had a nice double to RF

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Onthebeach

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Which alter is this one, too many to count for softball threads


You called me out in the last thread because I said Sunseri was a talented hitter. how is that illogical?

Got us all puzzled there. I thought the "lafayette" would be in there too in the name.0

I was accused of having 2 accounts on here, but I have one.

agree... just wish they'd televise more baseball and softball games. They show an awful lot of basketball games, college especially.

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Above average pitching but absolutely no hitting.

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LSU's pitching is better than above average. I agree with hitting, it needs to be way better. The reason I am not in panic mode is Torina's teams have always looked clunky early on and in the middle of the season but we peak come post season/end of the year. Every year people say LSU won't make supers or CWS by mid season then is light years better by the end of the year.

I am definitely not happy with the offense now, I agree there needs to be adjustments but lets see what happens over the next two/three weeks. Most of us arent' excusing the offensive performances vs UCLA and Oregon, it was bad, but the pitching we will face won't be better than what we saw outside of Barnhill the rest of the year.