Bhs83

I am not so much against her starting as I am that she is starting, always, playing every game, every out, to the exclusion of Weinberger who is a far more natural outfielder.

I felt the same about Griggs, Serret, Sanchez and the whole bunch...give the other players a chance to play. Springfield should get playing time. Everybody knows with an A-to-Z remake of her batting approach she'd be a terror that the SEC has not seen.

I am saying that there is not one of them that is too good to let the others play, especially those who have stats that show they get on base when given a chance.

Just about every team has a senior, or two, or three, that does not start, and that is fine, but you cannot treat the position players like the pitching staff.... if a pitcher is doing good, leave her in... on the position player side, if you have an underclassmen sitting the bench that can play, sit the starter when you can and put the underclassmen in.

Hate to go back to Nicky D, but she was a better hitter than just about everybody on that team, and she played sparingly.... i dont know what was behind all that, but NO coach should show undying loyalty to the starting nine players.

You lose people that way.

Tim Walton and Ralph Weekly do musical chairs with their lineup, and nobody is owed anything...you perform,, or sit.

I'd like to see the non-starters get more time on the field...nothing against Antoine, and I do think she is going to go over .320 next year, but we got some good, hard-working kids sitting the bench that deserve some playing time.

Arkansas has home run power, and some pinch hitters that can put the ball out.

Defense is slightly worse than LSU. LSU has 41 errors, Arkansas has 46, Florida has 22, and Oklahoma has 13.

Everything we do has to be better than we have been doing if we wanna go to the WCWS. Pitching has been good. Everything else has to get better.

Going to be interesting to see who we get paired with for the regional.

Yes definitely

Lsu softball plays Florida this weekend, and will most likey see Kelly Barnhill at least once in the three game series.

Yesterday, Florida State put Klavemann up front as lead off, and proceeded to try and do what everybody has learned to do against Barnhill...BUNT. On one occasion, Barnhill, just like last year against Oklahoma in the WCWS, threw thew ball into the dugout down the first base line, almost.

Florida State started King, the lefty with a 71 mph fastball, and eventually timed her down so they could hit.

Lsu has had problems with riseball pitchers, and if you remember the last time they played Alabama with Osorio pitching, she struck out 16 batters. Barnhill is similar, and does her damage with speed and rise.

A lineup...

Andrews LF
Antoione RF
Griggs CF
Doyle 3B
Sunseri DP
Sanchez 2B
Thornhill 1B
Serret SS
Schlatmann C

Weinberger has to be in the mix somehow. Goff has a compacted swing which would give her a chance against Barnhill, but I think she'd be better off batting four times a game for a few games. Getting one chance at a pitcher she has never seen before, that's not going to be easy. IF Sunseri struggles, I hope Beth is willing to make changes, but with the bat speed she has, she may do well against Florida, I sure hope so.

I hope Beth is willing to make adjustments. If you spend a little time going through the lineups that Florida and Tennessee has put out on the field, you can see they do not shy away from replacing starters.

Weekly, Walton and Murphy get 110% out of their starters by being willing to replace them if they do not perform. Myers used to do the same with Auburn.

Maybe Tim Walton will throw Lugo or Chronister out there for game three. That may be the best chance LSU has. LSU can hit Ocasio, I think. Winning one game against Florida would be good for post season ranking. Defense is going to have to be stellar.

Dewitt is at third base now, and the slappers and bunters will have a harder time getting on.

LSU beat Texas A&M the first two games, and lost the third game. Excellent pitching and timely hits pushed LSU past the higher ranked Texas A&M team.

LSU had five hits in the first game, and 8 in the second game. In the third game, LSU had runners in scoring position, including one instance with the bases loaded, but were unable to score.

LSU has a home game against South Alabama Tuesday, then travels to Gainesville to be tested by Barnhill and Ocasio.

It sure would be nice to have a lefy pitcher to face Florida. Dewitt, Lorenz, and Kvistad all struggle with Lowary and Paige Parker, but LSU has no stud lefty to offer.

It will be interesting to see if LSU can exploit Barnhill's struggle with her throw to first base. Oklahoma did last year in the WCWS. I wonder, also, if they are going to start calling Barnhill for illegal pitches. Maybe Beth can check into that.

Arkansas follows, and they are a dangerous team to play. Two good pitchers, and a swing away offense, they can score runs. I sure we don't look past them.

CC can play infield, too. If she can get her hitting going she can try for a spot somewhere in the infield. Schlatmann is a pretty good catcher, I think.

Where does Goff normally play?

I may have mentioned that someone said she was out, i cant find the post, unless you are talking about something on Ultimate Softball forum.

Just went over there to Ultimate and saw a post where I ASKED if she was out, after someone said she was. I cant find a post on here where I said she was out. Not sure I ever said that.

The backup catcher usually doesn't miss the ball, if there is any area she needed improvement in, from the times we have seen her play before, it would be her throwdown to second base.

The "try something different" idea would have two benefits...one, it would give the starters who need a mental break just that, and second, would give experience to those who eventually will have to step up.

I have never seen Goff play defense. Maybe i missed something.

Thornhill was playing third base in one of the practice clips they showed. Doyle can probably field ground balls as good as anyone else, and she has an arm, too. She is a far better defensive player than everybody knows, because she is over at first base.

Weinberger, Antione, Thymes, Thornhill...they are not going to be dropping balls n the outfield, they can play defense. Weinberger gets on base, she should be in the lineup somewhere.


What bothers me most is that I was really expecting to see the changes that were to be made in offseason, pertaining to batting approach and mechanics. If what we see now is the way it is going to be, it's time to give someone else a try. Batters that hack at pitches 3/4 way through the season are going to continue to do the same.

I wouldn't look at the change in the lineup as a benching of starters, just time off for psychological space and physical rest.

If things go bad early, put the starters back in. I just hope Beth doesnt feel like she is betraying anybody if she sits them down for a game or two.

Id like to know the reasoning behind that.

As the season goes on, you get a better idea of what is going right, and what is going wrong. At the plate, LSU struggles with the same struggles they had last year.

Three new starters take the field...Schlatmann, Schulte, and Antoine. Schlatmann and Schulte have struggled.

Antoine is just a freshman and pitch selection is an issue for her. Also, she needs to move away from slapping. Her swing is much too good to waste on tapping the ball. Her batting average is sinking because of those two things, pitch selection and slapping. If not next year, the following year, she will be batting second or third where she belongs, she just needs more experience.

I got Schlatmann all wrong the last time I posted a batting analysis, and the reason is because her warm up swing is not the same as how she swings when she is actually hitting the ball. She is too far off the plate, and occasionally pulls away from the ball. She needs to elevate, and get her eye level closer to the strike zone, and put more into swinging through the ball, rather than throwing the bat AT the ball. She has home run power, and a lot of potential. What would we do without her? She plays her position well. Glad she is with us.

Schulte needs a revamp of her swing. Her most serious flaw is evident at the beginning of her swing, where she moves the bat downward like a golf swing, rather than a more horizontal launch. She, too, has homerun power, and potential. Whether or not she remains a starter, I hope that they get her batting fixed, would like to see her succeed. She is a natural middle fielder. Potential is there.

Serret moves the bat at too vertical an angle on launch, and the bat doesnt flatten in the zone long enough. She can hit some screamers, and needs her bat path fixed. Once that is done, she is going to be a great asset offensively. Even as she is now, she has game changing ability at the plate, loaded with potential.

Goff only gets to pinch hit, and I used to do that in my underclassman years, it is the hardest way to show what you can do...getting one chance at a pitcher you never faced before and wanting to get a base hit, rather than a walk...it makes you swing at junk you wouldn't normally swing at. I'd give her a chance at DP or start her somewhere. We got people starting that shouldn't mind sitting out a game or two to let the underclassmen play.

Griggs and Andrews are affected by that stupid new rule about the batter's box. It is on Andrews' mind, and it is affecting her. Griggs doesnt have the longest arms, and she has to stand close to the edge of the inside of the batters box. The umpires are calling strikes that are six to ten inches off the edge of the plate..nothing a batter can do then.

Doyle has the burden of the offense on her shoulder, and wants to hit the ball. She is doing much better this year. All-American is in her future.

Sanchez has a pitch selection problem, her flaws are not in her fundamental mechanics.

Thats what I think is wrong, and what Dobson should focus on fixing. It would be really nice to have Springfield back.

Is Tennessee next? Their pitching aint great, but if you want to beat them you gotta score 3 or 4 runs minimum...their girls swing away and they can all put the ball out.