Good points, and a few more thoughts...

Posted on: March 17, 2018 at 07:35:04 CT

1. Yes Wilmes had a bad night, she is a keeper and can be a very good 4 year starter if she continues to develop. So far she is the best, by far, of the huge freshmen class.

2. Did Callie Martin get injured? Her not starting, or playing, led to a really strange outfield line up, with George in LF, Nash moving to Center, and Romaine in RF, with Kessinger at DH. What's up with that? I love Romaines bat, but Kessinger is a far better outfielder. Very strange decision by Gina I thought.

3. I do think the team is starting to press. The attitude on the bench and the team chemistry seems fine from the naked eye, but they are pressing at bat, particularly with runners on base. Confidence plays a huge part in sports at this level, and we need some success, and quickly.

4. What freshman have we already lost? Ellison? I never hear her mentioned much less see her in the box scores. And somethings got to give with this team in terms of the roster. I think we will see at least moderate changes between now and next year, and maybe significant changes. Due to kids leaving in the last few years our recruiting classes are totally out of whack, and not sustainable. We only graduate one senior, and she plays no significant part on the team. Recruiting 11 freshmen in one class is insane, and an indication that EE realized his overall talent base was weak. Then we add 8 more freshmen next year that signed LOIs, none of them at our position of greatest need, pitching. More players are going to leave just because of the numbers game, then you factor in some may leave because they didn't like the coach being fired, or other reasons. Hopefully enough of the good ones will stay and be part of rebuilding this program. But that's not going to happen overnight IMO. We will find out soon who has a true commitment to this program and school.

5. You will get your wish of a complete new coaching staff in a few months. Gina is taking one for the team, and school that she loves, and we should all appreciate her stepping into a difficult situation with short notice. She is doing the best she can to hold things together. The kids really seem to like her. But at this point in her career she does not have the experience and skills to be a coach anywhere at the D1 level, much less in the best softball conference on the nation. There will be a complete house cleaning with the coaching staff when we hire hopefully the best coach out there. No one with ties to the EE regime will be retained, he or she will bring in their own staff, hopefully with elite recruiters and pitching coaches.

6. I'm trying hard to be optimistic. I love the Mizzou softball program. I keep thinking we are right around the corner from turning things around and making a run at a respectable season, not finish in the SEC celler, and make the NCAA tournament again. Those are important goals in a season of rapidly diminishing expectations. We didn't lose to a better, more talented team last night (some may disagree). We lost to a team of comparable skill and talent that played and executed better than we did. Winning 3-4 of the next 5 SEC games against Miss State and Arkansas is critical now to those goals. Lose both those series and I think the season will start to slip away fast.

7. I won't even talk (for once), about the pitching situation. It's too painful, and deserves its own thread.

Will be back at the ballpark today and tomorrow to support the team, no matter what. This is the time for Mizzou fans to step up. It's easy to support a team when they are excelling. This is the tough part.

Edited by bluetiger_ at 07:40:06 on 03/17/18