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Initial reaction to softball going 5-0...
Posted on: February 9, 2020 at 20:08:15 CT
bluetiger_ MU
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to start the season. Shouldn’t ever read too much into the first weekend result, but some teams clearly made a statement of one type or another. And Mizzou’s statement was a big fat positive one.
1. The hitting was very good. At least the top 6 in tbe order, which, barring injuries, should remain the same the rest of the season, unless Bailey slumps and is replaced and/or moves down in the order. She had a solid start at the plate and is hitting .286, but needs to keep getting better as she is going to get a lot of opportunities to drive in runs from the 6 spot. The first 6 in the batting order is hitting .375 through 5 games, the bottom of the order is hitting just .189.
2. Rollin, Wilmes and Kessinger look poised to have monster years at the plate. Wert and Moore will also be very good. Kudos to our hitting coach Chris Malveaux. What he has done with Hattie Moore is amazing. Now he needs to control Werts tendency to swing for the fences. I’d gladly take 7-8 less home runs from her in exchange for another 40-50 points on her batting average. Through the first weekend she is hitting .375 with 1 HR. Good start.
3. Pitching means everything in softball, and it’s amazing how fast we have gone from near total uncertainly in the pitching staff to being really confident, and it’s all due to Coach LA. She brought in 3 freshman pitchers this year, plus Dandola as a transfer from Syracuse. Weber was a long time Mizzou verbal commit before LA came here, the other three are her recruits. And she deserves credit for getting Weber to honor her commitment and come here, when we lost some other good verbals. Now, all of a sudden, it looks like we have potentially one of the deepest pitching staffs in the SEC, with 4 pitchers capable of starting and being effective, and a seasoned senior as a lock down closer. Don’t tell me Alabama, with their abundance of pitching riches, wouldn’t kill to have Eli Daniel on their staff after choking away two huge late inning leads.
4. Expanding on the pitching, I still see Schumacher as the ace of the staff, with Weber a close second, and Nichols now apparently as a capable third starter. She has the velocity to dominate a game and is only going to get better. And Dandola being eligible right away is a huge plus, she has the talent to be as good as anyone on the staff. Used in relief so far, I’d like to see her get some starts too. Very few teams have the luxury of having a third capable starter, much less a fourth. I don’t read anything into Coach LA starting Weber in the game against Minny. I think LA was planning a group effort against a great Minnesota team and as it worked out, Schumacher pitched the most innings against them.
5. In the opening weekend, Schumacher pitched 13.1 innings, Weber 8.0, Nichols 5.0, Dandola 2.2. And of course Daniel pitched 5.0 innings, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 11 strikeouts and no walks. You want to see the mark of a great pitching staff? Look at the strikeouts to walks ratio. Led by Daniel, Mizzou has 41 strikeouts and only 7 walks in the first 5 games.
6. 35 runners LOB in the first 5 games is not good. Yes we got a lot of key hits to win all 5 games. But most of them were very close. Need to clean up on that stat. Our best game in that regard was our biggest, against Minny, when we left just 2 on base.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 20:12:38 on 02/09/20
1. The hitting was very good. At least the top 6 in tbe order, which, barring injuries, should remain the same the rest of the season, unless Bailey slumps and is replaced and/or moves down in the order. She had a solid start at the plate and is hitting .286, but needs to keep getting better as she is going to get a lot of opportunities to drive in runs from the 6 spot. The first 6 in the batting order is hitting .375 through 5 games, the bottom of the order is hitting just .189.
2. Rollin, Wilmes and Kessinger look poised to have monster years at the plate. Wert and Moore will also be very good. Kudos to our hitting coach Chris Malveaux. What he has done with Hattie Moore is amazing. Now he needs to control Werts tendency to swing for the fences. I’d gladly take 7-8 less home runs from her in exchange for another 40-50 points on her batting average. Through the first weekend she is hitting .375 with 1 HR. Good start.
3. Pitching means everything in softball, and it’s amazing how fast we have gone from near total uncertainly in the pitching staff to being really confident, and it’s all due to Coach LA. She brought in 3 freshman pitchers this year, plus Dandola as a transfer from Syracuse. Weber was a long time Mizzou verbal commit before LA came here, the other three are her recruits. And she deserves credit for getting Weber to honor her commitment and come here, when we lost some other good verbals. Now, all of a sudden, it looks like we have potentially one of the deepest pitching staffs in the SEC, with 4 pitchers capable of starting and being effective, and a seasoned senior as a lock down closer. Don’t tell me Alabama, with their abundance of pitching riches, wouldn’t kill to have Eli Daniel on their staff after choking away two huge late inning leads.
4. Expanding on the pitching, I still see Schumacher as the ace of the staff, with Weber a close second, and Nichols now apparently as a capable third starter. She has the velocity to dominate a game and is only going to get better. And Dandola being eligible right away is a huge plus, she has the talent to be as good as anyone on the staff. Used in relief so far, I’d like to see her get some starts too. Very few teams have the luxury of having a third capable starter, much less a fourth. I don’t read anything into Coach LA starting Weber in the game against Minny. I think LA was planning a group effort against a great Minnesota team and as it worked out, Schumacher pitched the most innings against them.
5. In the opening weekend, Schumacher pitched 13.1 innings, Weber 8.0, Nichols 5.0, Dandola 2.2. And of course Daniel pitched 5.0 innings, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 11 strikeouts and no walks. You want to see the mark of a great pitching staff? Look at the strikeouts to walks ratio. Led by Daniel, Mizzou has 41 strikeouts and only 7 walks in the first 5 games.
6. 35 runners LOB in the first 5 games is not good. Yes we got a lot of key hits to win all 5 games. But most of them were very close. Need to clean up on that stat. Our best game in that regard was our biggest, against Minny, when we left just 2 on base.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 20:12:38 on 02/09/20
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Initial reaction to softball going 5-0... - bluetiger_ MU - 2/9 20:08:15
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