Bama also lost a game to Kennesaw St. But they've played a better schedule than UF and have beaten a couple of ranked teams- Duke & FSU. Not saying they're better than us, but we haven't scored a single run against the 3 ranked teams we've played. Hopefully that will change tomorrow.
I didn't realize how bad the BA is against ranked teams. Six hits in 63 at bats which is a BA of 095. Ugh
Don't worry about our BA against ranked/good teams, Tim's best buddy, Aric, will keep our p--' poor hitting the same as he has for the last 4 years. Until Tim grows a pair, get used to the same old, same old.
That’s concerning and really needs to change. It’s one thing when a star pitcher has command of multiple pitches and is hitting all quadrants of the zone but they’re just getting beaten by the same pitch over and over. Zero adjustments being made. Or absolute wrong adjustment like backing up in the box and then swinging at the rise ball smh.
Gator softball (19-4) answered a gut check by run-ruling #24 Louisiana Sunday 11-2 and then run-ruling 17-7 Rutgers 10-1 on a no-hitter from Lexie Delbrey. Gator hitters looked more focused today and even though they started Game 1 against the same pitcher who shut them down yesterday, they made much better contact and were more patient in making her thrown in the zone. Great adjustments after what happened yesterday. Emily Wilkie started behind the plate and went 2-3 with a HR. Pal Egan got the start in RF and went 1-2 with a HR, while DH Olivia Gigante hit a grand slam. Elizabeth Hightower went 3.2 inning to improve to 9-2, with Rylee Trlicek finishing out the game by shutting down the Rajun' Cajuns. In the 2nd game, Skylar Wallace slugged a 2-run HR in the first inning, Avery Goelz went 2-3 with 3 RBI and Pal Egan went 0-3 but drove in 4 runs. Delbrey only threw 51 pitches with 4 K's and a walk, theo only Knights run scoring on the walk, a HBP, sac. bunt and ground out. Having thrown 2 complete games on back-to-back days, it appears Delbrey is fully back. So far her command of the strike zone is much improved over last year and she will head in to the upcoming SEC schedule as the Gator ace, probably Starting the first and third games of our weekend series. Rylee Trlicek looked very good this weekend as well and I think she will be called on to relieve Delbrey when necessary and split game #2, plus the midweek games with Hightower. That's my educated guess anyway.
A cool thing about this weekend was that 2 former Gator players were coaching opposing teams - and they were teammates at Florida. Lindsay Fico (Mercer coach), was Lindsay Cameron when she played outfield from 2003-06, was a career .304 hitter, first team All-SEC in 2003 & 2005. Kristen Butler (Rutgers) was the Gator catcher and third baseman during the same years and was SEC Player of the Year in 2006. Her career BA was .278 with .485 slugging percentage. Butler, in her 5th year as Rutgers head coach, was honored before their game with Florida today by throwing out the first pitch. What a classy move by Tim Walton, as these ladies were seniors during his first year as Gator head coach.
Bama lost to Wisconsin today to drop to 20-6. They split 2 games with Texas over the weekend, plus lost to Texas State. Although Florida was the pre-season favorite to win the SEC, with Bama picked 2nd, to me Tennessee is the team to watch. They are 20-1, just swept Ole Miss (who is not very good this year), and already have wins over #8 Northwestern 6-0, and #5 Clemson 1-0, with their lone loss being to Cal St. - Fullerton 5-4. They already have 15 shutouts, including 2 over the Rebels this weekend. LSU is 21-1, but their schedule is very weak, their only loss coming when they split 2 games with the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Their only other games against a ranked team was opening weekend when they took 2 from then ranked Oregon State. SEC time is here and we're about to see which teams can hold up to the grind. Goooo Gators!!!
I wonder why CTW is the only coach we have who doesn't have post game comments in the Gator Sports write ups.
Coach Shelton never does on M Tennis either...couple of others are hit and miss, but wish they all did, love the post game thoughts
#15 LSU lost to unranked USC today (game postponed due to rain on Sunday). Interestingly, USC has a large number of pitchers, and they deploy several in each game. Each pitcher pitches just a couple of innings. In 24 games, there have been 65 pitcher appearances. LSU coach Beth Torina was interviewed and said how difficult that was for her hitters, because they couldn't get a read on the pitcher and get comfortable. Commentators said that it really took pressure off the USC pitcher, because they were only responsible for three outs, not 21. Today, USC actually used a different pitcher in every inning. So here's a question that I've always had. Especially with the substitution rule, why don't we do more stuff like that? For example, Delbrey comes in for the first/second inning, Hightower does third/forth inning, then Delbrey returns for fifth/sixth? (there is no seventh inning because we run ruled the opponent). I'm asking for when we are in SEC play...not the teams we are playing now where we can no hit them with one pitcher. There must be a reason why this is not a good idea.
Well, I like the run rule the opponent part. Sounds like a strategy for those that don't have a dominant ace. Would u really sub out a Montana Fouts, a Hannah Rogers, etc.