Four conference games does not make a season but Gators are currently ranked in the SEC 5th in batting, 9th in pitching, and 10th in fielding. Not a good look.
On the upside I really like Walsh’s at bats of late. She’s forcing pitchers to pitch to her instead of being immediately down 0-2.
I just don’t think sadly pitching is going to improve so batting has to and the defense absolutely has to be cleaned up. The defense probably bothers CTW more than the other issues.
I wonder what happened to Delbrey's strikeout stuff? Has anything fundamentally changed with her pitches? Or is the stuff still there and the call has been made to pitch to contact to keep her pitch count down until she builds back up stamina? She struck out 117 in 111 innings last season, compared to 23 in 43 innings this year. Then again, if that's not the case, with the Gator defense not being as good as it usually is, why aren't we looking for more strikeouts? I think the numbers actually say Hightower and Trliceks K numbers are down slightly as well. As for the offense, I think Roe needs to be placed behind the plate in place of Longley. Longley has had her chance to prove herself and I just think Roe can outperform her at this stage. CF Falby SS Wallace 3B Echols 2B Walsh RF Egan C Roe DP Pollard/Gigante/Wilkie 1B Goelz LF Kistler Defensive alignment's vary depending on who is DP that day, but I think that should be the lineup Coach Walton should put out there.
Yeah, I really do get it....just have to keep reminding ourselves the expectations need to be managed at times. I think we know this isn't a title team due to pitching, but they are dangerous much like last year. Hoping coach uses the season to figure things out for another postseason run. For example. I know none of us love the Gigante cleanup experiment, but coach knows the loss of Goddard robbed a lot of power and he may be biting the bullet now so we have more options down the road. Historically he has played the long game and suffered a little pain during the regular season if necessary.
Agree Longley has had her chance, I doubt some of yesterdays passed balls would have gotten past Wilkie. Roe is pretty good behind the plate with exception of throwing runners out. I really like how Wilkie is in command behind the plate, shame her offense hasn’t ever taken off. Like Ocala said we’ve got a lot of highly recruited players that unfortunately haven’t met expectations yet. Also agree on CTW playing the long game, his teams usually peak at the right time. Still time for the team to gel. Go Gators!
Time for our Gators to take a deep look inside, and muster some fight. That was a rough outing last night, and how we respond today will more than likely be a fair portent of the remaining SEC Season.
I wonder if Delbrey's lower strikeout numbers are due to the after effects of her surgery. Maybe she hasn't fully regained her strength and power and is working her way back. Or maybe since last year she had control problems that went along with her power numbers, she's being coached to tone it down and pitch more to contact. Either way, with the staff's K's number being abysmally low, many more balls are being put into play, which is stressing the defense and leading to more errors and a lower fielding percentage than normal for a Gator team. On the lineup, while Charla Echols leads the team in RBI and has a very good batting average, she's a national team player who should be driving the ball to the gaps and over the fence more than she's been doing, especially for someone with her experience and talent. Walsh is a solid hitter, Kistler is a consistent singles hitter near the bottom of the lineup and Goelz is much improved at the plate over prior years, although only a singles hitter as well. Wallace is a superstar. Falby has a lot of talent, but sometimes needs to square up in the box and hit instead of being a motion slapper. And bunt more. Last year Wilkie & Roe shared the catching duties and did fine, although Emily is the better defensive player. Egan is a veteran who needs to be given the coach's confidence by keeping her in the lineup every day. Pollard is going to be star, but has looked overmatched against the better pitchers. Gigante's average is down to .264 (Longley's .209 is the only regular player lower), she's struck out 13 times in 53 at bats (only Pollard with 13 K's in 46 AB's and Falby with 16 K's in 89 AB's have more than 10) and needs to either be dropped to 7th or 8th in the batting order or taken out of the lineup at DP. My preference would be to do exactly like OTK said and have Roe catching, Egan in RF and Pollard at DP, with Wilkie or Gigante pinch hitting. Wilkie is the best bunter, so if a sacrifice is needed, use her. I do think we miss Natalie Lugo more than people realize, as well as Cheyenne Lindsey and Hannah Adams. They both were clutch hitters and quality defenders.
This. Well put. Some in another thread have already written off the post season. The fat lady hasn't even warmed up to sing yet.
A few years ago when Longley kept her position at SS despite critical errors and abysmal AB's, the running joke was that she had compromising photos on CTW. Especially given what seem to be obvious upgrades for catcher sitting in the dugout, it really is a head scratcher why she's still in the lineup. I thought her defense was particularly poor last night, setting up so far in front of the plate that she couldn't reach back and tag the runner who scored. You have to give the runner a clear path to a portion of the plate; you don't have to give them a four-lane highway.
IMO the Lugo impact is a more fondly remembered because of the job she did at the very end....Va Tech and CWS.....for the 5 weeks prior to the Super Reg she threw something like 7 innings total, virtually no impact down the stretch. Came up clutch at the bitter end for sure.
Lugo had the 2nd lowest ERA on last year's team at 2.14, behind Trilicek at 1.71. Lowest WHIP at 1.10. She was 12-5 for the season with 4 saves, 31 appearances, 10 starts. She threw 88.1 innings with 80 K's and a batting average against of .192. Her contribution was way more than just in the post season, IMO. She wasn't one of our all time greats, but was an invaluable part of last year's team and a pitcher we sorely miss, IMO.
Yup, not an all time great but steady and reliable, you knew what you were going to get. Can’t say that about staff this season unless you count no strike outs, 17 million foul balls and like praying really hard that things don’t implode quickly . But seriously a little run support would help the staff out and they need all the help they can get. Team effort and all that.
What made Lugo valuable was that she could come into the game and settle things down for a couple of innings and either preserve a lead or give our team a chance to catch up. With 12 wins and 4 saves, that's 16 of our 49 wins last year and that doesn't count the holds she had in the middle of the game. We don't have anyone doing that this year. We are basically using the 3 pitchers carried over from last year (Hightower, Delbrey, Trlicek) without Lugo and, to me, the void is obvious.
But she built the bulk of those stats early vs cupcakes....as I said she was not a factor the last 5 weeks of the season up to Va Tech. Certainly she was invaluable early and late, but only about 25 of those innings were vs SEC and they were dispersed widely. The starts were early season vs Illinois St, JU, Villanoa, N Fl, Oakland, JMU....then our first 2 SEC series vs Miss St and TAMU (TAMU outing lost her spot in rotation). She got later starts vs FGCU and Ark and struggled in both. She had some effectiveness in-season relieving Delbrey, but Rylee should be able to replace those innings comparably IMO. I was a big fan of her, but we didn't get much the heart of the season....the segment we are entering right now.
Agree to disagree about how much she's missed. We're basically using 3 pitchers this year instead of the 4 we used last year and so far none of the 3 are as effective as they were last year - at least yet.
Certainly have gotten some nice numbers on weaker part of the schedule so far(like last year), but to date everyone except Rylee has a better ERA and Whip than last season. It's looking like Rylee will almost throw what her and Natalie did combined last year (obviously only if she is effective). IMO what we need is Liz and Delbrey to get more 5+ inning outings vs the 3+ type outings we have seen too often. Rylee seems most suited for one time thru for a change of pace.
If this years team does not live up to expectations so what; it has been a great run and it is going to get better. Only four teams east of the Mississippi have ever won a WCWS and two of those were won by our Gators. This incoming recruiting class is arguably the best class ever assembled and I fully expect them to bring a couple of WCWS titles back to Gainesville. So sit back and enjoy the ride for it is going to be fun.
Those ERA's took another hit today. Anyone who watched last year and now this year can clearly see that neither Hightower or Delbrey are pitching now like they did last year - and last year wasn't great. Trlicek is about the same, but as a staff we have regressed. Will be fortunate to win an SEC series. Other teams, even the weaker ones, have a teue ace - we do not.
