She hasn't exactly pitched to contact .....5 free bases vs Arky in 3 innings, 4 free bases in 2+ tonight. Her worst outings. I wish she would get back to pitching more to contact
Add to that - Except for 2 or 3 players, we have a team that can't hit good pitching either. We beat up on average and bad teams and run up all kinds of offensive numbers. But when you look at our numbers against ranked teams, we're simply not very good on offense. I think we're 5-7 against teams in the Top 50, which means most of our games and wins have been against teams outside of the Top 50.
She's not throwing nearly as hard as she did last year. If the coaches have gotten her to temper her speed to improve control, it's not working. She just ain't the same Lexie Delbrey that was a very good freshman pitcher. Regressed instead of improved. Maybe related to the injury, we don't know. But you're right - the control and confidence seems to be missing.
Fair on the speed, also wonder if the surgery/health is at play there. She has had success this year pitching to contact, but maybe that was just lesser competition....last good outing was complete game with no walks vs Stetson
My contact remark earlier was based on the game announcers saying that's what she doing this year as opposed to last year when she was getting more strikeouts. And, yeah, I've wondered and posted that the change could be a result of the surgery (maybe she's not at full strength yet or maybe the surgery changed the way she has to pitch). Whatever it is, she's not the same - at least against good teams.