(SB) Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Do you have Zelle?

 

I don't use that either..your story is not the first I have heard about zelle issues, etc

 

Continuing with my fantasy. Walton should go to Stricklin and ask for a bump in the budget. Then go out and offer either Cat, Monica, or Beth (if available) a four year $500,000 per year pitching/associate head coach contract. Beth likely not available. I'm not sure either Cat or Monica are a total fantasy as both are now retired from active play. I think Walton knows both of them from time in various years working with the national program.

 

We can beat the Vols. The defense has to be better. We can score against them...we proved that.

 

Can’t be stressed enough. A team can have the best other eight players in the league, but without quality pitching you’re sunk. P.Gasso knows this and was able to lure away our pitching coach. There will never be a better time to attract a star to come coach, considering the talent they will have to work with right from the get go!

 

And we can, and shall then, go there and win a spot in the WCWS. Through all kinds of weather....

Know this.....in us marches Florida, always and forever.

 

Skylar Wallace....SEC POY:

 

Interesting statistic. Charla leads the SE

She deserved it. It is amazing to me that four of
the greatest Florida softball players of all time did not win this award. Nelson, Haegar, Barnhill, Rogers

 

Nelson, Haeger and Barnhill won SEC Pitcher of the Year. I believe that is a category thing for the SEC.

 

There are some pretty snarky posts in this thread about CTW and the state of the softball program in general. Clearly, this year didn't turn out well. In fact, it stunk. But at the start of the season the 13 best minds in college softball voted that CTW had put together the #1 program. No credit for that?

Obviously, it didn't turn out that way. Pitching collapsed and players regressed. No doubt about it. But I don't think you can draw a straight line and say that's the coach's fault. These are not professional players who are focused on just one thing. Unlike football, softball players actually graduate and take "real" college courses. As upperclassman, the courses take up more time and are much more challenging. The players have all the distractions of any other college student, with dating, figuring out their path in life, etc. I just don't think there's a basis to blame the team's disappointing season on coaching -- ONE off year does not mean the coaching staff is a mess and the program in trouble. Look at last year when the team went far further than their talent suggested and ended up in the WCWS.

And by all accounts, next year and the year after are going to be phenomenal. CTW should get the credit for putting that together. I just disagree with the notion in this thread that the program is in disarray.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (January 26, 2023) - Florida has been predicted to be the top program for the 2023 SEC softball season following a vote by the league's 13 head coaches in the annual preseason poll.

The Gators received five first-place votes and 134 points to lead the preseason poll. Tennessee garnered three first-place votes and 126 points to finish in second place. Arkansas, the defending SEC Champion, earned five first-place votes and 122 points to take third place. Alabama tallied 118 points to place fourth, and LSU rounded out the top five with 87 points.

 

We will see. I thought being ranked preseason #1 was a joke. That we had questionable pitching (I'm being kind here) was a no-brainer. That ranking is and was meaningless to me. If Walton makes the necessary changes, we have a chance to improve. If not, who knows. We have very solid recruiting classes coming in but they are freshmen entering the SEC. I expect us to be better if they get better coaching but to suggest we are all of a sudden going to rely on freshmen to make us world beaters stretches my senses about as far as they can be stretched.

 

Let's hope we get sent as #2 to Clemson. Clemson is IMO the far and away most overrated team in the NCAA this year. But, they do have Cagle so we probably can't win there either.

 

Snarky post are not allowed. LOL.

 

We will find out Sunday at 7 PM ET time on ESPN2. Latest projection I saw was Talley along with UCF and Prairie View A&M.

 

Beth is in no way on the hot seat, nor is Murph, Trachsel, Anderson or any of the SEC HC's their 'disgruntled(post loss) fan base' would have anyone believe. The only legitimate HC in jeopardy was Bev Smith, who has resurrected her tenure at South Carolina with Gobourne as well as a strategic season schedule guaranteeing regional play for the first time in three years. Even here we've seen calls for CTW's exit(post losses), which would be a devastating loss to Gator softball as there's no doubt he would very quickly land on both feet forward at an opposing SEC program. Bosch will be out moving past this season, and Thomas like him or not will remain as the teams offensive numbers warrant it.

 

TW has done more than enough to earn himself some breathing room.
That said, your post is also a good argument for "he did less with more."

The head coach is responsponsible, but many believe that it is his assistants that need review.
I look forward to the future come what may.

 

Duke freshman pitcher is no-hitting Clemson through 5. Which says two things: she has a good pitching coach and Clemson is overrated, as I said.