(SB) Game 3 OGT: UF vs Texas March 17, 2025 @KSP 7 pm SEC N

77, if I told you once, I've told you a million times - never exaggerate.

 

I stand corrected.

 

I walk away from the Texas series with this:

Texas is a very good team - I'm impressed. After the first 2 games they were perfect, and compared to us, looked like the best team. However, in today's game, they looked human.

The Texas players are cool, confident, and respectful, unlike Oklahoma whose over-the-top emotional displays are unbecoming and a softball embarrassment.

I still don't care for Mike White. I can't remember why, but it started back when he was coaching at Oregon.

 

The win last night was huge. Being swept by Texas at home would have been morally devastating. These ladies now know they can play with anybody without KR.

 

There are a ton more balls getting hit hard to the infield with our pitching this year also. Kendra is saving us in the outfield I'll say that for sure but if your not watching these

I agree and we made the necessary changes in this game to win. We did not do that in game 1 and game 2. We can talk about errors and offense all we want but you should not have to have more than 6 OR 7 runs to win a game in this conference. Walks , HBP , and the most infield errors we had this series were by our pitchers..I believed their combines errors were 3. I get Red is young and Kara inexperienced at this level but we are seeing everyone's aces without our ace. Teagan was great at 72-73 and Mac was coming in over 70..Red was 63-64 game 2. We can make a decent offense look good quickly. We had a girl hit multiple homeruns off Kara, was the girl that good or was that just that bad. Whos to tell but when we say our offense needs to step it up it's not looking like Texas we aren't getting to hit Against our pitchers we are hitting against theirs and they were absolutely deeper and more skilled and not much older and they also had transfers. When we talk bad about defense if any of you are at the game the balls are hit unbelievably hard against our pitchers all weekend . That infield and outfield are saving them on MULTIPLE occasions. Mia with a leaping catch up the middle, jocey throwing a runner out at first, kenleigh with a double play and mia with a catch in the outfield behind first, riley with an absolute scorcher she was able to recover from. These are hits ..all of them! Walks, HBP, and big big misses by pitching cost us this series and go see how many errors scored and again your pitching had 3 errors which was the most. Using they are young and they are a freshman isn't an excuse we had for any of our freshman last year ! I just really hope a #2 steps up because we do not look as deep as A&M Or Texas with our pitching. We took the series against A&M because we are a better offense not because we pitched better. We saw 70s last 2 series they saw 60s ...big difference for hitting.

 

I respectfully disagree. I think Red and Ava are as good if not better than most other #2 pitchers in the league.

 

If discussed, I apologize. Why didn't Mike White comeback with his Ace for the series sweep? I was surprised to see those two UTex pitchers.

Tim Walton said in a TV interview that Keegan Rothrock will be back in a couple of weeks and that UF will be better for it, discussing starting Red and developing the pitching staff.

 

I'm just

I'm just looking statistically speaking at top 5 teams and their numbers . And when I say #2..its who is being used as a 2 and right now that's Kara. Her numbers are nowhere near the #2s we have played or any top teams. I say if Ava goes back in in game 2 we had a chance when we tied it up and maybe not but thats my opinion. Kara has been being used as a 2 in both series.

 

Her foot had no bearing on the call. Wherever the ball is when it touches, the glove makes fair or foul.
If she had muffed it and it had gone into foul territory, it would have still been a fair ball.

 

Yes according to the official review, Kenleigh caught the ball while it was still fair and got a key double play. Was that a gift……maybe. But I will take it as well as the win over Texas.

 

In my opinion they have 2 aces . He rotated teagan (who we saw game1) and Mac at starting roles all last year. They both throw over 70 and Mac was their starter till Teagan came in last year. Teagan is just a sophomore! I truly believe they went so far last year because they have 2 aces. Most teams have an ace and the #2 doesn't look anything like the ace. In their case they have 2 aces.

 

Look for something to hit earlier in the count rather than looking for the perfect pitch to hit out of the ballpark. Seen it too many times — doesn’t work against teams with elite pitching. We were lucky to win that game. 5 walks and 2 errors normally gets you beat.

 

Lol...the first 2 pitches were balls. You suggesting she swing at balls out of the strike zone? I can just hear the complaints then.
And blaming Walton is beyond bizarre. You think he has handcuffs on one of the best hitters in the country?

And 5 walks doesn't get you beat if it accompanied by only 2 hits

 

Mhm I personally think we are way deeper than A&M at hitting and pitching. A&M does not have a reliable #2 behind Kennedy. We most certainly pitched and hit better than A&M in that series against them, that is why we won (especially the sunday game, Red pitched better than Kennedy). Once keagan comes back, Red will be a good game two starter, as will Ava whatever her role turns out to be. I said before, i don't think any team in the sec besides maybe LSU start off to a 3-3 record in SEC play having to face Texas and A&M in back to back weeks to start off conference play.

 

Hate to lose a series at home, but I have to think that the win last night will bring confidence to both Red and Ava. It is not insignificant that we handed Texas their first loss, but that we pulled one out from behind. After having been slapped down by Texas (and after that embarrassing error by Red) to come together, come back from behind and essentially shut them down had to impact the team. They know what to work on and that they can beat the best.
Personally, I would love to see 1 change in the lineup. Even so, with KR, I think we are able to compete with anybody. I want us playing our best softball at the end of the year.

 

Ava is a great pitcher, I feel like CTW doesn't put the trust in her that she deserves. He should have put her back in on Saturday, it could have been such a different game.
With the new pitching coach coming in, things seemed like they would be looking up for Ava's pitching role, and now she isnt hitting if she's pitching I was hopeful he would use her more, but he still seems loathe to give her a chance.

 

Totally agree

 

Loathe to give her a chance? She leads the team in innings pitched.
She also has an ERA and batting average against higher than KR and Red.

 

Your point is well taken. I thought there were hittable pitches earlier in the count but the strategy wasn’t a bad one in hindsight considering that his best hitters were at bat that inning. Sometimes they fail no matter how good they are in those situations and there’s nothing you can really do about it.

But as to 5 walks and committing 2 errors—that will get you beat simply because the run expectancy odds turn dramatically in your favor. Thank goodness we beat those odds by limiting them to two hits and getting a very fortuitous double play on a ball that was arguably foul.

 

We're on the same page on the first paragraph.
Regarding the second....I didn't include the errors because we were essentially discussing "pitching". Ironically it was pitchers committing those 2 errors, but I still separate that from their pitching. Re the walks, I try and keep an open mind toward a lot of factors....is the ump calling things tight or inconsistently, the tendencies of the opponent, is the pitcher a nibbler that needs to work the outer edges of the zone, etc. A game vs an elite opponent with 5 walks and only 2 hits signals to me the pitchers were being careful to avoid throwing meatballs that UT could launch....working their spots and looking for weak swings. And they were largely successful. Agree 5 BB can be scary...but against a team like UT there is an aspect of pick your poison. And it worked out amazingly well with no earned runs.