Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Lol....Keyontae's injury/severity/etc is still being debated on the hoops board. UF gave out virtually nothing and deferred to the family for what little was provided

 

Might as well cover a couple other things. That there was never an official word on Baylee after two season ending knee injuries is exactly my point. Any player can waive HIPPA privacy restrictions. And, yes, I worked in law where the issue would occasionally arise. Lugo, our #2 starting pitcher wasn't even in the dugout for two weeks and not a word. It was left up to fans in the stands to report, each game, that they looked at the entire dugout and she isn't there. As for Bailey Dowling, she was a stalwart on the USA National Junior team coached by Walton and with Skylar, Julia, Rylee and Charla along with Jayda Coleman and others. Bailey was the #2 recruit in the nation according to Extra Innings. We would have taken her in a heartbeat but she committed to Bama. She is currently Bama's fourth leading hitter, second in RBIs and tied for third in home runs.

 

I said years ago that Maddie Penta would save Mickey Dean's job. Maddie is from Delaware, I think. Or near there. She had originally committed to James Madison when Dean was there. She switched when he took the Auburn job. I watched her for two years playing for PA Chaos against Tampa Mustangs-TJ. The Mustangs were flat out loaded....Katie, Avery, Kali, McKenzie Clark (stud at Clemson), Jordan Stephens (at Bama), Claire Davidson (Duke), Jenna Laird (stud at Missouri) and others. First year Penta threw a complete game no hitter against them. She was worse the next year. It was a one hitter. I thought then, "damn, she's going to save Mickey Dean's job."

 

UF isn’t going to give much, if any, info on injuries. Sure, a player can waive their hippa rights, but they’re under no obligation to do so, and UF almost certainly would not pressure them to do so. If the players want to talk about it, they can. If a reporter wants to ask about it, they certainly can.

I’ve posted this before, but I think some of you simply fail to realize how many more people are involved in the football and basketball programs. There’s more staff, there’s more players, there’s more fans, there’s more journalists covering those sports. Football info is bound to get leaked out simply because there is literally hundreds of people directly involved in the program who would have access to info. On top of the hundreds directly involved in the program, there’s hundreds of reporters following the program, and hundreds more come flocking for anything of substance. Softball has maybe 50 people closely involved in things, and maybe one or two reporters that follow closely, and one or two more that would be interested in something substantial. Even with all those people around the football program, you rarely get much, if any, real info. Especially about non star players, and week to week injuries.

 

Sure a player can waive HIPAA, but UF wouldn't certainly never ask or encourage it, nor should they.
Sometimes an athlete will make a social media post regarding their injury, but even that is rare. But you still appear to be simply reinforcing my point, UF coaches don't provide detail on injuries.
My point on Dowling was that I am unsure how a player at Bama is relevant to this conversation.

 

Does any of this really matter when our pitching isn't cutting it? Yes, we will win more games vs losses but who in here really believes this is a championship calibre team, it's not even close. Even last year, we imo overachieved but I'm convinced most of us felt we didn't have the pitching to go all the way.
IMHO, pitching is THAT important which gives teams a chance to go all the way.
So, I know this coach has top classes but it confounds me why we cannot get or develop an elite pitcher or two.

 

As we fell to unranked this week, the "D" word crossed my mind (decommit). I hope CTW is keeping next year's class engaged and happy.

 

And most of all more money.

 

This coming class has already signed, and we can sell them on immediate playing time anyway.
I would be more worried about transfers from kids who don’t think they are being maximized at UF.

 

You, and most everyone else, is not following my point. As for Sully, someone talked less than a day after the injury because the reporter knew the diagnosis and it sure isn't likely that info came from a fan. Sully was asked and he just laughed and said, "you saw what I saw" but he did comment to some extent on the prognosis. I have never said, in fact I have said the opposite, that I don't expect them to produce a doctor for a ten minute interrogation. I don't expect them to reveal private details of a personal nature (and you can't get more personal than a blown out ball). I expect, and this usually happens in most sports at most colleges, at least some general information as to the status of players so that fans and supporters have some idea what is going on. That essentially never happens with the UF softball program. Nothing. Zero. #2 pitcher gone entirely....no comment. Hightower missed numerous games....no comment. Goddard gone two seasons in a row....no comment. Sully commented to some extent to let fans know the status to some extent. I've never implied he had to get graphic about it. Trinity is day-to-day. That's information. Who was the basketball player this year that was gone for several weeks. They announced he had left the team for personal reasons. Why do I have to go on about this? I've given example after example where situations are not normally completely ignored and there are thousands more over the years. UF softball is the only program I have ever seen where there simply isn't any information provided at all and fans are left to just suck their thumb.

 

I guess I’ll be the devils advocate here. I agree with points both sides are making but i don’t think anything positive is going to come from continuing this line of conversation. Perhaps it’s best to just let this go. I’m planning on starting a new thread soon and y’all can come bash me over there lol. Love you all, Go Gators!

 

Fans don't have a need to know about players' personal circumstances--and not just at the college level:

Warriors' Bob Myers thanks reporters for not spilling on Andrew Wiggins
Warriors' Bob Myers thanks reporters for not spilling on Andrew Wiggins

 

What you say is true. On paper it looks as though Gators have no chance. However, if the pitching somehow can hold them to three runs or less and Charla can get some hits, who knows.

 

If nobody is asking the questions, nobody is going to answer them.

 

You are generally citing larger media sports where someone from media has directly inquired.
Trinity is the biggest athlete in the college sport and it's the postseason NCAA event, and we still got virtually nothing despite a significant media prescence. We don't know the injury, the severity, or the prognosis.
Key was an AA on mens hoops and collapsed on national TV, we got virtually no detail...even to this day.
Lang is an AA on the second ranked team of the 3rd biggest sport, and you got a "you saw what I saw" non-answer to a direct question. I knew the detail the next day due to third hand info from a player....baseball players have big mouths.
If someone bothers to ask Coach Walton I'm sure he would have no problem giving a non-answer just like all these other examples. Goddard has a lower body injury, Hightower was dealing with some things, etc etc.
FYI most of the programs are closer to the softball model. Injury/personnel info on men'sand womens tennis is non existent....and pretty common since there is great wear and tear. Volleyball the same. Soccer is notorious for missing players with no explanation. Rarely hear Mouse mention those pulled hammy's.

 

If pitching holds and offense hits we can compete against many teams. If one or the other has an off day I’m not sure the other side is strong enough to pick up the side that’s lacking on any given day. Wish things were different but that’s how I see it.

 

The roster is talented overall, they can compete and win against good teams. I agree with the whole lack of development argument but I’m tired of beating that poor horse. This season will unfold as it will, for better or worse and we can’t change anything. I for one hope there’s some changes in the offseason, maybe a shift in philosophy or something else or both. Time will tell. Go Gators!

 

I remember last season Hightower went against a vaunted FSU team(hurts to admit that) she held them to one maybe two runs. A fantastic outing, one of her best ever but the offense didn’t back her up. Both sides gotta play on the same day.

 

@sandman70 and I were in Columbus for the World Softball. I do not know what the interaction between Tim and her was, but I talked with her, and she was all Alabama with no wavering.
We could have used some great players on that team, but the writing was already on the wall.
My favorite memory is sitting right above the on-deck circle. It seemed that Casey Cooper from Auburn was there every inning. I asked her, How many times do you come up every inning? This elicited a smile from her.
Fast forward to last season. We traveled to the Auburn series, and Casey was doing color on the broadcast. (She did very well. My favorite quote from her was, We are in the 6th inning, and no one knows what the strike zone is.)
We met her after the game, and I recounted the story to her. She smiled and said she remembered that.
We met some great people there. There were Charla's mom, dad, and stepmom, plus her father's parents and mother's mother. Rylee's mother was there but had strep throat and had to miss games. Julia's mother was there and very nice. She hung out most with Samantha Walton.
We also met Kirsti Merrit's parents and sat in front of her husband-to-be at one game.
If you have watched LSU softball, you have seen DeAngelo the cheerleader. That game we were sitting behind home plate, and DeAngelo was doing his thing beside us. So, every time they showed the pitch, there he was showing out. ESPN was not happy. So, instead of telling him to move, they made everyone in the front row move. That meant we were not happy. He is a nice guy. We saw him there, and at the WCWS, too.
It was a good trip.