A Sea Of Red

Losing Kirby in the circle won't help (although good to see she'll be coaching). Conversely, some of their better offensive talent last season is still there with now more experience. Also, it seems the ladies that transferred here have some pedigree so I'm anxious to see if this team can make some waves. I read today that they're favored once again to win the ASUN title but I'm hoping for more.

Also worth mentioning they have a tough schedule. They start with preseason #1 Oklahoma and #2 UCLA less than a week later...including 12 top 25 teams through the season...so this team will be tested early and often.

Ballcoach is never up this late, but maybe he will coach us up tomorrow!

Welcome to the board @DStewart . Ballcoach may have a new best friend.

Excited to see what this team does this year after losing the top 2 hitters and the Ace of the staff. Which pitcher will step up and which hitters will fill the void? I'm hoping Roupe and Barret can add 50 points to their avg. from last year and a couple transfers can put up big offensive numbers. Our success will still hinge primarily on pitching, especially given the OOC competition. We will need to win some close games.

Cider Jim wrote: ↑January 19th, 2023, 12:52 am Ballcoach is never up this late, but maybe he will coach us up tomorrow!

Dude complains nobody wants to talk softball and then finally someone shows up to make his dreams come true and he is MIA!!??

Chippy wrote:Excited to see what this team does this year after losing the top 2 hitters and the Ace of the staff. Which pitcher will step up and which hitters will fill the void? I'm hoping Roupe and Barret can add 50 points to their avg. from last year and a couple transfers can put up big offensive numbers. Our success will still hinge primarily on pitching, especially given the OOC competition. We will need to win some close games.

Looking at last years final stats, Hudson, Roupe, Howard, and Wilson were 1, 2, 4 and 5, respectively in RBI (Allan was 3rd) so they should still have some bats to brings home runs. But like you alluded to, there's always room for improvement.

And yeah, pitching will be key (like always right?) Wondering if someone will emerge as an ace??

Hudson was named pre-season ASUN POY. Looking for big things from her this year.

Saw that as well and I agree.

I think the offense will be improved over last season. Team has good depth, we go 2 deep at every position. All the transfers should contribute, plus a couple of freshmen will battle for playing time. But as some have posted above, pitching will take the team ever how far it goes.
Keeney will be the ace. If she can improve on her change up for "strikes" or "outs", she should put up good numbers. As for #2 pitcher, I think it will be a battle between Jones and Estroff. If Jones can pound the strike zone, she should win a lot of games. Estroff beat #8 Texas last season, pitching for FGCU. She looked good in the fall except for 1 bad inning against UVA. Bachman looks improved over last season, and Deter could be a surprise. She had a couple good appearances in the fall. She shut out UVA for 3 innings in the final game of fall season. She allowed either 0 or 1 hit, in those 3 innings.
We're going to need someone to step up and beat the ACC and SEC teams on the schedule, to build a good RPI, and beat them again in NCAA Regionals.

Ballcoach never disappoints in his LU softball knowledge and analysis.
Also, Ballcoach will make an exception and go to an LU softball in Charlottesville.

Hudson will be a marked person and I’m sure opposing teams will not let her beat them. As already pointed out, other hitters need to produce so that it will not be so easy to pitch around her. In the end, it always hinges on the CIRCLE!

@ballcoach15 Just curious, are you the gentlemen at the games wearing a headset, shouting "drive it"?

Dalegarz1 wrote:Hudson will be a marked person and I’m sure opposing teams will not let her beat them. As already pointed out, other hitters need to produce so that it will not be so easy to pitch around her. In the end, it always hinges on the CIRCLE!

With her power (that should only improve this season in her Junior year), that's a great point. If the ladies behind her are producing though, these Flames should light up some scoreboards.

DStewart wrote: ↑January 21st, 2023, 3:31 pm @ballcoach15 Just curious, are you the gentlemen at the games wearing a headset, shouting "drive it"?

No he's the one yelling at the booth to cut the music!

flamehunter wrote: ↑January 21st, 2023, 5:10 pm

DStewart wrote: ↑January 21st, 2023, 3:31 pm @ballcoach15 Just curious, are you the gentlemen at the games wearing a headset, shouting "drive it"?

No he's the one yelling at the booth to cut the music!

Good observations.

DStewart wrote: ↑January 21st, 2023, 3:31 pm @ballcoach15 Just curious, are you the gentlemen at the games wearing a headset, shouting "drive it"?

Red NASCAR headphones, typing ASOR softball posts non-stop on his cellphone, sitting with a bunch of old guys on the third base side yelling at the umpires. If Ballcoach thinks the umpires are really bad, he will move to sit directly behind them.