A Sea Of Red

Liberty is in Texas for 3 games vs Sam Houston. We need a sweep. Western Kentucky and La Tech play each other this weekend, hopefully they beat up on each other and LU can move into sole possession of first place in CUSA standings (and stay there)

Liberty 4 Sam Houston 0, Roupe, Fortner and Madrey had home runs. Yoder allowed 5 hits, with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts.

Good game today and a good win. However, Bachman continues to be a disappointment. It’s all mental with her from here on. She has the tools but she is mentally struggling.

I thought Bachman looked great prior to the 2 walks. She got us out of that 8th inning jamb.. Thought she had 2 strikeouts. My only question is where has Escobar been?

ECC29 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 6:49 pm Good game today and a good win. However, Bachman continues to be a disappointment. It’s all mental with her from here on. She has the tools but she is mentally struggling.

Yeah she had a decent outing until the last inning

Stevev wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 7:00 pm I thought Bachman looked great prior to the 2 walks. She got us out of that 8th inning jamb.. Thought she had 2 strikeouts. My only question is where has Escobar been?

Good question I've been wondering about Escobar too.?

Stevev wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 7:00 pm I thought Bachman looked great prior to the 2 walks. She got us out of that 8th inning jamb.. Thought she had 2 strikeouts. My only question is where has Escobar been?

Bachman did had a good inning until she had 2 outs in her second inning of pitch. My point is that she is supposed to be a starting pitcher and a conference pre-season pitcher of the year. As a starting pitcher, you are expected to pitch a lot of pitches and last longer innings versus relievers. She did last 2 innings. When was the last time she pitched more than 2 innings in one outing?

Sorry, I meant, she DID NOT last 2 innings.

I got mad and turned game off, after that 2nd inning, when we gifted Sam Houston 4 runs. Our pitching has been good most of the time. Freakish plays have hurt us, in every inning we give up crooked numbers.
I am concerned about our lack of clutch hitting. We left 10 runners on base today, we went 3-13 with runners in scoring position, and 0-3 with bases loaded. 12 of our 21 outs, were balls hit to opposite field. (most of them feeble swings). Need to make adjustments at the plate. Deter had 3 hits, including a home run today, and 4 RBIs.

The bats are the same as last season.

I’m concerned what the hitting coach is teaching these hitters. As I said before, Deter and Roupe are the only ones with the proper swing most of the time. The rest are mostly “Arm Swingers”.

Could be old habits - some bad ones? - taught or learned before these athletes arrived to these coaches. Wouldn’t you agree?

ECC29 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 1:48 am The rest are mostly “Arm Swingers”.

Are these "slap hitters" who run up on the ball in the batter's box?

JK37 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 11:16 am Could be old habits - some bad ones? - taught or learned before these athletes arrived to these coaches. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. It’s always the coaches fault. They should be fired

We lose to Sam Houston 8-5 in 9 innings, in maybe the worst game ever played in LU softball history, considering the opponent. SH was 0-8 in conference, before today. We were 1-13 with runners in scoring position. Fortner hit 0-2 pitch with 2 outs in top of 7th for 3 run homer, to give us a 5-4, lead, but we couldn't hold it.
We need some line-up changes.

Can someone help me understand 2 things:

#1 Why was our 2nd basemen (Brooks) catching the last 3 innings? The run in the 7th to tie game scored on a passed ball. She had 3 additional passed balls after that.

#2 Knowing we lack a pitching ace (or two, similar to Cassidy-DiMartino or Keeney-Kirby)) this year, why is Escobar (4-0) not pitching?

This team seems to struggle now that Keeney and Hudson have transferred. These 2 major holes have not been filled IMHO.

WE pinch ran for the catcher 2 times during game. after 2nd time, she could not re-enter. the other catcher was used as a pinch hitter earlier, thus she was out of game. Only option left, was to move 2B to catcher.(she caught some in Jr. college last year). Passed balls and wild pitches have been a problem all season.
Our pitching had been good until today. I don't know what happened, other than SH apparently made some adjustments at the plate. It seems we always have trouble in Sunday games, after winning on Friday and Saturday against weak teams. I seem to recall same thing happening at FIU earlier in season.
Despite pitching and defense, our biggest problem is lack of timely hitting. We were 4-26 with runners in scoring position the last 2 games. Most every out seems to be made with a weak grounder or pop up, to opposite field. Teams are pitching us outside and we're not making adjustments at the plate.

As for why Escobar isn't pitching , that's the biggest mystery in college softball.

Thanks for this. I wonder how our pitching and hitting hold up when we play the better CUSA teams. We were lucky to start the season with the 3 bottom feeders of the league that have a 4-17 combined record with 2 of the wins against us.

Cider Jim wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 2:56 pm

ECC29 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 1:48 am The rest are mostly “Arm Swingers”.

Are these "slap hitters" who run up on the ball in the batter's box?

There is only one that runs up on the ball in this team, that’s KK Madrey. The rest do not do this. They become “slap hitters” because of their poor hitting mechanics, unfortunately.

JK37 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 11:16 am Could be old habits - some bad ones? - taught or learned before these athletes arrived to these coaches. Wouldn’t you agree?

I agree with you. A lot of it is old habit and what they brought with them. But, Mary Wilson and Crain’s swings were different from last year. This year is different. They are not finishing their hip rotation. Their hips rotate briefly and just let their hands do most of the swings. That’s why you see a lot of weak ground balls.

I’m not just talking about the two players I mentioned. Most of them do the same thing.