The guys aren't the only ones swinging bats in the spring. You can follow the squad throughout the season and even get the latest on recruiting.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529864
Flames head to Rock Hill for final road trip of the year. LU's magic number is 4, to clinch first place in BSC.
By Dalegarz1
Posts
#529891
Another big series. They are 22-25 and have lost 6 of their last 8 games so we may be catching them at the right time. Minimally, we need to win 2 out of 3. A sweep would be awesome and bring us close to the #1 seed.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529901
I see that Amber Bishop has been selected as one of 25 Finalists for Freshman of the Year Award. First time in LU history a Flame has been selected.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529916
We give one away 4-3 final. Had tying run on base in 7th.. Somehow we turned a fly ball into a game ending double play.

Campbell lost to Gardner Webb 16-9. We still have 2 game lead. But we need to get off bus ready to play tomorrow and win both games.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529937
3-1 Winthrop. 3rd. We leave bases loaded after no outs I believe.
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By BJWilliams
Registration Days Posts
#529942
Good gals win 4-3 to take the series and if ballcoach is correct about their magic number, its down to 1 thanks to Campbell losing thew middle game to G-W but taking the series
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529945
We are 15-3, Camels are 13-5. We close out with Longwood next weekend at home. Camels close out with CSU at home on May 5-6.

We need to get Cassidy back in rotation as the #2 pitcher, in my opinion. Need more production from slots 6-8 in lineup. Great to see Autumn Bishop back in lineup.
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By BJWilliams
Registration Days Posts
#529946
2 game lead with three to play...magic number is definitely 1
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#529947
Tying run was picked off 2nd in the 4th, then thrown out trying to steal home in the 5th (yes, you read that right) and finally thrown out at home trying to score from 2nd on a bunt single in the 6th. We finally pushed across 2 runs to pull out the win in the 7th. I'm all for being agressive on the bases, but that was ridiculous.

DiMartino came in early in relief and got her second win of the day. In all, she pitched 10.1 innings and threw 187 pitches. :shock:
Last edited by olldflame on April 22nd, 2017, 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529948
Our base running needs work. too many runners thrown out AFTER reaching base. It's good to be aggressive, but be smart also. We probably lead the nation in runners thrown out after reaching base.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#529950
ballcoach15 wrote:We probably lead the nation in runners thrown out after reaching base.
BJ, can you do some fact checking on this? :fineprint
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By BJWilliams
Registration Days Posts
#529951
Be tough to pinpoint exactly...Id have to look up the number of pickoffs (or rather times picked off) and caught stealings as well
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529952
In addition to pickoffs and caught stealing, there are other boo boos running into an out.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#529958
ballcoach15 wrote:In addition to pickoffs and caught stealing, there are other boo boos running into an out.
We have been trying to take extra bases under circumstances where it is physically impossible to succeed if the opponent just maintains their awarenes and poise and executes a simple throw, catch and tag. It's basically gambling that your opponent will screw up if you put them under pressure. It does work sometimes, but it failed repeatedly against Winthrop, who may not be the most talented team, but apparently are fundamentally sound and disciplined. I would be more inclined to say take those chances if a team has shown weakness in those areas.
By Dalegarz1
Posts
#529960
OldFlame wrote:
We have been trying to take extra bases under circumstances where it is physically impossible to succeed if the opponent just maintains their awarenes and poise and executes a simple throw, catch and tag. It's basically gambling that your opponent will screw up if you put them under pressure. It does work sometimes, but it failed repeatedly against Winthrop, who may not be the most talented team, but apparently are fundamentally sound and disciplined. I would be more inclined to say take those chances if a team has shown weakness in those areas.


Excellent point and I would add that moving forward we should be very cognizant of the fact that we will be playing fundamentally sound teams as we progress (hopefully) in the conference tournament and BEYOND!
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By Class of 20Something
Posts
#529961
Dalegarz1 wrote:OldFlame wrote:
We have been trying to take extra bases under circumstances where it is physically impossible to succeed if the opponent just maintains their awarenes and poise and executes a simple throw, catch and tag. It's basically gambling that your opponent will screw up if you put them under pressure. It does work sometimes, but it failed repeatedly against Winthrop, who may not be the most talented team, but apparently are fundamentally sound and disciplined. I would be more inclined to say take those chances if a team has shown weakness in those areas.


Excellent point and I would add that moving forward we should be very cognizant of the fact that we will be playing fundamentally sound teams as we progress (hopefully) in the conference tournament and BEYOND!
I don't follow softball but is sounds like the Steelers always going for two. The success rate might be lower but it pays off in the end. I'm curious if we could get a Stolen Bases/Caught Stealing ratio or of there is a metric for points off stolen bases. I'm sure someone somewhere cares enough to track that. Baseball and softball are a the dreams of number crunchers.

Math for the curious. NFL Percentages.

2pt conversion averages .96 points per attempt.

PAT averages .944 points per attempt.
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By BJWilliams
Registration Days Posts
#529963
I may be looking at the wrong numbers in calculating this but we are 78/101 in stolen bases this year, and have a SB/CS ratio of 3.3 or basically 3 swiped bags for every time caught...this I don't think calculates exactly for pickoffs I know
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#529966
Doesn't a successful pickoff move count as a caught stealing for the baserunner?
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529969
No. A pick off is not a CS.

There are 2 types of pick offs. Official pick off is when runner strays too far off bag and catcher throws down.

An unofficial one is when a fielder throws behind runner who rounded bag too far and fielder nabs her before she gets back to bag.
Officially we have only been picked off 4 times this season.
By Dalegarz1
Posts
#529972
Statistics can only go so far. They can never measure to what extent poor base running has led to fewer runs scored. We simply don't know what subsequent batters would have done under different circumstances. In addition, base running mistakes also include not taking extra bases when we should have. There is no statistic for that. The elite teams spend a lot of time going over all the nuances of base running. The recognized leader of this emphasis is Mike Candrea, the coach at the University of Arizona. I went through a training program of his solely on base running. There are so many "little things" that need to be stressed. These include taking a maximum lead and having your weight evenly distributed and not leaning back to the base. He is a master at delayed steals and enticing the catcher to throw behind you and taking off for the next base. As those of you who have coached know, it's the little things which add up to big things. Many of these should be points of emphasis in the off season.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#529973
When I coached, I always took into consideration "who the next batter was". If it was a weak hitter, I would be more aggressive with the base runners. If my #3 or 4 hitter was due up, I was more conservative.

And there's the unwritten rule: Never make the first or 3rd out at 3rd base.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#529975
ballcoach15 wrote:Never make the first or 3rd out at 3rd base.
O's broadcaster and HOF pitcher Jim Palmer mentions that unwritten rule about every game he does for MASN. :blahblah
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