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2019 Softball Season thread

HookedonGriz said:
I coach a youth fastpitch team who woudnt have made such baseunning blunders!!

Griz hosting Idaho St. Down 4-0 in the bottom of 3. Griz load bases, no outs.

They make first out at plate by hesitating and then trying to score on a wild pitch over head of catcher. So rule number 1 broken, don’t make the first out at home or 3rd...ever.

Next batter smokes a ball to third base side and runner on 3rd tries to advance and gets gunned at home by 1 mile.

Then as that is happening the hitter tries to round first base and take second and they gun her out by a mile.

Then coach Meuchel gingerly walks off the field like “oh well, not our luck”. No! That was a lesson in the worst baserunning ever to be seen in back to back plays. Like I said my 12 year old trave team knows better and I would expect a little more accountability from the coach to her players. That was uuuuuuuugly and why I’ll nver stand behind this coaching staff. Pinkerton would have lost his mind, and that is why he won titles and why this team will struggle.

I agree that it was one of the most self-defeating 30 seconds of base-running I've ever seen. I'm certain I don't know softball as in-depth as you, Hooked (I mean this genuinely... no sarcasm) but I've watched and covered a lot of softball (and baseball) and... well, the sport can be humbling. I've seen a lot of pretty funky base-running over the years! Actually, what hurt the team worse on Saturday, in my opinion, were the two fielding bumbles that cost the Griz two runs, and a 1-run loss. Later last night, I watched a young Seattle Mariners' third-baseman boot the ball on 3 straight 9th inning plays that resulted in 3 unearned runs... and almost cost his team a win. Two of the plays were routine, so I believe I was watching a good player in a bit of a mental hyper-freeze. It happens. It can happen to anyone in baseball/softball.

I felt awful for this young Montana team yesterday, but at the end of the day, they were tough enough to RUN out to the gate afterwards to thank fans for coming. I could see their expressions. They were NOT "oh well-ing" anything. Nor do I think coach Meuchel was. The redeeming thing about the weekend was that they went out on Sunday, put their "bad Saturday" behind them, and gutted out a hard-earned win (despite more shakey D).

This is a very young team, and I worry that there will be more downs.... because they really need more stability on their pitching staff. But heck, I will continue to STAND BEHIND this team and coaching staff. I see steady overall improvement and -- because they have good hitting potential, I mean some serious bat pop & power -- I think they're fun to watch.

P.S. I've watched parts of several Iowa State games this year... they're dead last in the Big 12.
ummm... I'm sticking with Montana!
 
grizzlyjournal said:
HookedonGriz said:
I coach a youth fastpitch team who woudnt have made such baseunning blunders!!

Griz hosting Idaho St. Down 4-0 in the bottom of 3. Griz load bases, no outs.

They make first out at plate by hesitating and then trying to score on a wild pitch over head of catcher. So rule number 1 broken, don’t make the first out at home or 3rd...ever.

Next batter smokes a ball to third base side and runner on 3rd tries to advance and gets gunned at home by 1 mile.

Then as that is happening the hitter tries to round first base and take second and they gun her out by a mile.

Then coach Meuchel gingerly walks off the field like “oh well, not our luck”. No! That was a lesson in the worst baserunning ever to be seen in back to back plays. Like I said my 12 year old trave team knows better and I would expect a little more accountability from the coach to her players. That was uuuuuuuugly and why I’ll nver stand behind this coaching staff. Pinkerton would have lost his mind, and that is why he won titles and why this team will struggle.

I agree that it was one of the most self-defeating 30 seconds of base-running I've ever seen. I'm certain I don't know softball as in-depth as you, Hooked (I mean this genuinely... no sarcasm) but I've watched and covered a lot of softball (and baseball) and... well, the sport can be humbling. I've seen a lot of pretty funky base-running over the years! Actually, what hurt the team worse on Saturday, in my opinion, were the two fielding bumbles that cost the Griz two runs, and a 1-run loss. Later last night, I watched a young Seattle Mariners' third-baseman boot the ball on 3 straight 9th inning plays that resulted in 3 unearned runs... and almost cost his team a win. Two of the plays were routine, so I believe I was watching a good player in a bit of a mental hyper-freeze. It happens. It can happen to anyone in baseball/softball.

I felt awful for this young Montana team yesterday, but at the end of the day, they were tough enough to RUN out to the gate afterwards to thank fans for coming. I could see their expressions. They were NOT "oh well-ing" anything. Nor do I think coach Meuchel was. The redeeming thing about the weekend was that they went out on Sunday, put their "bad Saturday" behind them, and gutted out a hard-earned win (despite more shakey D).

This is a very young team, and I worry that there will be more downs.... because they really need more stability on their pitching staff. But heck, I will continue to STAND BEHIND this team and coaching staff. I see steady overall improvement and -- because they have good hitting potential, I mean some serious bat pop & power -- I think they're fun to watch.

P.S. I've watched parts of several Iowa State games this year... they're dead last in the Big 12.
ummm... I'm sticking with Montana!

I love your positivity and I love your “almost” blind loyalty to all things Griz. There is something to be said for that. At the same time, I don’t think we should be so loyal that we can’t get frustrated or critique major mistakes. If this was a one time deal, then sure, shrug it off and live to see another day. However, these base running blunders are becoming routine....way too common in my opinion. There’s got to be a root cause for that and in my opinion that starts with this coaching staff. Yes this team is young, yes they are very talented, but they can’t keeo doing the same thing over again and hope for a different outcome....that’s the definition of insanity. I want to see the coach get in their ear if they make the first out at home or get gunned out because of dumb decisions on the base paths. They are doing it way more than they should. It’s fixable.....so fix it.
 
My thoughts on the season thus far. I feel like this team will go through the growing pains like the 2015 team. They will hit and struggle at the plate. They will play good defense and then make errors. They will make mistakes both physical and mental because they are young. The thing I like about this team and they are further along than the 2015 team is they do have players with D1 experience under their belt. I think the offense has been better than I expected. Defense is just a hair less effective than I thought. The disappointment has been the experienced pitching staff's effectiveness. I believe that Driscoll and Stensby will bring this staff along as the season continues. I am also very high on Coach Meuchel. Remember, this is just her second year as a head coach and I feel she is finding her groove. I have always thought she was the perfect replacement for Pinkerton for continuity reasons and I look forward to seeing what she does with the program. Grizzlyjournal, I want to just comment on your comment on Pinkerton and Iowa State. I am going to choose to be a fan of both and hope both programs flourish. The Cyclones maybe in last place but the program has improved since they hired Pinkerton. They are 19-15 and have had the highest RPI in their history the past two years. Their RPI is #60 and they are in the third toughest conference in the nation. One more thing, of their 15 losses, 8 of them have been to Top 25 teams, 7 of those losses were to teams that were in the Top 15 and 5 of the losses we to Top 10 teams and 2 of the losses were to the defending national champions. All of those games except one have been competitive. I wish him and the Cyclones the best. Go Griz!
 
logchain20 said:
My thoughts on the season thus far. I feel like this team will go through the growing pains like the 2015 team. They will hit and struggle at the plate. They will play good defense and then make errors. They will make mistakes both physical and mental because they are young. The thing I like about this team and they are further along than the 2015 team is they do have players with D1 experience under their belt. I think the offense has been better than I expected. Defense is just a hair less effective than I thought. The disappointment has been the experienced pitching staff's effectiveness. I believe that Driscoll and Stensby will bring this staff along as the season continues. I am also very high on Coach Meuchel. Remember, this is just her second year as a head coach and I feel she is finding her groove. I have always thought she was the perfect replacement for Pinkerton for continuity reasons and I look forward to seeing what she does with the program. Grizzlyjournal, I want to just comment on your comment on Pinkerton and Iowa State. I am going to choose to be a fan of both and hope both programs flourish. The Cyclones maybe in last place but the program has improved since they hired Pinkerton. They are 19-15 and have had the highest RPI in their history the past two years. Their RPI is #60 and they are in the third toughest conference in the nation. One more thing, of their 15 losses, 8 of them have been to Top 25 teams, 7 of those losses were to teams that were in the Top 15 and 5 of the losses we to Top 10 teams and 2 of the losses were to the defending national champions. All of those games except one have been competitive. I wish him and the Cyclones the best. Go Griz!

Hey logchain20: I agree with you totally on Montana's status right now, AND on Iowa State's situation. I highly respected what coach Pinks did in establishing a solid program here at Montana & follow Iowa State because of that connection. What I was trying to hint at (probably not clearly enough) is that ALL teams struggle with bad games & all programs have "build-rebuild" seasons. I happened to tune in to Iowa State's 11-0 loss to Texas & realized that -- even teams with great coaches can look pretty bad at times. I will continue to be a supporter of coach Pinkerton AND an enthusiastic & loyal and supporter of the Montana women's softball program. Go Griz!
 
A good story this week from GoGriz on the Montana softball team. The story runs down the situation of Montana softball with a clear focus, including stats analytics.

I watched Montana's games at Sacramento State and came away encouraged; they battled in both 10-inning games that ended as walkoffs for Sac. The negatives of both games was giving up sizeable early inning leads. Otherwise, good pitching, excellent defense and ok offense. Cami Sellers steadily rising as an elite player in the Big Sky.

[media]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/1116115930545704965[/media]
 
grizzlyjournal said:
A good story this week from GoGriz on the Montana softball team. The story runs down the situation of Montana softball with a clear focus, including stats analytics.

I watched Montana's games at Sacramento State and came away encouraged; they battled in both 10-inning games that ended as walkoffs for Sac. The negatives of both games was giving up sizeable early inning leads. Otherwise, good pitching, excellent defense and ok offense. Cami Sellers steadily rising as an elite player in the Big Sky.

[media]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/1116115930545704965[/media]

Speaking of Cami, she owned 2 of Montana’s 4 homers in game 1 after sweeping both games against PSU on Sat. Go get that series sweep tomorrow Griz!!
 
Sellers has been an awesome addition. Griz take 2 of 3 at home and looked pretty good doing it. Still plenty of issues to fix but I like that they don’t fold regardless of being down runs.
 
HookedonGriz said:
Sellers has been an awesome addition. Griz take 2 of 3 at home and looked pretty good doing it. Still plenty of issues to fix but I like that they don’t fold regardless of being down runs.

Sorry, they won ALL 3. It was a SWEEP! Guess you weren't there. :roll:
 
maroonandsilver said:
HookedonGriz said:
Sellers has been an awesome addition. Griz take 2 of 3 at home and looked pretty good doing it. Still plenty of issues to fix but I like that they don’t fold regardless of being down runs.

Sorry, they won ALL 3. It was a SWEEP! Guess you weren't there. :roll:

My bad. I actually watched the game on Pluto yesterday and knew that. Forgot they overcame a 5-6 run deficit in prior game to win. I live in Bozangeles and watch as many games as possible on Pluto. I drive my daughter and her friends over to games too. Yea I missed yesterday so now I’m a bad fan 🙄
 
No mention about Driscoll's excellent defense on the mound as well. I believe she had at least three solid defensive plays for outs in the two games she pitched (going by memory on this).

[media]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/1117514603531923457[/media]
 
alabamagrizzly said:
Congrats to Msla Big Sky’s Morgan Johnson for her 1st and 2nd career home runs. Very excited for her!

You should have seen her first. This is no exaggeration....it was just leveling out when it hit the towering American flag well beyond left center and dropped. It would otherwise still be going I think. It was the biggest shot I’ve seen there
 
HookedonGriz said:
alabamagrizzly said:
Congrats to Msla Big Sky’s Morgan Johnson for her 1st and 2nd career home runs. Very excited for her!

You should have seen her first. This is no exaggeration....it was just leveling out when it hit the towering American flag well beyond left center and dropped. It would otherwise still be going I think. It was the biggest shot I’ve seen there

Agree 100% regarding Morgan. Alabama has mentioned more than once that Morgan has cred as a capable hitter & I've been hoping she'd start to show her exceptional bat strength with some ph drives. Well, given the opportunity by coach Meuchel on Tuesday, Morgan connected big time. Not only her first homer as a Montana Griz, but back-to-back shots that were awesome. Given the chance to play at first base (did a great job) and bat in the lineup, she finally seemed to relax... which the results show. Check out her second homer as well; replay shows how far it cleared the center field fence (twice the height of the fence) into the trees. Congrats, Morgan! Keep it rolling.

[media]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/1118305484384063488[/media]
[media]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/1118310046188728320[/media]
 
I wonder if coach has contemplated playing Weisgram in LF for Petrino. I know Petrino has a little more speed on the base paths but I think Brooklyn’s bat would help more in the lineup and I’m sure defensively she’d be alright. Just a thought.
 
Congrats to Cami Sellers for just breaking the Griz record for consecutive games with a hit by smacking a 2 out double to the wall. Unfortunately Stensby struck out for the next at bat. That Su’esu’e has a crazy little bounce in her wind up. I don’t remember her having that last year. I wonder if that’s why she’s been so much more improved this year.
 
Standings/remaining games/results

WSU 12-1
Remaining: @PSU
Results: UNC 2-0, Sac 2-0, SUU 3-0, ISU 2-1, UM 3-0

Sac St 8-3
Remaining: PSU, @ISU
Results: UNC 3-0, UM 3-0, WSU 0-2, SUU 2-1

ISU 5-6
Remaining: @SUU, Sac
Results: WSU 1-2, UNC 0-3, UM 2-1, PSU 2-0

PSU 5-6
Remaining: @Sac, WSU
Results: SUU 3-0, UM 0-3, UNC 2-1, ISU 0-2

UNC 5-9
Remaining: @UM
Results: Sac 0-3, SUU 1-2, ISU 3-0, PSU 1-2, WSU 0-2

UM 4-8
Remaining: UNC, @SUU
Results: WSU 0-3, PSU 3-0, Sac 0-3, ISU 1-2

SUU 3-9
Remaining: ISU, UM
Results: PSU 0-3, UNC 2-1, WSU 0-3, Sac 1-2

Every week there is a team not playing a con series and UNC will be that team the last week of the year. It will be tuff for them to sit at home and watch the rest of the series’s unfold. Remember, the last place team is left out of the con tourney and the 1st place team earns the right to host the tourney next year.

It’s good we play the other two cellar dwellers the last two weeks but SUU at home is strong and UNC is better then their record indicates. Just win baby!
 
BH taking in the softball doubleheader on a dreary, rainy Friday
hauck.jpg
 
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