Gopher Softball 2024

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rwlarson said:
Good question. We’ve never heard any rumblings like you see on other boards, so there’s that.

Let’s look at Piper’s tenure.

2021 - B1G refused to play any non-conference games, hurting the tournament chances of everyone, and especially sad for Amber Fiser. Yet were still one of only three B1G teams that made the tournament. Once there, we gave top seed UCLA a run for their money.

2022 - We came into the Fall of 2021 thinking we had Pease plus heralded fresh Leavitt to lead a staff that also included Ava Dueck and Brynn Hostetler. We set up a schedule that if navigated well, would have set us up for a top 8 seed. But Dueck retired due to chronic injury. Hostetler couldn’t find the plate must have thought playing at this level was too much and she transferred to Augsburg. Leavitt turned out to be one of those kids who thought she deserved to be at a better program, a cancer in the locker room. Pease had lingering issues from offseason surgery and was on a pitch count the entire season. We still made the tournament although as expected our lack of pitching depth killed us in the regional.

2023 - Great rebound year for Pease. Added Sydney Schwartz, Bri Enter, and Jacie Hambrick to cover the two unexpected losses plus the departure of Leavitt to Texas A&M of the SEC. Made the tournament and played pretty well but ran into an underseeded McNeese team that eventually had Washington beat before they realized what they were about to do and imploded in dramatic fashion. Had we been able to get past McNeese in extra innings, we could have challenged Washington with Autumn in the circle.

2024 - Brought in three frosh pitchers to start building the depth we will need in the future. I think more was expected of Hambrick, who has the stuff but not the command to be elite. Enter pitched better than at any point in her career but was shelved when we needed to make a run to make the tournament. Schwartz was out before conference play even started. Offensively, Piper’s best team. Defense was solid, but the combination of youth, injury, and inconsistency sealed our fate. Missed the tournament for then first time in over a decade.

It is pretty well known that Piper has Carly Wynn in charge of the offense. We play a power game, and we do it fairly well. I’d like to see us better in the small-ball game when needed and our situational hitting (moving runners over, getting runners in from third with less than two out, etc.) is average to poor. We have hitters who are confident enough to take strikes early in the count, but we do this even when we are facing top pitching or just a hot pitcher. In these cases, we may only see one hittable pitch in an at bat and we have to be ready to pounce if it happens to be the first pitch.

I think the jury is out on the development of the freshmen pitchers. With a season under their belt, it’s Piper’s job to tell them what they need to work on during the offseason. That’s when much of the improvement happens. It’s hard to work on mechanics during the season.

Add Susa and Schwartz to the freshmen, and next year is almost certainly a step up from this year. The question is how much.

Until the portal closes, and even after that if we are shopping the portal, you can’t really predict anything because you don’t have a roster.

But taking this approach to assessing the state of the program under Piper, Carly, and staff, it appears Piper has had some setbacks but overall has kept Minnesota softball in a pretty good place with an opportunity to get better. Barring mass portal defections that aren’t replaced with other good players from the portal, it seems she has laid a foundation for success in the future.

The only real criticism I have is that we need to recruit 1-2 pitchers every year to account for attrition. We didn’t bring any in prior to 2021 but that was somewhat to be expected as she had just taken over the reins and we were in the middle of the pandemic, so anyone we brought in would have committed under Trachsel. Since then, we brought in Leavitt, Schwartz, the three freshmen this year, amd Susa next year, an average of 1.5 per year, which is where we need to be going forward.

Can Carly find more players like Chavez and Oakland, who start (and produce) as freshmen? Minnesota has a recent tradition (Moulton, Walker, Richardson, Groenewegen, Parlich, Houlihan, Partain, Chavez, Oakland), of having contenders for B1G freshman of the year. We will need more of that going forward, as we obviously didn’t have that this season.
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Great analysis!
 

Gopher68 said:
Great analysis!
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I fully agree with rwlawson’s analysis.

The only addition I would make is that these next handful or two of weeks will be the most important of Ritter’s tenure. She will have to convince Gopher players and pending recruits (and we all know especially who) that this team is on a path to be again making strong runs in Big Ten tourneys and into NCAA tourneys. Players and recruits have expected this program to be a top 30 or so team. Piper needs to convince them that we will be again… starting next year.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I fully agree with rwlawson’s analysis.

The only addition I would make is that these next handful or two of weeks will be the most important of Ritter’s tenure. She will have to convince Gopher players and pending recruits (and we all know especially who) that this team is on a path to be again making strong runs in Big Ten tourneys and into NCAA tourneys. Players and recruits have expected this program to be a top 30 or so team. Piper needs to convince them that we will be again… starting next year.
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To start with she needs to believe it herself.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I fully agree with rwlawson’s analysis.

The only addition I would make is that these next handful or two of weeks will be the most important of Ritter’s tenure. She will have to convince Gopher players and pending recruits (and we all know especially who) that this team is on a path to be again making strong runs in Big Ten tourneys and into NCAA tourneys. Players and recruits have expected this program to be a top 30 or so team. Piper needs to convince them that we will be again… starting next year.
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Agree. No reason this can't be a top 30 team every year.
 

mngolf said:
Agree. No reason this can't be a top 30 team every year.
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To be one if those teams, it is now more clear to me than ever before that it all starts in the circle. It is essential that the Gophers have at least one ace pitcher on staff with BOTH the command to reliably throw strikes and the stuff to be able to strike out opposing batters in bunches.
 


ClassOf98Gopher said:
To be one if those teams, it is now more clear to me than ever before that it all starts in the circle. It is essential that the Gophers have at least one ace pitcher on staff with BOTH the command to reliably throw strikes and the stuff to be able to strike out opposing batters in bunches.
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Good insightful comment, Classof98. Don't mean to be a smart aleck, but I've argued that for years also. As you say, "at least one ace pitcher," preferably two to be really good.
 

DietCokeFan said:
Piper as the head coach and pitching coach is simply not working. I have also seen enough of the 3rd base coach. The amount of terrible decisions she makes is horrendous. The kids look absolutely lost out there. I understand there's injuries, but the fact that a team cannot adjust to pitching is baffling. How do you only get three hits off that Nebraska pitcher when she literally threw probably 300 pitches the weekend before. Expect Oakland and others to be long gone.
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Not sure what it means, but Oakland just signed for another year with Dinkytown Athletics.

MARA BRAUN AND JESS OAKLAND ARE BACK WITH DINKYTOWN ATHLETES​

Thank you to those who are supporting Gopher Women’s Basketball and Softball NIL. Mara Braun and Jess Oakland will be back for another year with Dinkytown Athletes.

I hope this means she will be back with Gopher softball.
 

Gopher68 said:
Not sure what it means, but Oakland just signed for another year with Dinkytown Athletics.

MARA BRAUN AND JESS OAKLAND ARE BACK WITH DINKYTOWN ATHLETES​

Thank you to those who are supporting Gopher Women’s Basketball and Softball NIL. Mara Braun and Jess Oakland will be back for another year with Dinkytown Athletes.

I hope this means she will be back with Gopher softball.
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She's collecting her coins, of course she would continue with Dinkytown. That doesn't stop anyone from going to the portal. Trust me, I hope she and others stay, I really do.
 




Gopher68 said:
End of Season interview with Taylor and Jess:
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Taylor and Jess provide a well-practiced interview. They are clearly disciplined in their sport so it only makes sense that they are disciplined and practiced in their communication.

They don’t step on any landmines, speak clearly, and give the appropriate (though often stated by most players) response to these types of questions.
 

Second day of the softball NCAAs and no BigTen team has escaped the elimination round.
 






Ski U Mah Gopher said:
With UCLA, Oregon, and Washington joining the league, there will be at least one team in the supers in 2025.
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I may be the only one who thinks this but in my mind, “who cares?” I couldn’t care less about UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. But I didn’t want them in the conference anyway.

All I care about is Minnesota and how that Gopher softball team will provide to me maximum entertainment from February to May.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I may be the only one who thinks this but in my mind, “who cares?” I couldn’t care less about UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. But I didn’t want them in the conference anyway.

All I care about is Minnesota and how that Gopher softball team will provide to me maximum entertainment from February to May.
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Could look at it as: SEC gets so many bids because of their depth. If the depth on B1G is better, could help conference get more bids.
 

mngolf said:
Could look at it as: SEC gets so many bids because of their depth. If the depth on B1G is better, could help conference get more bids.
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The SEC teams get more bids and possibly have more roster depth because the collegiate softball schedule is skewed to fit their weather (and, in my assumption, less rigorous academic programs.
 

PreacherRoe said:
The SEC teams get more bids and possibly have more roster depth because the collegiate softball schedule is skewed to fit their weather (and, in my assumption, less rigorous academic programs.
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More bids because of weather? Not following.
 

mngolf said:
More bids because of weather? Not following.
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It’s quite simple. I live in Tennessee so I can tell you that it is really pleasant to do athletic things outside in March, April and into May. By June and certainly July, it is hot as the sun.

Anyway, the best outdoor days in the American South line up perfectly with the softball season. Whereas Minnesota’s best softball playing days are right about when the NCAA softball season ends.

So Minnesota Gopher players had better be the type of human beings that like to travel and don’t mind practicing indoors.
 
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ClassOf98Gopher said:
It’s quite simple. I live in Tennessee so I can tell you that it is really pleasant to do athletic things outside in March, April and into May. By June and certainly July, it is hot as the sun.

Anyway, the best outdoor days in the American South line up perfectly with the softball season. Whereas Minnesota’s best softball playing days are right about when the NCAA softball season ends.

So Minnesota Gopher players had better be the type of human beings that like to travel and don’t mind practicing indoors.
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Ok, so i equated that to roster depth. But bids should work to our advantage based on the weather you listed.
 

It’s kind of a Catch-22 situation. For northern schools to get more hosting opportunities in the NCAA tournament, when the weather for games is at its finest, they have to win more games early in the year when they can’t play tough opponents at home due to weather.
 

I think you're all being too bland/kind. The February-thru-early-June NCAA calendar playing season was clearly a rig-job by NCAA-SEC-PAC 12 to favor the warm weather schools and allow them to play almost their entire pre-conference seasons (Febr & March) on their home fields v. traveling northern teams. One can only imagine the lobbying efforts by SEC and PAC12 to get that done, plus the timid non-efforts by the BigTen to let it happen. It will be fun if we see UCLA sent to play at MN, MI, or NW's Windy City on, say, February 9! LOL My hope is that Northern teams will get stronger. With its TV network, the BigTen should lobby for a season from early April to early August. The Big Ten could get it done. If SEC schools don't want to travel, they can stay home.
 

PreacherRoe said:
I think you're all being too bland/kind. The February-thru-early-June NCAA calendar playing season was clearly a rig-job by NCAA-SEC-PAC 12 to favor the warm weather schools and allow them to play almost their entire pre-conference seasons (Febr & March) on their home fields v. traveling northern teams. One can only imagine the lobbying efforts by SEC and PAC12 to get that done, plus the timid non-efforts by the BigTen to let it happen. It will be fun if we see UCLA sent to play at MN, MI, or NW's Windy City on, say, February 9! LOL My hope is that Northern teams will get stronger. With its TV network, the BigTen should lobby for a season from early April to early August. The Big Ten could get it done. If SEC schools don't want to travel, they can stay home.
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I think the season is dictated more by the school calendar. Most college academic schedules are done in early May now. There are about 800 NCAA softball-playing institutions (plus NAIA/JC) with only a few dozen at the Power 5 level and a much smaller number probably actually making significant TV revenue and making a profit. Most student athletes go home for the summer. Running the full season into the summer wouldn't work for probably at least 700+ programs.

That said, I'd love to see the BG10 baseball and softball members partner with other northern schools to shift the season by about 6 weeks later in the year. Fan attendance would definitely be boosted with more home games. Maybe realigned conferences would give them enough clout to get some TV revenue. I can only dream.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I think the season is dictated more by the school calendar. Most college academic schedules are done in early May now. There are about 800 NCAA softball-playing institutions (plus NAIA/JC) with only a few dozen at the Power 5 level and a much smaller number probably actually making significant TV revenue and making a profit. Most student athletes go home for the summer. Running the full season into the summer wouldn't work for probably at least 700+ programs.

That said, I'd love to see the BG10 baseball and softball members partner with other northern schools to shift the season by about 6 weeks later in the year. Fan attendance would definitely be boosted with more home games. Maybe realigned conferences would give them enough clout to get some TV revenue. I can only dream.
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Agreed. "Shift the season by about 6 weeks later in the year" is what I suggested also, which would mean starting April 1 and extending the season at least through July. That would put everybody close to being on the same calendar weather wise. As for student-athletes being home for the summer or playing ball, I think they'd want to play ball.
 

Watching the NCAAs shows, as it always does, that the elite teams make spectacular plays and bad fielding/throwing mistakes just like the Gophers do. What the elite teams have that the Gophers lack is a relative abundance of power pitching. Without top pitchers who stop potent lineups, the Gophers won't get back to where they were.
 

PreacherRoe said:
Watching the NCAAs shows, as it always does, that the elite teams make spectacular plays and bad fielding/throwing mistakes just like the Gophers do. What the elite teams have that the Gophers lack is a relative abundance of power pitching. Without top pitchers who stop potent lineups, the Gophers won't get back to where they were.
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I'm amazed seeing batters in the lineups hitting. 200. Along with some really dumb plays. Clearly elite pitching makes the biggest difference.
 

Despite Jessica Allister's admirable coaching, Stanford came up a bit short. The Cardinal's advancement gives the Gophers something to shoot for. Hope for the best, but I have my doubts.
 

PreacherRoe said:
Despite Jessica Allister's admirable coaching, Stanford came up a bit short. The Cardinal's advancement gives the Gophers something to shoot for. Hope for the best, but I have my doubts.
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I don’t think Stanford came up short at all. Stanford is a top 4 team! That’s an incredible achievement unlikely to happen again anytime soon.

I am not a huge fan of Coach Allister given what she did to us, but I gotta give her credit, she took a bad team and turned it into a great team. Of course she had the name “Stanford” and all of that Stanford Athletic Department money to work with… so she had THAT going for her. And I mean a lot of money.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I don’t think Stanford came up short at all. Stanford is a top 4 team! That’s an incredible achievement unlikely to happen again anytime soon.

I am not a huge fan of Coach Allister given what she did to us, but I gotta give her credit, she took a bad team and turned it into a great team. Of course she had the name “Stanford” and all of that Stanford Athletic Department money to work with… so she had THAT going for her. And I mean a lot of money.
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Some of the money issues will be turned around in the near future.
 

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