SB Remains #2 in Poll
The SB Team remains #2 in the latest USA Today/Coaches poll. The top 5 are unchanged: 1) Florida 2) Michigan 3) Auburn 4) 'Bama 5) LSU.
The B1G has two other teams in the top 25: #20 Minnesota, #23 Nebraska.
Other teams of note #10 James Madison @ 12-1, #13 UCLA @ 9-6 and #25 UCF @ 7-8.
Looking forward to the rest of the California games. Hoping they can go at least 5-1. Still waiting for Blanco to get some innings on the mound.
hold your breath waiting for Tera. This week's games will be tough but maybe against LB State. I have them going 6-0 with the toughest game against UCLA.
Hope you are right about going 6-0, which would put them at 18-2. I still think they will drop at least one game this week. The team is on the road for a long stretch of 9-10 days in CA, and I recall last year they struggled late in the week before coming home.
With the recent history of pitchers getting injured late in the season, you would think that it would be advantageous to get Blanco or Crockett some innings in the early to mid season. The coaches reluctance to pitch them is telling, but what do I know.
There are several wild-cards this season at pitcher. One is the consistancy of Megan. She has overwhelming power but can be wild and walk a few. Against good teams, one or two walks will not hurt. However, against great teams, walks will kill you in a 2-1 game.
Sara is the second wild card. We do not know whether she is fully recovered or if she is injured again. Her injury has a questionable recovery rate.
So the key is to get the #3 pitcher ready to go for the long term. This is what I think Hutch was trying to do with Tera in the Florida game. As I replied to Alton's comments, Tera needs to step up if she wants to pitch. Now Tera might be happy to remain at 1B.
I really like Leah but I have only personally watched her pitch in fall-ball. As mentioned before, Fall-ball is a good method to review players; but the real test in during the early part of the season.
This week we should know what Hutch is thinking by who gets to pitch this week. We have many opportunities to get a look at all the pitchers. My guess is Leah will come out of the week as the #3; although I will not be surprised if its Tera.
have to check this out. This score has "injury" written all over it. I cannot imagine UCLA getting smoked like they did.
is a travesty..Have you seen their nonconference schedule?? what a JOKE....Michigan is facing its 6th game tommorow against ranked opponents in UCLA and another next week in Mizzo...Auburn? ZERO games and none scheduled...How can they be ranked so high?
Is there any other sport where a team would be ranked with a losing record so far into the season? UCF @ 7-8 still at 25? The number 24 team is 11-3
of the season is a bit of a crap shoot. Some teams like Michigan, will schedule tough games. While other teams will play D2 cup cakes for "practice". So two teams could have the same record, but are certainly different in caliber.
has "tweaked" the line-up a little. There are 2 main changes. Faith Canfield was given the opportunity to play 3B in place of a struggling Monte. Faith did very well but Coach gave Monte another chance and Monte responded with a clutch HR for her first hit of the year.
The other tweak has been with the DP position. A few different players have played. So overall, there have been no sigficant changes. Silo is still the lead off hitter, Romo is stll battting 3rd, while Kelsey is batting clean-up.
Despite what is posted above, there was a major lineup shuffle between weeks 2 and 3.
The key to the shuffle seemed to be moving Abby Ramirez from the #9 spot to the #2 spot and dropping Romero from #2 to #3.
"OLD" LINEUP, WEEKS 1-2:
Lawrence-CF
Romero-2B
Christner-LF
Susalla-RF
Blanco-1B
Falk-DP
Montemarano/Canfield-3B
Sobczak-C
Ramirez-SS
"NEW" LINEUP, WEEK 3:
Lawrence-CF
Ramirez-SS
Romero-2B
Susalla-RF
Blanco-1B
Christner-LF
Falk-DP
Sobczak-C
Montemarano/Canfield-3B
The lineups did keep the same idea--Lawrence & Ramirez as co-leadoff hitters, Romero next, followed by Susalla, Blanco & Christner all protecting Romero from being walked every time up.
In the last game this last weekend, Falk started at catcher and Amanda Vargas DP'd, but I think that might have been a response to the game Sobczak had earlier that day against Washington.
Michigan does need to find a solution to the stolen bases they are giving up (1 caught stealing in 16 attempts so far), so we might see Falk get some more playing time behind the plate & Vargas at DP.
including Coach Hutch will often start the season with a "lets see XXXX" . The real line-up is not implemented until a few games or a few weeks into the season. Once "real" line-up is set, then there are "tweaks" from there.
I will not reveal my "real" lineup for about 25% of the season. I am an Engineer by education so the data is important to me. So I want to give every player a real chance to excel and prove themselves on the field. Once I had to bench my daughter for her "mini-slump". You talk about a quiet ride home, and a few nights on the couch; all is fine.
So my original post should have been more clear. The first few games are not considered a "test" as Coaches want to win every single game. I explained this in the Florida game thread when several people complained that Coach Hutch started Tera at Pitcher. Most of the followers of that thread could not believe that Coach would start, let alone stick with Tera against the #1 team in the country.
I explained that Coach Hutch is looking long-term into the season. She wanted to give Tera a look and a real opportunity to prove herself. For Tera, it did not turn out well but Coach Hutch gathered much data from that geme.
So once the real line-up was put in place, there have not been very many tweaks. Faith in for Monte is one example. Monte needed a break and Faith came on strong. It worked as Monte came back and hit a cluth HR for her first hit of the season when she came back.
Softball does not have a "pre-season". Most coaches try their best to gather data during fall-ball. But many have pushed for a "pre-season" in college as they do in HS.
But Michigan's "Real Lineup" last season also had Romero at #2 and Ramirez at #9, just like the first 2 weeks this year.
LAST SEASON'S LINEUP:
Lawrence-CF
Romero-2B
Christner-LF
Susalla-RF
Sweet-C
Montemarano-3B
Falk-DP
Blanco-1B
Ramirez-SS
Note that last year's "Real Lineup" is pretty much the same as Michigan's lineup in weeks 1 & 2 this season (except, obviously, for the major departure of Lauren Sweet). I think it's pretty clear that Hutchins wasn't experimenting in weeks 1 & 2, she was continuing what worked last season.
I think the only reason she changed between weeks 2 and 3 was the complete failure of the 3B position to produce at the plate. Now that Montemarano seems to have broken out of her slump, you might see a return to Ramirez at #9 and Romero at #2.
the point. You have to have a starting point. Where do you start? The easy answer is 'where you left off". So the real line-up does not emerge until several games into the season.
I have had several players over the years that were super-star All-Staters one year and the next year; they lay an egg. There are many reasons for this, especially in the high school ages.
So once the line up is set, it is tweaked from there. It is very difficult to explain Softball Theory on a message board.
Thanks for the updates MGoSoftball. Glad to see the ladies holding strong at #2.