Fayetteville Regional

disappointing season no question…no need to hit the panic button but tough conversations do need to happen with players and coaching staff

You have a nucleus of Edwards, Davis, Godwin, Hasler, Warsop returning. You have Timm, who was all-conference last season have a bad season as well as Wark. If you can get a premier SS and OF out of the portal, that would help tremendously.

Pitching is the main priority. Kutz had nearly as many walks as strikeouts while Aycock had more walks than innings pitched. Sadly that’s not going to cut it. I don’t know if true freshman Makayla Smith or two way start Aubrey jones will be ready day one but the pitching staff needs an overhaul.

Hitting wise, everyone regressed with the exception of Bloodworth, her bat was good this season. Warsop made a jump as a sophomore and her ability to steal bases was needed. I liked that we ran more this season. Hopefully we continue to get players that can help in that department

The portal players were meh this season. Hadhoot clearly struggled to P4 softball. Delgadillo was okay..expected a little more especially in conference play. Hasler lived up to the billing no question.

Preseason favorites…finished fourth!! Didn’t make it past regionals…sums up OSU athletics for the 24-25 school year!! Only way to make this year weirder is baseball to win the big XII tournament and somehow make it to Omaha
 
Post game press conference:

He mentioned the last play where Godwin flied out and Rosie either had no clue where the ball was or how many outs there were as a microchosm (sp?) of the season.

“It’s just been hard for us all year,” Gajewski said. “I don’t know why. It just has been.

“We just seem to make blunders at weird times and in big moments. So it’s obviously something that I’m doing, that our staff’s doing, that we’ve got to look at and regroup.”

“I felt like we had a pretty good game plan, but we did not execute the game plan at all,” Gajewski said. “We were actually hunting down and we were swinging up. We were taking some good pitches down. (Arkansas pitcher Robyn) Herron is really good, so she doesn’t miss a lot. But when she does, you gotta get it.

“I knew we were in a bad spot when I looked up at the scoreboard in the fourth inning and she was sitting at like 30 pitches. We got really out of character for how we’ve been the last month or so, as far as sticking with a plan. She just abused us. She beat us up. I don’t even know if we hit a ball hard.”

---------------------------------

I'm not on the inside but this is what I've seen following closely from the outside for quite some time now. A lot of players do what they want, and not necessarily what they are coached to do. I'm sure Shippy is smart enough to tell them to not chase bad pitches, what approach to have, etc but there is something missing in the delivery of the message. Lack of respect? Trust? Fear of consequence?

It's clear that Arkansas' hitters listen to DJ Gasso, even Indiana has a great plan at the plate (just no pitching), and I hate to say it, but if you don't listen in Norman, you know where you'll be.

Anyway, it's a dead horse. I know. I just saw more evidence of what I've thought for a while now.
This can be a one year dip and they can be right back next year in OKC with some nice work in the portal and some coaching adjustments. But I think while yes they need to help Ruby, they've got to bring in some real hitters, too. Not bringing people up a level like Delgadillo and Hathoot, but established P4 hitters like a Caroline Wang.

It will be an interesting offseason.

I have a couple of thoughts about the hitting that I'll post later
 
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Giving players autonomy and freedom is a blessing when they’re playing well and a curse when they’re not. This year it was a curse. The team has had a transfer superstar/AA the past several years which is why we’ve been to the CWS. Show, Kelly and Lexi. This year we don’t have that. And it trickles down. When you know you’re only giving. Up —2 runs/game the psyche becomes confident and almost arrogant which is where we have been. This year we give up 5+/game many times which tightens up hitters and makes them press. Playing outside their game plan. Defense too. You start thinking about irrelevant things then get exposed on the bath paths or diving or tagging up etc. In my opinion male athletes face the mental toughness grind at younger ages. Many elite females softball players don’t face much adversity. Transfer that come in are the best of the best. Then you get to STW and face Canady and all these superstars. Makes it tough. We didn’t have much veteran leadership to fall back on. I bet he finds $1M and buys the most elite pitcher on the market. You can sense his anger in his tone that he is not happy his recruiting class blew up in their faces and didn’t produce. $ fixes most problems nowadays
 
Chairman of the Board said:
---------------------------------

I'm not on the inside but this is what I've seen following closely from the outside for quite some time now. A lot of players do what they want, and not necessarily what they are coached to do. I'm sure Shippy is smart enough to tell them to not chase bad pitches, what approach to have, etc but there is something missing in the delivery of the message. Lack of respect? Trust? Fear of consequence?

It's clear that Arkansas' hitters listen to DJ Gasso, even Indiana has a great plan at the plate (just no pitching), and I hate to say it, but if you don't listen in Norman, you know where you'll be.

Anyway, it's a dead horse. I know. I just saw more evidence of what I've thought for a while now.
This can be a one year dip and they can be right back next year in OKC with some nice work in the portal and some coaching adjustments. But I think while yes they need to help Ruby, they've got to bring in some real hitters, too. Not bringing people up a level like Delgadillo and Hathoot, but established P4 hitters like a Caroline Wang.

It will be an interesting offseason.
Click to expand...

Wang came from Liberty, which is not P4. She really elevated her game in Stillwater. Went from .317 with 15 HRs at Liberty to .375 with 17 HRs at OSU. Hathoot hit .384 last season at New Mexico, which granted is a WAC school, but I don't think the staff expected her to hit .242 in Stillwater. Delgadillo came from CS-Fullerton which is in the Big West. She hit .417 last season and .350 the year before. CSF has a good softball tradition with a NC in the 80's, and they usually play all the top West Coast schools in the non-conference. Why did Hathoot and Delgadillo drop off so much? Other than Canaday, Big 12 pitching wasn't that great. I am not buying that their decline was totally due to competition.

Portal players, especially hitters, are a crap shoot. Becker was great. Busby was great her first year. Wynne improved a lot her second season. We seem to have a lot better luck with pitchers from the portal.
 
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H2Orange said:
Wang came from Liberty, which is not P4. She really elevated her game in Stillwater. Went from .317 with 15 HRs at Liberty to .375 with 17 HRs at OSU. Hathoot hit .384 last season at New Mexico, which granted is a WAC school, but I don't think the staff expected her to hit .242 in Stillwater. Delgadillo came from CS-Fullerton which is in the Big West. She hit .417 last season and .350 the year before. CSF has a good softball tradition with a NC in the 80's, and they usually play all the top West Coast schools in the non-conference. Why did Hathoot and Delgadillo drop off so much? Other than Canaday, Big 12 pitching wasn't that great. I am not buying that their decline was totally due to competition.

Portal players, especially hitters, are a crap shoot. Becker was great. Busby was great her first year. Wynne improved a lot her second season. We seem to have a lot better luck with pitchers from the portal.
Click to expand...
You're right! I was thinking she was from NC State, but that's Hasler. I agree with you 100% about the decline not necessarily being competition. After the non-con schedule--the hardest part of the schedule--Delgadillo and Warsop were both at or around .400. Then they both just slowly got on base less and less, until finally at the end of the season Delgadillo started taking walks.

It looked like after Clearwater that Godwin was going to be a first team AA, and then she ended up being very average until Fayetville. It's across the board.




Here were some thoughts I was going to share about the hitters.

Delgadillo/Warsop--both had similar seasons. Started really hot, then slowly faded. Didn't hit for power and didn't need to. BUT, over the last month they both started hitting lazy fly balls. Why in the world are they getting under the ball at all? When they did hit ground balls, they were right at people instead of into the ground. With their speed, they both should have been .400 hitters. Warsop had a big improvement from the previous year, but she did little in the 2nd half of the season.

Edwards--you may be able to tell if you follow the threads (hardly anyone does) that she frustrates me. She left HS early, showed potential her freshman year, and then its been two years of very avrage. She's an A+++ defender, but she's a C+ hitter. I think eveyrone thought she was heading toward stardom. Teams pitch her inside a lot especially with change ups, and she either swings way early in fouls them off or takes the pitch for a strike. I don't remember her putting one in play, but I'm sure she did. She took more strikes down the middle than anyone on the team, doesn't appear to recongnize pitches very well.

Davis--superstar at the plate. Led the team in walks, hits, and RBI. Has a great knack to make contact when needed. Too many lapses on the bases and in the field, though.

Godwin-disappointed. Spent the whole year in the 4 hole, but didn't provide enough power. Seems to be in her own head a lot. Started and finished the year strong, but the rest was pedestrian. She should draw a lot more walks and force teams to give her pitches she likes.

Wark--major disappointment. Kenny said she had the best offseason of anyone, but other than a few HRs she was unproductive. Popped up and struck out way too much. Swing is way too big..

Bloodoworth--started off just like last year, but got hot and carried the team for about 3 weeks. You can tell she made some swing adjustments, went the other way a lot more instead of popping up to the left side like last year. In conference play she was solid but not spectacular.

Hasler--started off slow but ended up being a huge bat and we'll need it back next year. She takes big cuts, but seemed to choke it back with 2 strikes later in the year and provided a lot of key hits

Timm--had one decent week but otherwise was a complete non-factor. Some of her swings appeared to miss by a foot. A 180 from the previous season where she was all conference.

McDonald--hit a HR to walk off Iowa State and then got 2 weeks to start, and did nothing.

Hathoot--was awesome in Fayetteville, otherwise provided almost nothing
 
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Finding quality hitters out of the portal is hit or miss like any other position. Even though we’ve landed quality pitchers, we’ve struggled to develop our HS recruits. Kelly Maxwell is the only pitcher that has developed under Kenny. Simenuk to a degree can be included.

Do I think we only need P4 hitters..not necessarily. Jordan Doggett came from Georgia and was a failure. At the same time, we need hitters who’ve been tested. Hadhoot wasn’t tested at New Mexico and she struggled with P4 pitching on a consistent basis. Delgadillo to a degree as well even though she better competition at CSFU but only non-conference. Her small ball wasn’t successful against better competition with better defenses.

How many hitters will we get out of the portal? Who knows, but I do know they got back in town around 2:30pm and have begun exit interviews and scowling the portal. Will be interesting who stays and who goes
 
Big loss defensively…also well-liked and respected on the team. Expect schools from the SEC and ACC to be involved. A career .300 hitter and an elite glove at third will be coveted!!

Don’t know if OU will get involved…but if they do and should she go there, she’ll hit over there. After all, they have the best hitting coach in nation
 
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We did have massive success with poullard though and she was from a non P4. She was probably the best hitter we have had from the portal that wasn't a pitching player (our best hitters overall have been the pitchers we pick up lol, if I remember lexi had a heck of a bat too before something happened with injuries?)
 
LA-Poke said:
We did have massive success with poullard though and she was from a non P4. She was probably the best hitter we have had from the portal that wasn't a pitching player (our best hitters overall have been the pitchers we pick up lol, if I remember lexi had a heck of a bat too before something happened with injuries?)
Click to expand...
She was a good one. Hit .300 with 11 HR. Not quite as good as Wang and Hasler though.
 
PokeBloke said:
Giving players autonomy and freedom is a blessing when they’re playing well and a curse when they’re not. This year it was a curse. The team has had a transfer superstar/AA the past several years which is why we’ve been to the CWS. Show, Kelly and Lexi. This year we don’t have that. And it trickles down. When you know you’re only giving. Up —2 runs/game the psyche becomes confident and almost arrogant which is where we have been. This year we give up 5+/game many times which tightens up hitters and makes them press. Playing outside their game plan. Defense too. You start thinking about irrelevant things then get exposed on the bath paths or diving or tagging up etc. In my opinion male athletes face the mental toughness grind at younger ages. Many elite females softball players don’t face much adversity. Transfer that come in are the best of the best. Then you get to STW and face Canady and all these superstars. Makes it tough. We didn’t have much veteran leadership to fall back on. I bet he finds $1M and buys the most elite pitcher on the market. You can sense his anger in his tone that he is not happy his recruiting class blew up in their faces and didn’t produce. $ fixes most problems nowadays
Click to expand...
Now that I'm not completely irritated by your remarks, I would love to hear your evidence on elite females not facing "the mental toughness grind" as early as their male counterparts. The baseball team has shown the same (if not more) lack of "mental toughness" this season. Softball players are playing against elite teams across the country by the age of 10. Tryouts, "all-star" teams, and personal coaches are all part of the game by 10 as well. Many of the collegiate athletes have seen each other at tournaments or played on teams together....depending on the region. They are pushed to pitch 100s of innings in multiple travel ball seasons a year and be the primary starter on their high school squad.

Please just stop with that bs.

The issues we are seeing in both baseball & softball is coaching and being able to get today's athletes to buy-in and lock in during games...its the same in all sports, really. Young people today see more value in behaviors and attitudes that ge their name out there...not "the team". Successful coaches have learned how to merge the 2 thought processes for their players.
 
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