Utah at OSU

[HacklemanPoke]

They are definitely not that far off which is why this season has been so frustrating. Crandall's emergence has been huge and gives us a little hope for postseason. I still don't know if there's enough players that can be trusted to get the big hits when they are needed. Even today so there were so many empty at bats. BUT, you can see Delgadillo starting to draw walks instead of bunting herself out, Hasler can now provide power, Timm is kind of back, and Rosie is a superstar. But beyond that, everyone is a wild card.

The RPI is around 20, so the only chance to host would be to win the tournament, and even that isn't a guarantee. But 3 good RPI wins would give you a chance.

I also think we went through a stretch w Warsop and Delgadillo back to back in the order. I think teams were pitching/fielding to that and you had Timm or Wark slumping so the bottoms of the lineup was a guaranteed 2 outs. Others were pressing in order to cover that up.

This season also shows how much 1 injury to a key player can impact. Having Crandall out and then on a pitch count really impacted this team. Now that the rust is off she’s looking really good.

I can’t imagine how frustrating this has been for the staff and players, but this season really shows how hard Kenny works at thinking through and changing things to win. Even yesterday he was adjusting the batting order to put the team in the best position to win. I also like how he’s tinkering w Kyra to get her going but keeping the starter ready in case he needs to go back.

 

[Chairman of the Board]

I also think we went through a stretch w Warsop and Delgadillo back to back in the order. I think teams were pitching/fielding to that and you had Timm or Wark slumping so the bottoms of the lineup was a guaranteed 2 outs. Others were pressing in order to cover that up.

This season also shows how much 1 injury to a key player can impact. Having Crandall out and then on a pitch count really impacted this team. Now that the rust is off she’s looking really good.

I can’t imagine how frustrating this has been for the staff and players, but this season really shows how hard Kenny works at thinking through and changing things to win. Even yesterday he was adjusting the batting order to put the team in the best position to win. I also like how he’s tinkering w Kyra to get her going but keeping the starter ready in case he needs to go back.

I do appreciate that he doesn't just sit back and make excuses, but instead he tries whatever he can.

Sometimes, though, I think he and the staff do too much tinkering. Like inserting Aycock yesterday--that wasn't going to end well. Luckily it only led to 1 run, it was about 3 feet away from being 4-3. There was no need to mess with the game at that point, just to try to get a fragile player some confidence.

The top of the order has been a mess. Credit to Delgadillo that she's finally settled into the role, but it has been a revolving door and causes a mess in the lineup. Edwards has been disappointing this year at the plate, but she's also been all over the batting order. Maybe that's Kenny trying to help her. But to me, he's trying to put a band aid on the bigger issue which is an inability to idenfity pitches and their location.

Anyway, there's at least some optimism with Crandall stepping up that the team can do some damage in the postseason. We'll see.