texas wins the series - the world did not end
- SoonerGirl1201
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texas wins the series - the world did not end
I was worried about playing texas in Austin since February. I knew of all the coaches out to prove something - Mike White is probably the best. FSU and Tenn have coaches with weakness, Mike White is not that. After OSU won 2 - I had lots more hope as I really think OU is still the best team in the sport. HOwever, I think we saw the magic of austin - texas played defense better than they have all year and for many years. We had hits that in the past would have fallen for hits but didn't on Sat and Sun. MIa Scott played amazing and their outfield was near perfect. Take that away and instead use the average texas defense and OU wins handidly. I think the game being in texas made that difference (between their series with osu and their series with us). They didn't hit any better really, they just defended our hitting better.
I'm not concerned about our pitching. It is not nearly as strong without Jordy but it is good enough to win an NC. Our fielding is elite and not a concern. Our hitting is really good - but I do think we have seen signs of inconsistency and not being able to string things together to capitalize.
I think maybe our batters are not in the right order to be clutch. I'm not sure what it is. I think we have the batters - just hoping we can put them in the right order. I trust Patty, but something does seem a little off this year with all the musical chair lineups. We go through this every year and Patty settles and it works - so I'm going to trust it.
The other thing - just seems like we are missing that other-worldly fight we have had in the past. Perhaps that just means we are saving it for the WCWS - but I would like to see it really start surfacing now.
We've been so spoiled to have had it (other worldly fight) for the past 2 seasons. It has been special and most teams don't have it except for once in a while. We literally had it for 2 solid season - rarely losing and almost always coming in clutch for the win almost every game. We won our first 5 NC's with teams probably not as good as the one we have this year. The past 2 were literally probably the best teams in the history of the sport. We are still totally in it and have the team that can end up winning it all in June. Let's let them establish their identity after this and see where they end up come the last week of May.
So, big picture I'm not super worried. Sooners are coming back to earth a bit but are still every bit still the team to beat in softball. We'll learn a ton from the osu series in Norman as I do actually think osu is maybe better than texas. Would like to see us settle on a batting lineup and really focus on getting on base with walks, bunts, small ball whatever to put as much pressure on the other teams defense as possible. We didn't do enough of that to break the texas defense that was playing other worldly from adrenaline but would have broken had we put pressure on them. That is what I'm looking for moving forward. Putting pressure on defenses with bunts, base stealing, small ball, long ball, whatever.
I'm not concerned about our pitching. It is not nearly as strong without Jordy but it is good enough to win an NC. Our fielding is elite and not a concern. Our hitting is really good - but I do think we have seen signs of inconsistency and not being able to string things together to capitalize.
I think maybe our batters are not in the right order to be clutch. I'm not sure what it is. I think we have the batters - just hoping we can put them in the right order. I trust Patty, but something does seem a little off this year with all the musical chair lineups. We go through this every year and Patty settles and it works - so I'm going to trust it.
The other thing - just seems like we are missing that other-worldly fight we have had in the past. Perhaps that just means we are saving it for the WCWS - but I would like to see it really start surfacing now.
We've been so spoiled to have had it (other worldly fight) for the past 2 seasons. It has been special and most teams don't have it except for once in a while. We literally had it for 2 solid season - rarely losing and almost always coming in clutch for the win almost every game. We won our first 5 NC's with teams probably not as good as the one we have this year. The past 2 were literally probably the best teams in the history of the sport. We are still totally in it and have the team that can end up winning it all in June. Let's let them establish their identity after this and see where they end up come the last week of May.
So, big picture I'm not super worried. Sooners are coming back to earth a bit but are still every bit still the team to beat in softball. We'll learn a ton from the osu series in Norman as I do actually think osu is maybe better than texas. Would like to see us settle on a batting lineup and really focus on getting on base with walks, bunts, small ball whatever to put as much pressure on the other teams defense as possible. We didn't do enough of that to break the texas defense that was playing other worldly from adrenaline but would have broken had we put pressure on them. That is what I'm looking for moving forward. Putting pressure on defenses with bunts, base stealing, small ball, long ball, whatever.
Appreciate your thoughts and optimism. I wish I felt the same way. We are a good, solid team. We look like we are still trying to figure some things out. Patty is still the goat, but I look for some struggles ahead.
- OU_Tom
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I actually think Kelly Maxwell is as good as Jordy was. Alex Storako is the pitcher that hasn't been replaced.
This team is doing fine at 35-3.
I am not going to go into mourning everytime OU does no run rule or pitch a no hitter.
This team is doing fine at 35-3.
I am not going to go into mourning everytime OU does no run rule or pitch a no hitter.
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Not many games can be won, by anyone who only scores one run.
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We SIMPLY HAVE TO get better at the plate. We can't stay in contention by scoring only one run. Our pitching is decent/pretty good, but come the WCWS, if we only score one run in back-to-back games, it could be curtains!
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You're saying that Czech and Gutierrez, who we lit up bigtime last year, are immensely better than they were last year? And you're not concerned with our hitting ?
- SwampSooner
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I look at it this way. We will probably face UT again in the Big XII tournament. That gives us one month to figure out how to over come the what we saw this past weekend. I don't know enough to tell if it was batting order, complacency, or if it was just Texas' weekend. I do trust our staff to figure out a solution.
OU hitting will look much better when they face WSU pitchers
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Your comments would get some Likes at a txass message board.
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