More Softball Practice Notes - Tuesday Sept 21st

[OUBeliever56A]

Repost from Sept 24 post by OUBeliever from old board

I was able to once again watch practice for the Sooners. Yesterday was a 'split' practice with two groups working at different times. I arrived about 2:45. The first group was on the field. The group consisted of Snow, Green, Hansen, Boone, J Coleman, T Coleman, Coor and Guthrie.

The players were on the field making throws from the 3rd base area to the plate. The drill was to get throwing speeds of the players. As I was walking up someone threw a fast one (72 MPH) based upon the comments from the players. I am not sure who it was. They stopped the drill as I arrived in the LF stands. The group then went inside for hitting drills.

Hope Trautwein was in the bullpen throwing full speed. I could hear the pitch calls and watch the pitch. She seemed to throw very well with good location and velocity. She threw a pitch that I did not know was in her group of pitches. This is the second time that I have observed her efforts in the bullpen. She seems to be working very hard and being effective.

The on-field group was back on field hitting. There was a tee-drill that Coach JT used followed by soft toss by an old Sooner friend. Fale Aviu was the 'soft-tosser' to the hitters. Each hitter got to hit about 5 or 6 pitches in two sessions. Things moved quickly with the 8 hitters moving through the drill 2 at a time. About the time they finished the drill this group was done for the day.

The second group of players were soon on the field. This group included Elam, Alo, Johns, Lyons, Donihoo, Jennings, Brito and Nugent. As the group warmed up, the pitchers were in the covered area (LF turf area) working on isometrics and non-pitching drills. Trautwein, May, McAdoo and Bahl was there. It was interesting that Guthrie was on the field with the second group of players.

When the 2nd group of players finished their warmup they moved to the throwing drill. The fastest throw was 74 MPH. The range was surprisingly wide. I would not have thought that the difference would be as wide. Some things I see and decisions make more sense to me now. They then moved to the indoor batting facility and then eventually back to the field to hit.

Again, Coach JT moved them through the tee-session and on to the soft-toss. Some players have the ability to generate bat speed and power that is obvious. It takes 'real' power to drive a ball off a tee or on a soft-toss pitch over 225 feet consistently. The two sessions of hitting on the field showed that ability. In what will be no surprise to fans, the following hitters really hit the ball well. Hansen, Coor and Green stood out in the first group. Alo, Jennings and Johns stood out in the second group. Alo and Johns had the two deepest shots to LC clearing the 2nd wall by about 30 feet. Several players hit the ball out in RF against the strong north wind when they were hitting opposite field. Players that hit line drive balls effectively were Snow, Lyons, Donihoo and Nugent. Lyons hit the ball very well to the RF.

As a personal note, sitting in LF during batting practice can be dangerous. One ball hit right at me luckily got trapped in the row of seats two or three rows below me. Yes, I was leaning left to protect myself. I had no thought of trying to catch the skip of the ball off the seat row.

Coor made the 'play of the day' as she robbed a HR from Green, I think, as she leaped above the fence about a foot to catch a line drive HR ball in LC. I thought T Coleman also worked hard catching balls hit to RF during the hitting. It looked like she can track a fly ball and has outfield ability. Lyons can also play the OF. She is a better athlete than I thought based upon what I have seen. She is much more than 'just an excellent SS'.

The other two players that have not been mentioned above were Lilio and Waitman. Both of them were there but limited in their work due to leg issues. Waitman was wearing a walking boot on her right foot I believe. Lilio had a large ace bandage wrapped around her left knee. Lilio was with the first group of players. When she left, she was just wearing a neoprene knee wrap. Neither seem to be injured with long term ailments but they both will be missing some time due to this. Waitman was at practice all the time but only watched and observed.

I will also comment about Bahl in this practice. She was not really in either group but she was there at practice the entire time I was. But she was just 'there'. When the 2nd group of players were in the indoor batting facility, Bahl had Aviu throw soft toss to her along with the tee-drill. She also hit a few balls out and hit mostly line drives. She also had Waitman and Aviu hit her ground balls back at her in the mound area to work on defense. Bahl was active shagging balls and retrieving HR balls. There are players that are always in the gym that play basketball. Bahl may be that way about softball. she just wants to be there. Since I arrived after things got started on the field, Maybe Bahl and May threw in the bullpen before I got there. Both warmup mounds were raked by the bullpen catcher (a young man today) so both were used but I did not see anyone throw from the left one.

I did see Coach Gasso briefly as she walked out of the her office looking for someone. But practice seemed to be Coach JT focused and with Coach Rocha working with Trautwein. Coach Saile was there the entire practice. I also saw Coach Zaleski there also both on the field and around the office.

I enjoyed myself again.