UND Doubleheader

[98Jackfarmer]

The doubleheader with UND that is being played in Fargo will nowbe streamed on Midco Sports plus. Starts at 1.

[76Rabbit]

Cant get signed on and subscribed. Anyone else having any luck?

[LetsGoRabbits]

Cant get signed on and subscribed. Anyone else having any luck?

sorry nobody answered 76!!

an unfortunate example of how very dead it is around here

i just saw your post NOW but i would be no help. i am beyond useless when it comes to issues of technology.

the girls did take game one 8-0 in six innings

TK maintains her scoreless streak. i believe over 62 innings now, maybe over 63. she and the team got out of a bases loaded and no outs situation to keep the streak going!! (pretty sure it was in bottom of 5th but might have been the 4th) Jacks were already up by at least 5. sorry i am a little fuzzy on details- trying to watch both softball and baseball and professional baseball too. after a solid single to LF loaded the bases TK got a grounder to 3b. Masterson fielded clean and went home. TK gets the next two on Ks to end the threat

[LetsGoRabbits]

Game 2 underway
Al B and Alex H. announcing on Midco
mentioned that Lasey does actually throw harder than TK
found it interesting in game one they did talk about Grace but totally avoided ANY mention of where she is now or why

talked a lot about Coach McSweeney hiring process, including being interviewed by multiple players
AND the process of Re Recruiting the team, starting with 15 hours of phone calls with players starting the day after getting the job

[jakejc795]

Game 2 underway
Al B and Alex H. announcing on Midco
mentioned that Lasey does actually throw harder than TK
found it interesting in game one they did talk about Grace but totally avoided ANY mention of where she is now or why

talked a lot about Coach McSweeney hiring process, including being interviewed by multiple players
AND the process of Re Recruiting the team, starting with 15 hours of phone calls with players starting the day after getting the job

Quirky curiosity of mine would be how "intensive" the re-recruiting was among the players who interviewed Coach McSweeney vs those who didn't AND whether they asked what her favorite Dairy Bar ice cream flavor is as an "ice(cream) breaker"

[LetsGoRabbits]

Quirky curiosity of mine would be how "intensive" the re-recruiting was among the players who interviewed Coach McSweeney vs those who didn't AND whether they asked what her favorite Dairy Bar ice cream flavor is as an "ice(cream) breaker"

on a semi related point, i think i heard a rumor that Coach Mc is actually receiving all of her salary in the form of SDSU ice cream. so..... I imagine you just became a much bigger fan of hers and the softball team in general

in case anyone is worried that i am spreading unsubstantiated rumors, i have a very good source. the rabbit told me))

[jakejc795]

on a semi related point, i think i heard a rumor that Coach Mc is actually receiving all of her salary in the form of SDSU ice cream. so..... I imagine you just became a much bigger fan of hers and the softball team in general

in case anyone is worried that i am spreading unsubstantiated rumors, i have a very good source. the rabbit told me))

That's quite the revel-ation (strawberry, caramel, et al.).

[jackdaniel]

I like how coach McSweeny encourages her players to be aggressive hitters at the plate. I've always thought batters being instructed to not swing at the perfect pitch to hit hard, was a really stupid move, you know as the batter that it's going to be called a strike and you can't swing at it because your under instructions not to. How's that make any sense, especially when the pitcher knows your not going to swing at it? All it does is give the pitcher another strike call 90% of the time, now your down one more strike call, you just put yourself at a more disadvantaged state without even giving yourself the chance at hitting it. Coach McSweeny tells her batters if it looks good , take a swing at it ( I've read this or commentators have mentioned). That's why I think the team is batting at a better efficiency and scoring more runs lately it seems to me. I like her coaching philosophy on this a lot, she trusts her batters judgement and lets them decide for themselves to swing or not. Of course, if it's 3-0 and the pitcher is completely wild and walking everybody , then that's a different situation JMO

[LetsGoRabbits]

I dont know how the coaches rolls breakdown. I would imagine that Coach Mc does talk with the hitters and talk about hitting philosophy, obviously she IS the HC and is responsible for everything even if she leaves it mostly or completely to an assistant. I HAVE NO IDEA how she manages that

BUT i do know that she is the PRIMARY pitching coach (unlike coach wood she was not a pitcher when she played. which has little to nothing to do with her ability to coach it!! just an interesting difference) Coach Bertke (however you spell it) is the hitting coach. does that mean that he is in charge of offensive philosophy? i cannot say

but as far as recent comments during games, I am sorry but the announcers have either shown their ignorance or they are breaking their necks trying NOT to recognize some very obvious negative changes in the offensive game for the jacks

the facts are that we are down VERY significantly in EVERY way that you can measure offensive success. we have only 2 players who are even close to the offensive production they had last year. One is Jarecki who had limited opportunities last year due to injury. Jocelyn has very similar numbers to last year (more doubles) but two years ago her numbers were much better, when she was arguably the best offensive player in the conference

OPS is the best measurement of overall offensive performance (measures both how often do you get on base AND how much damage do you do when you get on base) in the two previous years the jacks have constantly had at least 2 if not more of the top 5 hitters in the conference based on OPS (cannot recall well enough 2 seasons ago but last year basically we had 3 of the top 5 all season and 6 of the top 15ish -ridiculous offensive dominance!!) this year we dont even have 3 in the top 20

last year we had SIX hitters with OPS above .896
this year we have ONE hitter above that number and only 3 above .800

individually Roz, last year POY and DPOY, her OPS has dropped OVER .300 from last year, her fielding is also down (i very much DO admit, i have seen Roz hit a LOT of hard balls that have gone for outs, but i dont think even someone as optimistic as i generally try to be can chalk all of it up to bad luck)

Cheyanne (announcers did mention this in yesterday broadcast) had 13 HR last year (top 5 in the conference)
this year ZERO HR
OPS down .380
batting average down .80

Yoder last year 14 extra base hit. this year 6 (we have played about 75% of games from last year total)
OPS down .330
BA down about .100

Dumont last year 14 extra base hits, this year FOUR
OPS down .360
BA down almost .80

Culver last year 23 extra base hits, this year 9
OPS down about .150

the announcers seem to make little of the HUGE drop in HR because we are still FAR ahead of the rest of the Summit in HR
but the last two years we have hit over 75 HR.
last year we played 54 games we have currently played 44
so far this year we have 30 HR
we are over 80% of the games played from last year and not 50% of the HR
and the drop in power has not led to increased batting average
Team OPS down .140 from last year
Team BA down .40 (two years ago team BA over .300, last year .297, this year .258)


VERY VERY SORRY to sound like a downer. I believe this team is still VERY VERY talented and CAN play with pretty much any team in the country on any given day! (if we are being honest we would need to catch MORE than a couple big breaks to knock off OU, but i would not say it is impossible!) we played very respectably against OSU and they could easily be the second best team in the country and i definitely think if you get out of the top 3-5 teams in the country, we have a solid shot to win a region!!
SO PLEASE dont think i am trying to say our team is not good. i really am NOT!!

that said the DROP in offensive production is BIG it is undeniable. and with over 80% of the season played you cannot chalk it up to small sample. but there are still several weeks remaining and the hitters who put up those numbers last year are still on the roster

i hope they are looking at this OFTEN and considering EVERY possible solution to get back to that level of production, even if that means admitting that maybe we should just go back to doing what worked so well the last two years