Conference USA Softball Championship

[GrandGreen]

3 minutes ago, Venson said:

The officials don't want us to win. Every call has gone against us.

This is a major fault in the system, if a call is challenged than the umpires who made the call decide if they were right. 

[GMG93]

Don’t understand why they even bother to review these lousy calls against UNT.  The 5 year olds in charge of the cameras can’t capture a good look at any close play.  

[greenminer]

[greenminer]

 

[GMG_Dallas]

Don't understand the winning run being called safe but it is what it is. I believe the play by play crew said UNT went 0-29 after the Simon HR in the 6th. Not including walks. Can't do that an expect to win.

Still proud. 

Edited May 13, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

[GrandGreen]

9 minutes ago, Venson said:

The officials don't want us to win. Every call has gone against us.

Hate the loss, but a team that can't hit any better than NT doesn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament. 

[El Paso Eagle]

6 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Hate the loss, but a team that can't hit any better than NT doesn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament. 

It sucks to agree but there's nothing else you can say.

[jtm0097]

What a terrible call by the ump. Get off your knee's blue you blew the game.

Edited May 13, 2023 by jtm0097

[meangreenbob]

Replay clearly shows our catcher tagging their runner before she could touch home plate. To not overrule that call shows a lack of integrity on the part of these officials and CUSA. Bush league. 

[Side.Show.Joe]

What a sorry ass way to finish the season!!! That ump knows damn good a well we got that out at home. But even so, the sad truth is that we hit under .200 as a team in this tournament. "Built to Win Trophies" my ass! I'm totally pissed right now. This team need to be overhauled.

[GrandGreen]

16 minutes ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

What a sorry ass way to finish the season!!! That ump knows damn good a well we got that out at home. But even so, the sad truth is that we hit under .200 as a team in this tournament. "Built to Win Trophies" my ass! I'm totally pissed right now. This team need to be overhauled.

Careful, what you wish for; I am sure Gamble, Simon and several of the pitchers will get plenty of contacts wanting them to move to another team.  

[El Paso Eagle]

The bottom line

 

Hopefully, changes will be made before next season

[Side.Show.Joe]

2 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Careful, what you wish for; I am sure Gamble, Simon and several of the pitchers will get plenty of contacts wanting them to move to another team.  

First, I didn't give you the down vote. I have no interest in those players leaving. But, the contributions of others should be evaluated. This team hit .290 last season when they excelled at the Stillwater Regional. This year, their average dropped almost 50 points down to .242. They got that nice new batting facility a few years back, so it isn't like they're lacking a solid hitting facility. Do we need a new hitting coach? 

[UNTLifer]

I don’t know what happened this year, but our hitting was terrible after about the first month of play. For instance, Molly Rainey was the MVP of last year’s tournament and went 0-fer this year. We slapped at pitches resulting in pop ups over and over, reached for pitches on the outside half of the plate resulting in the same and took a passive approach all year long. I feel for Peters, Waggoner, Savage and Childers. Without them, this team is sub .500. We are better than that. Too bad players like Ingles were run off the team to satisfy transfers. 

[Matt from A700]

I am pissed about the call. Seems like an accurate way to leave CUSA. I wish nothing but an epic collapse for the conference, but honestly it shouldn't have had to come down to that. As others have already said, our hitting sucked and it seems like we gave up after getting nothing with the bases loaded.

I was disappointed in Delong for not tearing the umpires a new one. This isn't basketball or football where getting in the refs' faces could give the other team points or 15 yards. Even if he got ejected, I don't think it could have hurt the team any more. Sometimes... screw sportsmanship!

Hopefully we can snag some .300+ hitters in the portal, and at least one more power hitter to supplement Gamble, assuming her homestate Sooners or Cowgirls don't woo her away.

Overall, it's fun that most programs are competing for conference championships as we enter the AAC. I got to attend more softball games this season than I have ever before and even made it to Fayetteville for part of their tournament. I guess the only spectator sport I couldn't confidentally say is heading in the right direction is volleyball.

[GrandGreen]

This just was not close to the year many predicted for the MG softball team.

Just wonder what got into Delong's head.   He seemed to be determined with winning playing small ball, I guess he knows more than anybody that his team just can't hit.

It looked to me that NT in the batter's box was playing for walks and bunts more than just hitting the damn ball.  How does a team's batting average drop nearly .50 points with basically the same players.   

Some comparative stats.

Batting average   2023-.242   22-.290

HRS  23-54 22-71

ERA  23-1.54  22-2.81

Games can be won with great pitching and solid defense, but there has to be a few runs scored.  

This team if everyone stays should be loaded next year with a senior laden team.   Only big loss due to expiration of eligibility is Peters who was the best player on this year's team.  However, the pitching staff still looks to be very strong. 

Hope this is just an almost unexplainable off year, and things return to NT softball normal next year.   However, the competition is going to be much greater. 

[UNTLifer]

Just curious about those that disagree with some poster’s, including me, assessment that our hitting, or lack there of, was detrimental to our team’s success this year. What do you disagree with?

[greenminer]

58 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Just curious about those that disagree with some poster’s, including me, assessment that our hitting, or lack there of, was detrimental to our team’s success this year. What do you disagree with?

No -1s from me, but I can tell you it's not always a disagreement with the point.  Whoever did this could be fuming about the officiating, and is not interested in talking about any of the team's weaknesses.

[UNTLifer]

4 hours ago, greenminer said:

No -1s from me, but I can tell you it's not always a disagreement with the point.  Whoever did this could be fuming about the officiating, and is not interested in talking about any of the team's weaknesses.

Yep, the officiating was terrible at best. Poor positioning, erratic strike zone and whoever was reviewing those calls was suspect as well. 

[Side.Show.Joe]

6 hours ago, greenminer said:

No -1s from me, but I can tell you it's not always a disagreement with the point.  Whoever did this could be fuming about the officiating, and is not interested in talking about any of the team's weaknesses.

But it was our team's weaknesses that prevented us from overcoming the poor officiating. I'm no fan of ignoring our team's failings and pretending like this season was a success. 

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

But it was our team's weaknesses that prevented us from overcoming the poor officiating. I'm no fan of ignoring our team's failings and pretending like this season was a success. 

Poor officiating prevented us from winning in spite of our weaknesses, right?

Who is ignoring the team's failings?

We reached the championship game, along the way beating the 1 seed and overcoming deficits, in spite of our batting weakness.  Is that not successful?

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

All of these questions must be answered.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by greenminer

[greenminer]

I found one recent softball championship where the champ came into the title game with a single loss, and the loser was previously undefeated.

2021 Championship: WKU Champions.  WKU beat UAB in title game.  UAB had no previous loss.  WKU suffered a previous loss to UNT
 

Some follow-up thoughts on this format:

This above tweet reads more like, the vote is not necessarily about what is fair. It is to satisfy media/schedule demands.

What's particularly painful about our loss yesterday was the fact that MTSU's previous tournament loss was to us.  And the pain is amplified by the controversial call on the winning run.

Does anyone know what the American tournament format will be?

I do think if this were to happen frequently enough, the league administrators would have to reconsider the format and what is more important: fair opportunities for all teams involved, or the media demands.

[El Paso Eagle]

11 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Does anyone know what the American tournament format will be?

I believe they are a single elimination the whole way. 

[Side.Show.Joe]

On 5/14/2023 at 8:02 PM, greenminer said:

Poor officiating prevented us from winning in spite of our weaknesses, right?

Who is ignoring the team's failings?

We reached the championship game, along the way beating the 1 seed and overcoming deficits, in spite of our batting weakness.  Is that not successful?

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

All of these questions must be answered.

 

Poor officiating deprived us of the opportunity to earn the victory beyond the 12th inning. But, if this team wasn't so weak at the plate, it never would have come down to a horribly blown call in the 12th inning. Just like the regular season title wouldn't have come down to having to beat MTSU in the last game of the season.

Who's ignoring the team's failings? Those that want to proclaim this season successful just because we lost the regular season title by just one game, and the championship by just one run.

This team was "built to win trophies". That's not my declaration, but the official word from our softball program. With the production we returned from the 2022 Regional team, we should have been much better, and actually won trophies. This team started the season ranked..... So in light of what this team should have accomplished.... this season was not successful. 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Side.Show.Joe