Well, Don’t hold your breath on Montana Fouts.
Announced today that she’s gonna be back at Bama for her senior year.
She did not want to lose that NIL
Hmmmm, asking for speculation on a (far-fetched) speculation. About a first-team All-American transferring in.
If Montana Fouts were to transfer in, that means somebody would lose pitches.
Who do you propose that be?
Megan, who proved to be our anchor in the latter part of the season?
Kandra, who has committed the last several years of her life to the program (and has been pretty productive)?
Sam, who is the future of our rotation?
Chloe Riassetto, ranked number 37 by Extra Innings and may very well join Sam as our future?
I am a big fan of loyalty and continuity. I think both contribute to the psyche of the locker room. And if Fouts changed her mind once, she could do so again. And if she did, and she took that spot from somebody else, you have either incredibly disrupted the locker room, sacrificed your future, or (more likely) both.
The only scenario I could see taking a Montana Fouts into the fold is if Megan or Kandra had already said they were done with this program and we needed to fill the hole (and Chloe was cool with red-shirting). Other than that, I think I'd have to pass.
But I guess the same speculative argument could be made about any other eligible All-American.
What current players are you willing to sacrifice if an All-American with one year of eligibility becomes available?
Sure. If an elite pitcher would want to come to Lafayette and play for the Cajuns then you bring that kid in and everything else will work its way out. If any elite player that is not a pitcher wants to play for the Cajuns then you also bring that kid in. A coach should always be looking for ways to improve his ball club. Competition is healthy, if you want to play then prove it. Most coaches want you to show them not tell what you can do. I would think players with only one year left would have to be an immediate impact player to be brought in.
Assuming that Fouts or another elite pitcher with one year of eligibility remaining comes in, we take her in a heartbeat. As to who gives up innings pitched; everyone does. Our pitchers this year threw 391 innings. Call it 400 for the sake of round numbers. Give each of the four [New girl, Lamb, Landry and Schorman] 80 innings, and give 40 to the promising freshman. Everyone gets enough work to stay sharp and not enough to be fatigued at the end of the season. Explain your plan before the season, and convince them that it is the best path to OKC. A huge part of coaching is having a good plan and getting your players to buy in. The three we have now have bought in already; if they had not, one or more would be in the portal already.
For comparison purposes consider this: Jessica Mullins pitched 241 innings out of 374 for TxSt; Olivia Lackie pitched 156 innings out of 305 for South Alabama; Leanna Johnson pitched 197 of 337 for Troy; Kaitlan Beasley-Polko pitched 166 of 360 for Coastal Carolina.
Our most active pitcher, Schorman, threw 141 of 391, and only threw that many because Landry was not available for the NCAA Tournament. Our pitchers have already bought in to a reduced role for each as an attractive tradeoff for more team success. Plus, we can sell giving just a few innings to our freshman [or freshmen, since we have signed two, and have red shirted one this year] because three of the four primaries will be gone after next year.
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