On The Week Softball

[RoarMan]

Maybe. Both UNT and ULM are good enough to possibly avoid the 8 run rule.

TTU also plays aTm, Providence and Bryant in College Station this weekend.

Certainly, 5 run rule games would not be shocking, but it is not guaranteed.

Texas Tech, 3 games,
3 run-rule wins. Total runs,
TT 36, opponents 6.

In 2015, the Cajuns hosted three tournaments to start the season. In those tournaments, they played 13 games. Final score...
Cajuns 115. Opponents 4.

[VObserver]

SBC Results from 2/6/26:

The SBC went 19-4 yesterday. All 4 losses were to teams who were good last year and are expected to be at least decent this year. [Arizona State, Texas Tech, McNeese and UVa]. Of the 19 wins, 13 were against teams which had winning records last year, including a win vs Big 10 team Northwestern.

It is too early to get really excited, but if the conference continues to play this well, we should get at least 2 teams in the NCAA.

[VObserver]

Games today and tomorrow involving SBC teams:

Louisiana: UNT and Jacksonville State
USM: UAB and Lipscomb today, LTU and SEMO Sunday
TxSt: Memphis and Northwestern
ULM: Tulsa and McNeese today, UNT Sunday
Troy: N. Alabama and Chattanooga today, Southern Sunday
JMU: Elon and UNC Sunday
CCU: Arkansas today, UVa Sunday
Marshall: FSU x 2 today, Iowa Sunday
USA: Rutgers today, NC Central and Missouri Sunday
App St: George Washington and Kennesaw St. today, UNCW Sunday
GaSt: W. Georgia and Austin Peay today, Bellarmine Sunday
GaSo: WKU and Eastern Illinois today, UNCG Sunday.

[VObserver]

Overall, our non-conference opponents are now 21-22
Conference Opponents are 11-4

Much too early to think about RPI.

[VObserver]

Also too early to think about season stats. ... but last season we had 10 home runs by players not named Smith. Through 4 games this season we have 8.

[Cajuns98]

Also too early to think about season stats. ... but last season we had 10 home runs by players not named Smith. Through 4 games this season we have 8.

Averaging almost 3 per game. Can’t really expect to keep that up, but that’s about a 140 HR pace. I think you can expect to get around 60 out of Smith, Marceaux, Knox, Manning, Otto, and Vasquez. A much improved middle of the order.

[VObserver]

10+ from Hart as well

[Cajuns98]

10+ from Hart as well

Of course. Blanked on her.

[lcitsh]

My analysis:
Well they certainly made it exciting. Some of it had to do with the quality of the opponents, some of it had to do with the learning curve this team will have to navigate as the season progresses. First impression, it's obvious what a huge difference it makes to have a real hitting coach on staff. Second impression, both defense and pitching need the most work, pitching more so than defense.

Offense: It seems apparent that the team offense is cohesive, each batter supports the ones ahead of them. The work seems to be more individual that adjusting the batting positions. The two I see needing the most work right now are Gabby Stutes and Emily Smith. Gabby's proven abilities are as a hitter. She started her career hitting line drives to the outfield wall and gappers between center and right field. Pitchers have adjusted to her so she needs to be more selective on her swings and doing something with the strikes she gets. She is capable, she needs to work on it. Emily is swinging up on most of her pitches. She needs to learn that a ground ball between first and second with no one on base can be just as important as a sacrifice fly to center field. Not every hit she gets needs to be for extra bases. She needs to show that she is capable of getting a base hit with any strike thrown to her, not doing something special just because she is the #3 batter.

Defense: Communication on defense is critical to keeping control of the game. I saw this several times this weekend, not just from the Cajuns but from other teams as well. In many cases, it is more important to keep the batter-runner off of second base than it is to try to get the runner going to third. Also, on a sacrifice bunt to get the runner on first to second, the catcher is supposed to let the fielder know if she has time to get the runner at second.

Pitching: Six months really isn't enough time to get this pitching staff ready for the type of schedule this team will be playing this season, especially Sage and Lexie. Unfortunately for them, time is up. 11 of the 13 power conference games are the next four weeks with Ole Miss (2) coming to Lafayette this week and the other 9 are travel games. There are two painfully obvious things that needed to be addressed: all four of the Cajun pitchers topped out at 65 mph. Unless Kyle Brady can teach them how to get their velocity up to 68+ with or without movement (Mallory Wheeler was able to do so by the last third of the season last year), they will be relatively easy to hit, no matter who they're playing. The second issue is control. If they are going to stay between 60-65 mph, they will need to be much more accurate with their pitches and they will need a lot more movement (spin, drop, curve) to compete against many of the teams left to play this season.

There is much to be encouraged about with this team. Most things are in place to have a successful season. These players will work hard and I expect we will see much improvement as time goes on.

[SlickRick]

Pitching is the biggest concern by far.