SB: 2023 in season news

[MadDog]

RPIs after games of Tue 4 Apr

Interesting… I didn’t realize KSU doesn’t have an NCAA women’s softball team. Club sport only.

[flyingMoose]

Interesting… I didn’t realize KSU doesn’t have an NCAA women’s softball team. Club sport only.

They do have club rodeo, however. That is not meant to be snarky - I think it is kinda cool actually.

Colorado does not play softball, either, but they have skiing as an NCAA sport.

[shockerfan_realist]

They do have club rodeo, however. That is not meant to be snarky - I think it is kinda cool actually.

Colorado does not play softball, either, but they have skiing as an NCAA sport.

SMU doesn't have Baseball, Softball or Track which is interesting, but they do have swimming and diving and Equestrian

[SubGod22]

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - RH: "It Gives Me A Little Bit Of Grit"

There are at least 65 reasons why teams walk Addison Barnard and pitch to Lauren Lucas. Lucas understands the strategy, because she's been in the lineup or in the dugout for all 65 of Barnard's home runs the past two-plus seasons.

"I don't blame people," Lucas said. "I would probably do the same."

Understanding is different from endorsing. Or enabling.

"It's kind of insulting," she said during Wichita State's sweep of USF at last weekend at Wilkins Stadium. "It gives me a little bit of grit."

No. 22 Wichita State (31-7, 5-1 American Athletic Conference) plays at Memphis (6-29, 1-5) in a series beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+).

Pitching to Lucas certainly hasn't derailed the offense, although she is not the power threat that Barnard presents. The Shockers are sixth nationally in slugging percentage (.583), eighth in batting average (.337) ninth in home runs (1.42 a game) and No. 15 in scoring (6.5 runs).

"They're pitching a little bit safer, I feel like, to Addie this year," coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "Lauren's been getting up with some really great opportunities to drive in runs and doing a great job."

Lucas hit .387 with 12 doubles and 10 home runs last season, driving in 39 runs. She started her sophomore season hitting ninth and moved up to third in early April.

This season, hitting third and playing center field, she is hitting .381 with five triples and three home runs. She is tied for the NCAA lead with 15 doubles. Her 46 RBI rank fourth nationally with teammate Zoe Jones (45) in fifth. Designated player Lauren Mills isn't far behind with nine home runs, 35 RBI and a .424 batting average.

LuLu has been killing it. This Shocker offense continues to roll and the pitching has been pretty damn good and that makes for a beautiful thing.

[Kel Varnsen]

They do have club rodeo, however. That is not meant to be snarky - I think it is kinda cool actually.

Colorado does not play softball, either, but they have skiing as an NCAA sport.

Wichita used to have Club Rodeo. Those were good times. :)

[1972Shocker]

Has anyone else noticed how similar Syd and Lulu are in their batting stances and setup at the plate? Compare these two videos.

Here's Syd:

Here's Lulu:

I wonder how much Lulu was influenced by Syd. If so, you could not find anyone better to emulate. Lulu holds her bat a bit more horizontal but other that they look like clones.

[SubGod22]

I have made that observation internally.

[ShockTalk]

Go Shockers - RH: "It Gives Me A Little Bit Of Grit"



LuLu has been killing it. This Shocker offense continues to roll and the pitching has been pretty damn good and that makes for a beautiful thing.

Without burning out what few brain cells I have left, on the surface, this seems odd:

"The Shockers are sixth nationally in slugging percentage (.583), eighth in batting average (.337) ninth in home runs (1.42 a game) and No. 15 in scoring (6.5 runs)."

One would think, me, that if your team was better than top 10 in those categories, that you would be better than #15 in scoring.

[1972Shocker]

Without burning out what few brain cells I have left, on the surface, this seems odd:

"The Shockers are sixth nationally in slugging percentage (.583), eighth in batting average (.337) ninth in home runs (1.42 a game) and No. 15 in scoring (6.5 runs)."

One would think, me, that if your team was better than top 10 in those categories, that you would be better than #15 in scoring.

Where do the Shocks sit in walks and hit batters per game (#19 in On Base Percentage), stolen bases per game (#198) and opponent errors per game? Plus where do they sit in batting average with RISP? Where do the rank in productive outs (sacrifices and outs where runners move up a base) -- is there even a stat on that?

Sydney's .541 average no doubt skews the Shocks team batting average a little bit to the high side.

The Shockers are at 6.58 runs per game. #10 in scoring is 6.70 runs per game. Not a huge difference.

While The Shocks are 8th in home runs per game they are only 64th in doubles per games. Buy they are #3 in triples per game.

In any case, whatever they are doing ain't bad. Plus the production from the back end of the batting order has picked up after a slow start. All that said the key to how far the Shocks can go is how well the pitching staff peforms which hasn't been too bad so far this year. Team ERA of 2.43 per game so far this year vs 4.15 per game last year.

[Kel Varnsen]

Yeah, batting average with RISP would be one factor that would regress (or in this case, progress) to the mean. OBP and batting average would be a stronger indicator of future performance than either of those stats with RISP. Wouldn't be too worried.

[ShockTalk]

Thanks, 1972Shocker for burning up your brain cells (although I'm sure you burned up much less than I would have had to).

The very "unbalanced" lineup probably is the biggest culprit.

[1972Shocker]

Thanks, 1972Shocker for burning up your brain cells (although I'm sure you burned up much less than I would have had to).

The very "unbalanced" lineup probably is the biggest culprit.

I don't think it is nearly unbalanced now as it was earlier in the year. Early on we were getting next to nothing from Lainee, Sami, Taylor and Krystin.

As of around Feb 25th (about 15 games into the season) Lainee was hitting .167, Sami was at .179. Taylor was at .192 and Kristin was at .000 (and would not get her first hit of the season until March 11th vs Missouri State).

Currently Lainee is at .275, Sami is at .220, Taylor is at .305 and Krystin is at .231 plus Lainee, Sami and Taylor have shown some occasional power.

[ShockTalk]

I don't think it is nearly unbalanced now as it was earlier in the year. Early on we were getting next to nothing from Lainee, Sami, Taylor and Krystin.

As of around Feb 25th (about 15 games into the season) Lainee was hitting .167, Sami was at .179. Taylor was at .192 and Kristin was at .000 (and would not get her first hit of the season until March 11th vs Missouri State).

Currently Lainee is at .275, Sami is at .220, Taylor is at .305 and Krystin is at .231 plus Lainee, Sami and Taylor have shown some occasional power.

Yes, I should have added: particularly at the beginning of the season.

[shoxlax]

Softball questions: what are minimum/maximum standards for outfield fence distances in college? Seem to be increasingly too short for female athletes as they get stronger over the years with the technology of training based on focused analytics.

Side note: too lazy to look up.