Shocker SB at Texas Classic

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers begin their 2020 campaign this week in Austin at the Texas Classic. They play six games with two on Thursday and Friday and one game on Saturday and Sunday.

Opponents on Thursday are Maryland at 1 pm and Texas at 330 pm.

The Terrapins are members of the Big Ten, a conference that does not believe in Pre-Season Prognostications of any kind. In 2019, Maryland finished last (14th) in the Big Ten with a record of 4-19. Not surprisingly I suppose, they have a new head coach, Mike Montgomery. Last year, he was Co-Coach of the Year in Conference USA where he guided Louisiana Tech to first place in both the conference season and tournament. Among returning Terps, infielder Sammie Stefan earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors last year, having an OPS of .848 and 11 home runs. Both of those marks led the team. Outfielder Micaela Abbatine was a member of the All-Defensive Team. The best returning pitcher had an ERA of 7.26 and a WHIP of 2.28. There are two freshman pitchers on the staff.

The Longhorns are a pre-season pick for second in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma and just ahead of Oklahoma State. They are ranked 6th in the pre-season of both major polls. Returning All-Americans for Texas are senior pitcher Miranda Elish (1.81 ERA), junior second baseman Janae Jefferson (.408 BA), and sophomore pitcher Shealyn O'Leary (0.65 ERA). O'Leary is the daughter of former Shocker catcher Carrie Brown from the mid-1990s. Elish, O’Leary, and Mary Iakopo (WHIP of 1.055 and 11 home runs, both team highs) are on the 50-member Preseason Player of the Year Watchlist.

On Friday, the Shocks take on Lamar at 1130 am and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 2 pm.

The Cardinals are picked eighth of twelve teams in the Southland Conference after finishing seventh last year. Jade Lewis is a preseason All-Southland pick. Her OPS of .833 and three home runs led the team last year. Aliyah Ruiz (ERA of 2.30) and Erin Kyle (2.40) are the top returning pitchers.

The Islanders are also a member of the Southland Conference and were picked for eleventh. They are another team with a new coach. Sammi Thomas is a Second Team preseason pick. Her seven homers led the team last year. Their top three pitchers return and that is not a good thing. The best ERA is 5.80.

On Saturday, the Shockers play Texas again at 430pm. The Sunday matchup at 10 am is against Colorado State.

The Rams, defending champions in the Mountain West, are picked third this year. Six of the nine teams received at least one first-place vote. Colorado State return a pair of First Team All-Conference selections in Ashley Ruiz (WHIP of 1.133 and eleven homers) and Tara Shadowen (1.197 and eleven) while Ashley Michelena was on the Second Team. Jessica Jarecki, the only returning pitcher with any innings to speak of, had an ERA of 2.65.

The Shockers are a pick for second in the AAC behind USF. The offense should be led by Madison (Butters) Perrigan (WHIP of 1.116 and eleven home runs), Ryleigh Buck (.912 and nine homers), and Lauren Mills (1.035 and three homers after playing in about half of the games). Bailey Lange returns after missing most of last season with an ankle injury and will be the ace of the staff. Erin McDonald (ERA of 2.90), Caitlin Bingham (3.60), and Hailey Martinez (3.21) are other returning pitchers with experience. There is also a redshirt-last-year sophomore and a freshman pitcher on the roster. The freshman pitcher will surely redshirt - you can't reasonably use six pitchers and five may be a stretch. We will see what kind of magic new pitching coach Morgan Lashley can work.

[Bossdawg1305]

Where did you get this info?

[flyingMoose]

Where did you get this info?

The team sketches/info?

[wsunet]

The pitching breakdown on the roster shows 1 freshman pitcher, not 2. So Maybe a position player and a pitcher redshirting:
1 Freshman
1 Redshirt Sophmore
3 Juniors
1 Redshirt Senior

[Bossdawg1305]

Just the article posted and breakdown...just wondering where you got all that?

[flyingMoose]

Just the article posted and breakdown...just wondering where you got all that?

From team and conference web sites - mostly team. Believe me - you don't want to spend the time doing that. :)

[Bossdawg1305]

I just thought there was an article somewhere that I could look at that you were seeing on another website or something.

[WuDrWu]

Just the article posted and breakdown...just wondering where you got all that?

I could be wrong, but anyway...….as you appear to be a relatively "new" poster (and welcome to ShockerNet) allow me to point out that flyingMoose and 1972Shocker are both incredible followers and supporters of Shocker Athletics, with an emphasis on the lesser publicized sports. To that end, both posters are, frankly, incredible at researching and detailing the various rosters, lineups and scouting reports.

What they do is as good or better than what you would expect out of any beat reporter, anywhere.

So when you ask, where did you get this.....they didn't copy and repost an article (unless it happens to be referenced). What they posted was their own analysis from experience and first and second hand information complied over a long period of time. It is their own work.

And it's fabulous.

[ShockTalk]

I could be wrong, but anyway...….as you appear to be a relatively "new" poster (and welcome to ShockerNet) allow me to point out that flyingMoose and 1972Shocker are both incredible followers and supporters of Shocker Athletics, with an emphasis on the lesser publicized sports. To that end, both posters are, frankly, incredible at researching and detailing the various rosters, lineups and scouting reports.

What they do is as good or better than what you would expect out of any beat reporter, anywhere.

So when you ask, where did you get this.....they didn't copy and repost an article (unless it happens to be referenced). What they posted was their own analysis from experience and first and second hand information complied over a long period of time. It is their own work.

And it's fabulous.

To bad I cannot give you multiple "likes" on this.

[flyingMoose]

The pitching breakdown on the roster shows 1 freshman pitcher, not 2. So Maybe a position player and a pitcher redshirting:
1 Freshman
1 Redshirt Sophmore
3 Juniors
1 Redshirt Senior

Good catch. Saw two "new" names not in last year's stats and forgot that Mckenzie player her freshman year in 2018 and then redshirted last year.

After Bailey, it will not surprise me to see some two- and three-pitcher games by design.

[Bossdawg1305]

Loving to see the excitement about Shocker Softball. Can’t wait to follow and hear about all the discussion about it during the season!

[1972Shocker]

I could be wrong, but anyway...….as you appear to be a relatively "new" poster (and welcome to ShockerNet) allow me to point out that flyingMoose and 1972Shocker are both incredible followers and supporters of Shocker Athletics, with an emphasis on the lesser publicized sports. To that end, both posters are, frankly, incredible at researching and detailing the various rosters, lineups and scouting reports.

What they do is as good or better than what you would expect out of any beat reporter, anywhere.

So when you ask, where did you get this.....they didn't copy and repost an article (unless it happens to be referenced). What they posted was their own analysis from experience and first and second hand information complied over a long period of time. It is their own work.

And it's fabulous.

WuDrWu thank you for those very kind words, although in my case perhaps a little over the top. flyingMoose is the go to poster for Shocker Softball. I'm pretty sure his information does not come from any one source. Well, maybe it all comes from the internet, but certainly not from any single source on the internet. I think I can safely say that there is a decent amount of time and effort put into the scouting reports by flyingMoose and not everyone has the time or the willingness to do that and even if they did it would be difficult to do it better than him,

[1972Shocker]

I think the key for the Shocks to live up to the preseason prognostication of a 2nd place AAC finish is can Bailey Lange return to the same level of performance she exhibited in 2018. I am assuming her return to the lineup is a key reason the Shocks were picked to finish 2nd. Hopefully, we get enough help from the supporting cast in the circle that we don't wear Bailey out. Bailey also brings another solid bat into the lineup. Erin McDonald was a pleasant surprise last year and unexpectedly filled the role of #1 after Bailey went down. Caitlyn Bingham appears to have adequate stuff if she can find adequate command of her pitches. As flyingMoose mentioned it will be interesting to see if new pitching coach Morgan Lashley will have a positive impact here.

Our other 2 seniors, who along with Bailey will provide the leadership for this team, are Madison "Butters" Perigan and Ryleigh Buck. I am really hoping all 3 of these seniors have big years to finish off their stellar Shocker careers.

I am hoping for a breakout year for Neleigh Herring and perhaps for Lauren Mills. Lauren has a very good eye and has eye-popping power when she connects.. Let's hope these two square up a lot of balls this season. Bailee Nickerson is also potentially a solid hitter who needs to make a bit of a step forward.

On defense the big question is who will fill the hole at SS with Laurie Derrico graduating. I can't really say who HCKB auditioned at SS in the fall. I would think Kaylee Huecker perhaps will get some time there. Not nearly the bat compared to Laurie Ann but I thought she was showing signs of improvement at the plate last year when she went down with the broken wrist (?) with 8 games remaining in the regular season. Perhaps Ryleigh Buck is candidate as well if HCKB is comfortable turning third base over to Sydney McKiinney who had a really good freshman year last year splitting time between 2nd and 3rd and going with Kaylee at 2nd. Neleigh should get plenty of time at 1st this year perhaps backed up by Lauren.

In the outfield I assume Bailey L. will see a good amount of time in right and Bailee N. in left. Perhaps center might be up for grabs. Wylie Glover, a transfer from Marshall, inherited that spot as a sophomore last year when Asea Weber's knee injury ended her career with about one-third of the season remaining. Wylie was adequate and probably has the inside track but will one of the incoming freshman, Lauren Johnson our of Maize or Bailey Urban out of Omaha, will challenge Wylie for playing time. HCKB's recruiting announcement was high on the athleticism of both these players.

Despite playing the most demanding position on the field IMO Butters has a shot at some Shocker career records. She comes into the year with 30 career home runs (9+10+11) and 114 career RBI's (34+37+43). She needs 9 dingers to tie Cacy Williams and Laurie Derrico for the Shocker career home run record of 39 and 10 to become the 1st to hit 40 career home runs. Although I must point out that Cacy achieved her total in 3 years of play. Paige Luellen his the Shocker career RBI leader at 153 so Butters needs 39 ribbies to tie Paige and 40 to break the record. Both are doable for Butters but anything but easy. A lot may depend on if the Shocks can protect her so teams don't pitch around her. I think with Bailey Lange, Ryleigh Buck, Neleigth Herring, Lauren Mills and Bailee Nickerson the Shocks should be well equipped to do that.

I guess it won't be long until we starting getting some answers to these questions. Could be a very good year for the Lady Shocks.

[Bossdawg1305]

Thanks 1972! Awesome perspective about the upcoming year. We will definitely see what happens. They will be tested with the tough schedule. If they can win the games they are suppose to win and sneak up on someone they aren’t suppose to beat then they should be well positioned for a post season run this year.

[flyingMoose]

WuDrWu thank you for those very kind words, ...

I second that motion.