shocker invitational

[Denny Crane]

I guess my whole point is this, last year we had Ashley Bright and we finished 5th in conference. When Ashley was hurt, we were bad. Pooch has been around this game long enough to know that as good as Kasha is, she is NOT Ashley Bright, not even close. What made him think that Kasha was all he needed to replace Ashley? Did he forget how Breezey pitched in the absence of Bright last year?
All of this may sound kinda harsh, but I want to win as much as the next person.

How can you argue with any of the above?

[flyingMoose]

I guess my whole point is this, last year we had Ashley Bright and we finished 5th in conference. When Ashley was hurt, we were bad. Pooch has been around this game long enough to know that as good as Kasha is, she is NOT Ashley Bright, not even close. What made him think that Kasha was all he needed to replace Ashley? Did he forget how Breezey pitched in the absence of Bright last year?
All of this may sound kinda harsh, but I want to win as much as the next person.

How can you argue with any of the above?

I don't argue with the assessment of the "problem" - I do argue with the solution. QP thinks a juco pitcher could have been found to help - I doubt it. We agree to disagree in that area.

This year also points out that "mistakes" (less than desired results) in the recruiting of pitching are much harder to recover from than in position players. At least Pooch now has a pitching coach that will be an asset in evaluating prospective pitchers - I do not think that was the case until now.

[flyingMoose]

In my opinion Hull is not a D1 level pitcher and Smet, is not a legit #2 pitcher at this level. Therfore, Pooch should have been looking to sign 2 pitchers from the 2008 class.

Even if I agree with the evaluations, ... but we have already been down the road about what can be done about it.

By the way, when Texas had Cat, they also had a kid named Megan Denny who was clocked at 71mph as their #2 pitcher.

Interestingly, Breezy beat her in the tournament in Austin last year. And I am definitely not suggesting it would ever happen again. :)

To add to your list of juco pitchers, Lauren Eckerman did a pretty good job for OU last year.

Good one. She gave them a chance to beat Arizona in the super regional final, but it was not to be.

[Quick Pitch]

Actually I am not saying that a juco pitcher is the only fix. I am just saying that he needed more than one pitcher to come in this year. The reason that I bring up the juco kids is that they are pretty much in our back yard (Butler & Cowley) and if they are a resident of Kansas he could have signed one for very cheap.
I would have just been happy to have another quality starter to go with Kasha.

[shoxsoftball]

Im still waiting on the real Kasha to show up!!!!!!!!!!!

[shoxsoftball]

Granted, pitching isnt were we would like it, why throw them to the wolves now? Everyone knows Pooch schedules the toughest opponets possible before conference play. For example Brights JR year and Pruis SR year the Lady Shocks were 12-17 before conference play started and 25-11 after conference started. Hope I dont have to eat crow buts lets see what happens.
GO SHOX!!!!!!!!!!