shocker invitational

[shoxsoftball]

Any comments?

[1972Shocker]

Shocks need to get the Cornhuskers tomorrow.

[Quick Pitch]

My 2 cents: We need another pitcher. It is going to be a very long season if Kasha has to carry the whole load. I am very disappointed that Pooch didn't recruit more than one pitcher for this year.
You win games with pitching and defense and we are very limited on both.

[flyingMoose]

:roll:

This is just not how the recruiting cycle works.

You do not get a freshman pitcher to campus in fall-1, discover in spring-1 she may not be as helpful as you had hoped and find another pitcher in the class immediately following to come in in fall-2. Any new pitcher you have arriving on campus in fall-2 has been recruited well before the arrival of the fall-1 freshmen. (Apologies if the sequencing is not immediately clear.)

But related to QP's point, I understand (second or third or fourth hand) that Armagost from BC is going to walk-on this fall.

[Quick Pitch]

My point is that knowing the pitchers he had returning, why would he only have recruited 1 incoming pitcher for this year? Again, it has already been discussed, but he had 2 Juco All American pitchers right here in Kansas that could have helped.
As for Armagost, from what I understand, she wasn't even being recruited by the jucos around here. I really don't look for her to give us many quality innings against good teams. So unless he has another big gun coming in, we will be back to the same thing next year.

[1972Shocker]

My point is that knowing the pitchers he had returning, why would he only have recruited 1 incoming pitcher for this year? Again, it has already been discussed, but he had 2 Juco All American pitchers right here in Kansas that could have helped.
As for Armagost, from what I understand, she wasn't even being recruited by the jucos around here. I really don't look for her to give us many quality innings against good teams. So unless he has another big gun coming in, we will be back to the same thing next year.

Perhaps he tried but was unsucessful. More likely, he believed Brianna Smet would be capable of filling one of the starting pitching slots capably. At this point Brianna's ERA is 3.86 slightly better than Kasha's 4.44.

One thing QP is right about, you have to have quality pithcing to win consistently in softball. Hopefully, these young pitchers will improve with time, but this may prove to be a challenging season for the Shocks.l

[Quick Pitch]

I think the era's are diceptive because Kasha usually has to pitch against the better teams. Also, even if he was counting on Smet, you still don't go into a D1 schedule with only 2 legit pitchers unless one of them is Cat Osterman.

[flyingMoose]

My point is that knowing the pitchers he had returning, why would he only have recruited 1 incoming pitcher for this year?

Did you not understand my recruiting cycle comment (which if so is my bad) or do you simply disagree with it? Or are you suggesting that Pooch should have recognized in, say mid-April of 2008, that he needed a juco pitcher for the fall of 2009 (the only ones available at that point) and needed one badly?

Again, it has already been discussed, but he had 2 Juco All American pitchers right here in Kansas that could have helped.

QP and I fundamentally disagree about the ability of juco all-American pitchers to make significant contributions at a mid-major DI softball program.

The only pitchers that I am aware of from this area that made such an impact are 1) Marla Looper of Crowder ('91 and '92) and Florida State, 2) Kellie Beecher of Johnson County ('92) and Missouri State and 3) Ashley Bright of Cowley County ('06) and Wichita State. Others may be able to add to the list.

Of the five DI first team juco all-America pitchers that completed their sophomore years, only two (third pitcher at Utah - and how did we let Kara Foster get away!? - and second pitcher at Central Florida) is at a program that might beat WSU in a weekend series. The one on the DI second team (third pitcher at Missouri State) is at such a program, but neither of the two on the third team is at such a program. None of the four any-team DII all-Americans and neither of the two any-team DIII all-Americans are at such a program. Rankings on the staff are based on innings pitched this season.

At the end of the season, we can compare the Valley-only stats for Supak and Breezy and make a judgment.

I won't claim the above is rigorous analysis, but I think it supports my case.

As for Armagost, from what I understand, she wasn't even being recruited by the jucos around here. I really don't look for her to give us many quality innings against good teams. So unless he has another big gun coming in, we will be back to the same thing next year.

Yep, I did not mean to suggest that Armagost was the savior of the pitching staff. I think next year we will have the same staff with one more year of experience.

[flyingMoose]

I think the era's are diceptive because Kasha usually has to pitch against the better teams.

I agree with QP (*gasp* :) ), innings pitched is probably the best indicator of a coach's evaluation of their pitching staff.

Also, even if he was counting on Smet, you still don't go into a D1 schedule with only 2 legit pitchers unless one of them is Cat Osterman.

*Sigh*. Name a program that uses three pitchers for a significant (say, at least 20%) number of innings. Name the last time WSU used three pitchers in such a manner. (Hint: They have, I think, but maybe the only time they have.) In fact, if you use basically only one pitcher, it is because they are really, really good (Cat Osterman at Texas, Jenny Finch at Arizona and Monica Abbott at Tennessee to name the pitchers on the recent Olympic team). If you use three pitchers a lot, it probably means you don't have anyone on the staff that stands out.

QP, I truly do not have it in for you personally. But you make these statements that do not pass visual inspection, and it just drives me nuts. *Shrug*

[Quick Pitch]

This is what I am able to find out about Supak:
She was recruitied by The University of Missouri out of high school but her gpa was too low. She was clocked at 66mph at the Region 6 tournament last year on the Juggs gun. Her 3.13 era would be the best on our team right now. Personally if she was good enough for Mizzou, she could probably help us. But as you said, time will tell.

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. He knew what he had coming back when he was out recruiting Kolb. Surely he had another pitcher on the radar. What if Kasha would have turned us down? I think if you look at most college rosters, they have more than 2 pitchers.

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

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

[Quick Pitch]

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.

[flyingMoose]

Jamie Stanclift is the WSU Athlete of the Week.

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=61321&SPID=2845&DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=3688831

[WuDrWu]

I'm in deep water here, but given pure physical ability, I'd like to see what we could do with at least one of the pitchers from TMP in the next few years.

[Quick Pitch]

Holub is definitely a D1 level hitter, as for pitching she has a big time curve but her fastball is only 60-61.
Hoffman (sp) is a junior and she could develop into a pretty good D1 level pitcher.

[Hovpen]

Hit your spots and 60-61 is just fine.

Present time, we don't have a lot of D-1 pitchers in Kansas high schools this year. But we have an awful lot of girls that can throw at a lower level and have their education paid for with the sport.

The softball balance of power has shifted in Kansas this season. It has moved from Olathe East to Olathe North and Northwest.

It is going to be an interesting HS season. Myself, I wish TMP was having to play up in 5A as McLouth is the only team in 3A that can compete with them.

That said, watch TMP get beat early. Its the Hov jinx