Team USA vs Japan

Gtrips07 said:

Rachel Gsrcia got two at bats, ome hit and one hard hit ball. How may who played even but a ball in play? And don't get me started on pulling Bubba Nickels for a someone who looked lost trying to bunt...

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Garcia was 0-for-2. All USA starters put the ball in play in the championship game. Six of 9 put the ball in play twice. Michelle Moultrie had been the worst hitter heading into the championship, so she would've been the most likely player to be benched, and she got 1 of the 3 hits in the final.

As I previously posted, if you don't know how good your hitters are, then OK, give everyone a chance and let the players earn their playing time during those 6 games. But ideally, you know your best hitters, and you don't change your mind just because somebody's 1-for-9 and somebody else hit a line drive off the bench.

AdamTheSoftballDad said:

I agree, Munro is an amazing catcher but she really shouldn’t of been in the batting lineup. You could tell she wasn’t able to keep up with the pitching. I’m sorta confused as to why she was even in the batting lineup to begin with.

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Either she hits or she sits unless you want Cat Osterman batting 9th. Perhaps U.S. should've sacrificed Munro's defense and found a catcher who could hit a little. But then Japan won partly because of 0 SB allowed, 0 errors and 5 double plays. Did the USA put too much stock in defense? Fair to ask, but it's also hindsight.

Nimrod said:

Agree in theory, but how are these 80-200 people going to make a living during those 4 years? If I'm the 100th best U.S. Olympic softball prospect in the world, am I willing to compromise my professional career to train for something that might not pay off? I don't know the details of the Japanese pro league, but if these players can make a decent living, that's a big advantage. Not many U.S. college players get the chance to develop to their potential because only a few continue to play after college.

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$ is pretty much always a challenge in any situation...
with or without an olympic opportunity...

I worked graveyard fulltime to coach at Long Beach State.
Cuz coaching only paid $1000.

I think there was definitely some favoritism shown by coach Eriksen and USA softball, as demonstrated by the invite-only tryouts. I can’t really blame them, though. You had so many players from 2008 that didn’t have the opportunity to play in the last two Olympics.

We’re looking at another seven-year absence for softball until 2028, when we can assume the LA games will include the sport again. It’s probably also safe to assume that the ‘28 squad are all in college if not high school at the moment. There shouldn’t be any pressure to include players on the current team by then.

Hopefully we’ll see more opportunities like Athletes Unlimited for women to keep playing after college.


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Nimrod said:

Either she hits or she sits unless you want Cat Osterman batting 9th. Perhaps U.S. should've sacrificed Munro's defense and found a catcher who could hit a little. But then Japan won partly because of 0 SB allowed, 0 errors and 5 double plays. Did the USA put too much stock in defense? Fair to ask, but it's also hindsight.

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Bailey Hemphill? Can hit and doesn't suck at catching.

Too much of a small ball mentality to me. There were way to many defensive and half swings. I think the US may have less than 10 or 15 hard hit balls the entire tournament. If they want the sport to stick in the Olympics they (the international federation especially) are going to have to embrace a more offensive game. That's why the college game has exploded. It's fast passed and exciting, the 1-0 games are a lot rarer.

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barely watched any of it, too much else going on (DW spending half each week at her parents due to some health issues there), but what I did see, couple of things come to mind (keep in mind I sawa bout two innings of GM game)

do you think playing on turf baseball field was an advantage (slight albeit) for the Japanese and their universal head first sliding, considering the bases were entirely on grass other than HP? never tried to slide on turf, but few times tried it on grass, was worried about catching cleats in the grass (feet first).

do you think turf field played at all with the hitters vision, to me it made entire field look smaller, might make pitching distance seem less, even if not?

saw the infield hit for the first run in GM game, I think on dirt it is an out, on turf ball bounced more I believe.

overall, my impression was poor, mostly because it was played on a baseball field. should be a precondition to getting awarded games, you will build world class facilities for ALL sports, not half assedly convert a venue. but I also think they should get rid of everything where the Olympics is not the pinnacle of the sport (basketball, baseball, ice hockey, cycling, soccer, etc.),. would allow them to really concentrate on the remaining sports and their venues.

rant over

The think that surprised me was that this was supposed to be a team with a lot of speed. I did not see speed. There were plenty of chances for speed to steal a hit and it never happened, never. Case in point a double play on a bunt.

bmakj said:

do you think playing on turf baseball field was an advantage (slight albeit) for the Japanese and their universal head first sliding, considering the bases were entirely on grass other than HP?

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It’s my understanding that the Japanese pro leagues are on turf.

I swear I saw a tweet by Cat (but maybe it was Abbott) that there is kind of a tradition of playing on turf there. I can’t find it now.

So yeah, kind of an advantage if that’s what they are used to. BUT I’m actually ok with a sport taking on a bit of the flavor of the host country. (I also know most don’t agree!)

It kind of explains some stuff- team Japan fields quickly. They have great gloves. They are used to the speed of play on turf. The sliding into 1b. (I hate that). They had a better comfort level over all.

Here is the other thing: hitters gotta hit. And hitters are gonna hit. The Hair Pair trotted out some baloney about how _____________ had “really really worked super hard at hitting because that was the criticism as her as a player”. I say “sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit“. If you are in your 20’s and have never been a hitter, you ain’t never gonna be one. I don’t care how hard you “work on it”.

And if you know a player isn’t a hitter, she better be one of the best pitchers in the world at the olympics.

I’m sorry, but the days of a catcher (or a ss) not being able to hit are OVER. The 80’s called, they want their catcher back. I submit that IF you are a really good catcher, you can hit. Otherwise you are a really good bullpen catcher, or you are a catcher on a team with nothing but pitchers that can hit. (Usually a total fantasy btw.)