college world series

[JJsqueeze]

The question I have is what is making Rodgers so effective. Is it just placement accuracy and a great defense? she is not particularly fast, her pitches don't seem to break more than others but she is just blanking everyone. What is her ERA since regionals like .2? Even with a great D and placement accuracy I would expect her to give up her share of dingers against the lineups she's faced. Really impressive to see which pitchers step it up in the playoffs (Nunley, Rodgers, Traina until last night) and who wilts (everyone single pitcher from the PAC10).

 

[Greenmonsters]

Oversimplifying last night's game, I'd say that the pitcher who pitched beat the pitcher who threw. I'm wondering how much was pitch-calling related. Looking forward to see what adjustments are made and am rooting for a game three just to see more softball.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Florida's defense is very impressive - they make plays so smoothly they seem easier than they are. My favorite was the groundball Rogers ran down and flipped to 1B with her glove - it looked like a routine play for her.

Bama's defense is suspect. 3B isn't very mobile and I expect Florida will exploit her. Hunt has looked very shaky at 2B with 3 misplays while covering bases that were charged as throwing errors. First 2 were against OK - she overran 2B badly while waiting for a throw and a few plays later didn't set up to provide a throwing lane for F3. Last night, her poor footwork while covering 1B resulted in not being able to get to a catchable throw.

Good observation SoC - Hunt was set up pretty close to 2B and actually took an adjustment step toward the middle on the pitch. Seeing that she had almost the same distance to cover as the batter/runner, I'm amazed that she actually got to the base in time to miss the catch. IMO the result was more a defensive positioning/coverage scheme issue than a player fault. That said, Florida's defense is slick, which means they'll probably make 3 or 4 errors tonight!

 

[riseball]

The question I have is what is making Rodgers so effective. Is it just placement accuracy and a great defense? she is not particularly fast, her pitches don't seem to break more than others but she is just blanking everyone. What is her ERA since regionals like .2? Even with a great D and placement accuracy I would expect her to give up her share of dingers against the lineups she's faced. Really impressive to see which pitchers step it up in the playoffs (Nunley, Rodgers, Traina until last night) and who wilts (everyone single pitcher from the PAC10).

I have seen Rogers in Gainesville on numerous occasions. Although she is undoubtedly effective I would describe her as unremarkable with respect to movement and speed. However, I believe that Florida Coaching Staff definitely seems to have found an edge with respect to pitch calling.

 

[riseball]

Yeah. It is only about the coach....the players have nothing to do with it.

Once again OLIF you are spouting nonsense. The Gators are obviously a very talented team with an equally talented coaching staff. They are very adept at getting the most out of each and every player. However, to your point they rolled 3 pitchers and even in the face of 4 fielding errors they had no problem keeping a talented Alabama team at bay. That would seem to illustrate that the Florida Coaching Staff formulated a very effective pitching strategy that was well executed by some very talented players.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Good observation SoC - Hunt was set up pretty close to 2B and actually took an adjustment step toward the middle on the pitch. Seeing that she had almost the same distance to cover as the batter/runner, I'm amazed that she actually got to the base in time to miss the catch. IMO the result was more a defensive positioning/coverage scheme issue than a player fault. That said, Florida's defense is slick, which means they'll probably make 3 or 4 errors tonight!

Yet they still closed it out!

 

[riseball]

Hmm... 4 errors and 7 hits given up by the Gators last night. Yet they are National Champions. How can that be? I thought defense was what won championships?

 

[Greenmonsters]

I watched most games on mute, but was anybody else scratching their head asking WTF? after Mendoza's explanation that Florida was making errrors because the players were not motivated to play their best defense when their best pitcher wasn't in the circle?

As an aside, although redundant, I thought it was classy of Murphy to thank ESPN for "being there" after each in-game interview.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Congrats Florida way to show class in defeat Jtrain...now on to the NPF and national team season, then it is end of season tourneys for TB. enjoy it while it lasts....the August doldrums are just around the corner.

 

[Bouldersdad]

I watched most games on mute, but was anybody else scratching their head asking WTF? after Mendoza's explanation that Florida was making errrors because the players were not motivated to play their best defense when their best pitcher wasn't in the circle?

As an aside, although redundant, I thought it was classy of Murphy to thank ESPN for "being there" after each in-game interview.

I keep waiting to see the behind the plate camera shot and see a body fall past it screaming on its way to the ground. Thinking maybe someone has had enough and tossed one of them out the window.......