Oregon and Coach Mike White = Impressive.

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Feb 7, 2013
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#5 Oregon looked very good against #2 FSU, sweeping the series this weekend.

I was also very impressed with Mike White's coaching ability in extra innings.

In the 3rd game, score tied 1-1 in the Top of 8th, he pulls the starter for a relief pitcher and she gives and up a few hits and immediately pulls her from the game with runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs to bring in a 2nd relief pitcher of the inning. She gets out of the jam with no runs scored.

In the bottom of the 8th, FSU keeps their starter in (Burroughs) and the lead-off batter doubles. The next batter attempts a bunt and fails to get the bunt down. With the count 0-1, Coach White immediately brings in a pinch hitter to complete the at-bat. She squares to bunt and takes strike 2. With an 0-2 count he has her bunt again and she gets it down this time moving the runner to 3rd with 1 out. Next batter hits sacrifice fly to CF, runner tags and scores, game over.

What I liked about this sequence of events in the 8th was he was making some aggressive moves to win the game (pulling his starter who only gave up 1 run, pulling his batter after one missed bunt attempt, inserting a new batter to finish the count, and bunting with 2 strikes.) I thought these coaching moves really showed his brilliance and knowledge of the game and are sometimes the difference between winning and losing an important game.
 

Chris Delorit

Member
Apr 24, 2016
343
28
Green Bay, WI
Great observation Rocket.

I can assure you that he'll know the capability of each one of his players...their mentality, skills & the percentage paths to wins. In other words, how the twenty-or-so individual pieces can contribute optimally within his team concept.

Really, a perfect-case example of tremendous leadership in that moment. Utilizing his entire roster to make plays, then the players making those plays.

Chris
 
Last edited:
Feb 17, 2014
551
28
In that bunting situation, I wonder why he was comfortable having the first batter bunt with an 0-0 count, but not with an 0-1 count. If he was more comfortable with the pinch hitter, why not bring her in from the beginning?
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
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I wouldn't pinch hit for a batter if she didn't get the bunt down on the first attempt. That's not leadership, that's playing the result.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
I wouldn't pinch hit for a batter if she didn't get the bunt down on the first attempt. That's not leadership, that's playing the result.

I like the move by Coach White. He didn't like something about the way she flailed at the 1st bunt attempt, which btw is softball 101 to be able to lay a bunt down for a sacrifice, so he made the change mid-count. It's an aggressive move but I like his style.

Not sure what you mean by "playing the result". You make coaching decisions based on prior information. Maybe there is a history of her not getting the bunt down consistently, maybe she didn't square around soon enough on that first pitch, who really knows, but what I like is that he wasn't afraid to make the change to make sure they moved that base runner over to 3rd and even resorting to bunting with 2 strikes.
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
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IMaybe there is a history of her not getting the bunt down consistently, maybe she didn't square around soon enough on that first pitch, who really knows, but what I like is that he wasn't afraid to make the change to make sure they moved that base runner over to 3rd and even resorting to bunting with 2 strikes.

As others pointed out in the thread why didn't he pinch hit for her to begin with? Being able to lay the bunt is not automatic as so many softball (and professional baseball players) are so bad at that skill in general.

Someone else mentioned leadership and I say he was lucky the pinch hitter got the bunt down with two strikes. Had she not gotten the bunt down (fouled it off with two strikes) you could argue he was inept by not getting the pinch hitter in with a fresh count.

Using the result to determine leadership is absurd.
 

JohnnyO

Began this habit in 1980
May 13, 2015
270
18
Midwest
I wish I'd seen the game. I think having confidence and knowledge of what his players can and can't do under pressure is big. I wish we had the same amount of time with each kid as they do in college. It seems we always wish we could go over this and that and never have the time to get through everything. I am not the one to second guess Mike White. I like his style.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
As others pointed out in the thread why didn't he pinch hit for her to begin with? Being able to lay the bunt is not automatic as so many softball (and professional baseball players) are so bad at that skill in general.

Someone else mentioned leadership and I say he was lucky the pinch hitter got the bunt down with two strikes. Had she not gotten the bunt down (fouled it off with two strikes) you could argue he was inept by not getting the pinch hitter in with a fresh count.

Using the result to determine leadership is absurd.

I'm not sure how "leadership" has entered the discussion? I thought we were talking about "execution of a play" in an effort to win the ball game? Oregon is fighting for a high RPI in the NCAA tournament and 1st place in the PAC-12 conference.

Like I said before, I don't know why he didn't substitute this batter earlier but he asked her to lay down a sac bunt and she didn't do it. He felt in that moment that a pinch hitter might be more effective and went with his gut feeling. Coaches all the time go with gut feelings and intuition, sometimes they are wrong but other times, like in yesterday's game they work to perfection.

If we are talking about leadership, I thought Mike White showed a tremendous amount of leadership by taking control of the game by making some tough and unorthodox coaching decisions. Probably earned a lot of respect among the players and his peers, to do whatever he had to do to win this close game. And Kudos to the players for executing his vision...
 
Mar 26, 2013
1,934
0
White looks good because it worked. It was very odd bringing Kleist in for the initial bunt attempt based on her stats (14 PA, 0 SH).

It also raises questions about the batting order since all the pitchers are listed in the Flex spot, Elish batted in the #7 spot when she drove in the first run and then Kleist batted in the #2 spot. The box score lists the #2 spot as DP, however I've seen incorrect DP notations for non-DP's not playing defense.

Subbing mid-AB for Kleist seems more like a correction than a brilliant move.

Links to box scores:
- GoDucks.com | The University of Oregon Official Athletics
- Florida State vs Oregon (May 07, 2017)
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
The second poster stated that, " a perfect-case example of tremendous leadership in that moment.".

My objection was with regards to how the bunt situation was handled. That was luck not leadership.

Additionally he may be a great coach but the result (winning the game or not) shouldn't correlate to him being a good leader (or not). He could have made all of the same moves and lost the game. If you posted what a great job in leadership he did even though he lost I would have no objections (other than how the bunt was handled).
 

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