I'm sure I missed some things, but hopefully I caught the highlughts.

Lots of good tidbits.

Let's Go Hokies.

Softball Podcast 3/3/20

Monday (off-day) is a huge day for everyone. Our season is really long, being able to rest and real is important. You have to be a special person to play softball – it’s not just softball, but it’s grades, weight room, what you eat, it’s all important. You have to be on top of everything.
Last weekend in Jacksonville. The 4-1 record is a little deceptive. Whenever you go to Jacksonville or a southern spot, the ball doesn’t travel as well off the bat. We swung the bats better than the stats would indicate. We had 2 or maybe 3 home runs, but if the wind wasn’t blowing in so fiercely, it could have easily been 10, 11, or 12.

We swung the bats really well; Keely threw the crap out of it. She’s throwing really, really well – almost had two no hitters. Our infield defense has been better, better, and better. Maddie Banks played lights out at short. Overall it was just a good weekend.

Purdue (4-0 win): Grace (Chavez) hit a homerun in that game. Jacksonville is really deceptive. It’s sea level and the ball doesn’t fly there. Grace hit one that would have hit the Frank Beamer statue if it was here. It was just launched. Keely threw well again. Purdue is much better than they were – they swing the bats really well.

North Florida (2-3 loss) : North Florida is scrappy. We had a couple situations where runners left early, a ball goes over the bag, but is called foul – we just didn’t get any breaks. We missed a couple of signs. We just didn’t play well. I wasn’t happy with our performance – I thought it was embarrassing and I told the kids that afer the game. “We don’t play like this.” And they responded in games 3, 4, and 5. Hats off to North Florida – I think they went 5-0. No shame in losing to them.

Purdue (2-0 win): We played at Jacksonville; their pitcher was throwing well and the ball wasn’t flying. I counted 3 balls that we hit that on a normal day would have been home runs. We played well. It’s hard to throw Back-to-back shutouts against the same team. To have no walks is getting more and more rare. Darby is consistent.

Jacksonville (6-0 win); No hitter for Keely, one walk. Keely was bring it. She was really impressive. She’s just going out and throwing strikes. They had the preseason pitcher of the year and we hit her well. Very impressive.

Meredith Slaw goes 3 for 4 and drives in two runs. I am so proud of her. She just sticks with it. She is such a different player than she was last year… The first couple of games this year she was my Jesse James – she was the kid that was going to cash in with a pinch hit….. Her mental game is just so strong right now. I didn’t see that last year. Sometimes she would have a bad at bat and it would carry over to at bat 2, 3, or 4. This time if she has a bad at bat the first time, she comes back stronger the second time. She gave us a chance all weekend.

Another one that has been impressive is Olivia Lattin. She had a really good weekend. She hit over .400. She hadn’t had a very good first couple of weeks, but she doesn’t never down. Just put her nose to the grindstone. Doesn’t freak out. Just goes about her business. She could have had another 3-4 hits – she was really squaring it up this weekend… I hope the kids pay attention to what she’s doing. She’s the epitome of just leading by example.

Stoney Brook (win 6-1): We hit pretty well yesterday. Infield defense was good. Keely was throwing strikes, spinning it. Total team effort.

Mackenzie (Lawter) had a good day. She squared balls up yesterday. What I like yesterday was just ferocious hacks. She had a good day. Kate Kobayashi got a triple after the ball hit the top of the fence - just missed it

Maddie Roundtree just does what I ask with a smile on her face. I told her to be ready to hit and she was. I felt bad that I put her in one of the games and then had to ask her to bunt and I told her I was sorry, but she got the bunt down and we got a run out of it. It was a big run for us. The next day, she came in and hit the seed up the middle.

Keely is making it look easy and it’s not easy. She’s impressive. I have very rarely had pitchers when it’s “here the ball – game over.” Sometimes you see her in the bullpen and you know it’s going to be tough for the other team. It’s a good feeling to have as a coach. Good pitchers never get frazzled and their body language never changes. Hers never does.

What Meredith did was huge. She’s a great example of being about the team. Meredith didn’t play a lot the first couple of weeks. When goes in, she’s ready to play. That’s what being about the team is all about. She wasn’t getting a lot of playing time, but she was the first off the bench to congratulate her teammates. It’s a fun story to see.

There are a lot of things that goes on our bench that people don’t see, but it’s really important. The girls are really involved on the game.