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Post by gnawitall on May 16, 2021 9:58:31 GMT -8
We split with Utah to end the season and finish 20-26, 6-18.
Covid Junior Franke Hammoude homered four times in the last three games and finished with 17 for the year. That's a very bright spot.
Was happy to see Senior Nerissa Eason get the win yesterday to finish her career. IMO she was a wasted talent and though I don't know all the details; negotiating school, sports, relationships, life in general - I thought she had tremendous upside as a frosh. I saw a graphic of the development of UCLA's Jessica Garcia throughout her career and every year her era dropped. Of course it went from really good to great but I believe there are those who could go from average to good, good to really good etc... and that didn't happen with Eason. Still very suspicious of how well our pitchers are coached by Marcie Greene.
Berg is through eight years now, save covid year, and has a record of 212-200, 60-125, 3-8. Made the tournament four of those eight. I realize there's not a bit push like organ to go perennial bottom half to perennial top half/league champ overnight but I sure wish we could have a better then .500 league record every so often. They've done some amazing things with the field; lights, new infield and outfield surface, new hitting facility, new dugouts but at the end of the day is Berg and or Greene the right coach(s)?
Next years squad will have a very strong core with Mazon, Hammoude, McLoughlin, Sevaaestasi, Messmer, Gin, and Nunes. However there are some precarious, daunting possibilities ahead. Will any of these quality players bolt? Berg consistently loses quality(my opinion) players that make you go hmmm. And who will pitch? Mazon will be a senior and the other two with the most innings are graduating. Frosh Gin has pitched very sparingly but didn't fair well.
Hoping for the best future for beaver softball,
Go Beavs!
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Post by believeinthebeavs on May 16, 2021 10:09:38 GMT -8
Thanks for your insight
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Post by beaveragain on May 16, 2021 10:38:49 GMT -8
From what I can tell, as an occasional observer, the team usually does well in the batting dept. but lacks progress in pitching. Which I think is your point Gnaweroftails.
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Post by zeroposter on May 16, 2021 11:04:06 GMT -8
I really appreciate your posts. PLEASE, no major transfer losses. Next season has to be the season. I like the core players, and I think the athleticism is better than the last time I watched a game in person 2 seasons ago.
I thought the Beavers actually competed well against most of the tough competition. The losses in nonconference were disappointing.
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Post by gnawitall on May 16, 2021 11:11:37 GMT -8
I really appreciate your posts. PLEASE, no major transfer losses. Next season has to be the season. I like the core players, and I think the athleticism is better than the last time I watched a game in person 2 seasons ago. I thought the Beavers actually competed well against most of the tough competition. The losses in nonconference disappointing. we were right there in many games in and out of conference. |
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Post by gnawitall on May 16, 2021 11:16:09 GMT -8
Forgot to add Frosh Madison Simon to that strong core.
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Post by believeinthebeavs on May 16, 2021 11:35:07 GMT -8
I've always felt that one of the biggest issues of college softball is pitching. There isn't enough high quality pitchers and if a team is able to land just one of them they can ride their arm deep into the post season. Their ability to pitch game after game lessens the need for backup. Yes other pitchers will be used but sparingly against much lesser teams.
One of the other issues I see is that the field is just to small. Women now are so much better athletes than when the field dimensions were set. In baseball there is a risk to the pitcher on a comebacker, in softball that risk is to the entire infield.
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billsaab
Freshman
Retired. Live in SW Washington on 73/4 Acres.
Posts: 589 
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Post by billsaab on May 16, 2021 11:57:48 GMT -8
I have played and umpired fast pitch Softball. Pitching is the key. Solid D means up the middle. Speed,Power etc. I am sure Berg knows softball. Can She grow this Team and can She recruit to Corvallis top players. If not and this Year was a not in my book. If not we need to decide do we care or not? If we are content at being like Utah than no further discussion is needed.
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Post by gnawitall on May 16, 2021 12:00:50 GMT -8
I have played and umpired fast pitch Softball. Pitching is the key. Solid D means up the middle. Speed,Power etc. I am sure Berg knows softball. Can She grow this Team and can She recruit to Corvallis top players. If not and this Year was a not in my book. If not we need to decide do we care or not? If we are content at being like Utah than no further discussion is needed. I care 🙂 |
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Post by shelby on May 16, 2021 12:28:41 GMT -8
For some sports, I am very patient and a super fan ( baseball, football, basketball ), Other sports, I am more of a bandwagon guy ( wrestling, volleyball, golf, soccer, gymnastics and softball ).
Any one of these bandwagon sports can move into super fan status by putting together a couple of great seasons, followed by sustainable competitive seasons !
So, I really think it is about supporting programs that demonstrate a plan and progress against that plan , the second and third tier sports need to ramp it up to get their share of fan and financial attention !
The first tier sports just need to be, and remain, competitive ! That’s all !
Go Beavers !
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Post by grayman on May 16, 2021 13:15:47 GMT -8
I agree that pitching is the key, however, I think Mazon is a very good pitcher who would benefit from quite a bit more offensive support...the Beavers had one player, Hammoude, batting over .300 this season and were .240 as a team, last in the conference. Find a way to bolster that significantly and find another pitcher who can team with Mazon effectively and the Beavers will win quite a few more games.
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Post by gnawitall on May 16, 2021 15:39:20 GMT -8
I agree that pitching is the key, however, I think Mazon is a very good pitcher who would benefit from quite a bit more offensive support...the Beavers had one player, Hammoude, batting over .300 this season and were .240 as a team, last in the conference. Find a way to bolster that significantly and find another pitcher who can team with Mazon effectively and the Beavers will win quite a few more games. You inspired me to do some research. From 2011 to 2021 (and I'm counting 2020 covid season because they played 26 games and that's a good sample size) the Beavers had an average ranking of 7.9 in team batting in the pac 10/12. That's out of nine teams since usc, colorado and wsu don't participate. In pitching they ranked 6.4. That number is a bit influenced by the number 2 finish in 2020. But, save fielding percentage because that would have impact as well in our poor records, we are better at pitching than hitting. Maybe Marcie Greene is doing a better job than I thought and it's Berg who's struggling to develop hitters? Who knows. Anyhow, just goes to show that pitching's only one component and I imagine it wears on the psyche of pitchers when they consistently feel the burden of having to be almost perfect to win. |
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Post by zeroposter on May 17, 2021 17:59:11 GMT -8
And the league gets royally screwed in seeding.
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Post by nwhoopfan on May 17, 2021 18:53:15 GMT -8
And the league gets royally screwed in seeding. Absolutely horrendous. Committee not even trying to pretend they aren't incredibly biased toward the SEC.
Washington got one of the biggest slaps in the face from the committee I can ever remember seeing, in any NCAA sport. The #2 team from the Pac 12 was somehow given the lowest seed of any team hosting a Regional. |
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