Tuscaloosa Regional

[BamaHoops]

Stephanie Vanbrakle is not married to Tyrone Prothro.

You are absolutley correct! She's married to Tyrone's brother.

 

[BamaHoops]

Well Shipman, Prange, Johnson, and Dowling can be a part of a great lineup if they just had that one person was truly dominate. I know a lot people go crazy about Shipman, and yes she is her best hitter, but really she isn’t a needle mover. I mean Tennessee basically was the same or a little better without her, and she really didn’t scare pitchers like Bailey did.

Asking for several new hitters when Murph has clearly invested into this team is tough ask. I think one maybe enough to get us to OKC. 2 might actually make us contenders.

Shipman is - as you said - a good but not great hitter. But she's fantastic on defense. Any team that is in the Super Regionals would love to have her.

 

[81usaf92]

Shipman is - as you said - a good but not great hitter. But she's fantastic on defense. Any team that is in the Super Regionals would love to have her.

She is okay defensively. She isn’t near as good as we have had with Dykes or Bailey, but better than many.

 

[81usaf92]

More to the Skyler Wallace story than you posted. Much more.

There is, but Murphy isn’t entirely innocent in it either.

 

[BamaHoHo]

Murph is trying to make us replicate those Arizona teams that were so good in the 2000’s. They were dominating pitching, fast runners, and elite defenses. Meaning a lot of station to station small ball and slappers. The problem is that the game has become a lot more national and the Big XII and the SEC have made it a long ball game and dominate pitching game with how they recruit. You can’t keep playing for 2-1 and 3-2 games and expect to win titles. You are going to eventually going to get taken behind the shed.




Murphy has the ability to stay as long as he likes. So there will be 0 pressure on him because of this.

I have my doubts Murph will do anything besides make a few Transfer portal additions and call it a day.

However something that is not being talked about is how much of an effect that him trying to move Skyler Wallace to Catcher might have had on our program. Yes that probably means we don’t get either Prange and/or Dowling but Skyler is far more of a natural hitter than either.

Dowling was already on the team. They played together in Fall Ball in 2020. You are probably referring to Shipman. From what I've heard he only wanted Wallace to catch a few games to give Hemphill some rest. I also thing Wallace wanted to play SS but Dowling is a better defensive SS. If Wallace had stayed. I would have loved to see her at 2B, Dowling at SS and Junkin at 3B. After the injuries to Dowling and Junkin. Wallace would have played every game at SS.

 

[BamaHoHo]

She is okay defensively. She isn’t near as good as we have had with Dykes or Bailey, but better than many.

She isn't as good as Dykes but she is by far a better defensive catcher than Bailey Hemphill.

 

[81usaf92]

She isn't as good as Dykes but she is by far a better defensive catcher than Bailey Hemphill.

Thats fair. Dykes is probably the best catcher we have ever had, but still I was hoping Ally to be better than what she was at throwing people out than what she was. 2 for 15 on the year isn’t good. I’m very surprised that people didn’t run on us more. I think Bailey was 9 for 30 or something. But no one could steal on Dykes.

 

[BamaHoHo]

Thats fair. Dykes is probably the best catcher we have ever had, but still I was hoping Ally to be better than what she was at throwing people out than what she was. 2 for 15 on the year isn’t good. I think Bailey was 9 for 30 or something. But no one could steal on Dykes.

The best catcher we ever had was Ashley Holcombe 2006-09 (the 2008 is probably the best team we've ever had). We have been lucky to have a lot of great catchers. Kendall Dawson and Lacy Prejean just to add 2. Shipman only had 1 error this year to Bailey's 5 last year. I have no idea but with runners on 1st and 3rd. You all but give the stollen base to the runner on 1st. Thats a stat that's not given. That could have lowered either or both throw out percentage

 

[TideATL70]

On the positive side, IF changes can be made with the hitting situation, the pitching coming back (Fouts/healthy Kilfoyl) is top 10 worthy. Hopefully Murph does some soul searching and reinvents himself (ala Bryant 1970??). The conference as a whole has gotten much deeper as SB has gained in popularity. Arkansas becoming elite and even MSU making a super regional seemed very unlikely just a few years ago.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

As others have said, this hitting situation has been coming for a few years now. We have the best pitcher in college softball. We have another that, when healthy, is in the Top 20, maybe top 10. And we can’t get our of our own regional because we scored a total of 4 runs against Stanford over the course of 3 games.

And because our #2 pitcher is out, and our #3 is a true freshman who honestly isn’t ready yet, poor Montana Fouts thew almost 250 pitches yesterday. At the end, she was simply out of gas, and I’m gobsmacked that she lasted as long as she did.

Murphy has more than earned the chance to fix the hitting problem. But he has to make some concrete moves in that direction.

Spoken in an entirely different context, a former boss said it well: Hope, good intentions and waiting for better days are not strategies.

 

[Sensation77]

Something I have noticed, especially in recent years, is that our girls do not improve much over the years. I know there are exceptions, but the majority don't. To me, that falls squarely on coaching. Just look at this year's team. Jenna Johnson, about the same as she was as a freshman. Savannah Woodard, same. Dowling, I know she had the ACL last year, but should have gotten better as the season progressed, but she didn't. Abby Doerr, no better than she was 2 years ago. Tow actually regressed this year. Are Fouts and Kilfoyl any better than they were as freshmen? If so, not much. Look how much better KB Sides was this year at Arky. Wallace lead the conference in steals at Florida. We had a ton of talented freshmen this year, Goodnight, Bloodworth, Barhhart, Hevlin, etc, but they have to develop to the College game. I'd hate to see that talent wasted. You have to keep improving your players once they got on campus.

 

[81usaf92]

There will probably be more

 

[81usaf92]

Hearing more are leaving.

 

[Blindside17]

Hearing more are leaving.

Not surprised,any guesses at who?

 

[81usaf92]

Not surprised,any guesses at who?

rumblings at this point. But don’t be surprised at some of our freshmen move on. There are serious things internally going on as well. But KB Sides becoming an elite hitter one year at Arkansas and dropping hints at why she left are probably not good news for us. Recruiting has become increasingly harder because people are using how Murph runs the program and his lack of Will to change.

These next few months may actually redefine where Bama softball is heading in the near future. Too many teams are getting better around us and we refuse to change. That’s not hyperbole or me wanting to eeyore. Murph’s style has caused hitters to avoid Alabama.

 

[BamaHoops]

There is, but Murphy isn’t entirely innocent in it either.

Agreed. Murph's going to have to adapt to the way the game is changing or get left behind. As recently as ten years ago Alabama and Florida had a talent advantage over most of the SEC. There are so many more good players coming out of high school now that the talent advantage has evaporated. Meanwhile we're still playing a scheme that no longer works.

 

[BamaHoops]

There will probably be more

View attachment 25005

Lord was predictable. She only lived in Trussville briefly - she's originally a Florida girl. Likely headed to UF or FSU. Watch her performance at the plate takeoff wherever she winds up.

 

[Blindside17]

Lord was predictable. She only lived in Trussville briefly - she's originally a Florida girl. Likely headed to UF or FSU. Watch her performance at the plate takeoff wherever she winds up.

Exactly just like Sides this past season.

 

[81usaf92]

Lord was predictable. She only lived in Trussville briefly - she's originally a Florida girl. Likely headed to UF or FSU. Watch her performance at the plate takeoff wherever she winds up.

Yeah ah no. Murphy has divided the team and has totally lost them. We just lost 4 starters in 24hrs. This is a rebellion….

 

[BamaFossil]

I enjoy Bama softball second only to football. To my untrained eye, Goodnight and Bloodworth both look like future stars. And Gilfoil is obviously a star. For a storied softball program like Alabama to lose them makes no sense. I dunno what's going on... but our coaching staff needs to get it fixed immediately.