Tuscaloosa Regional
- Thread starter 4Q Basket Case
- Start date
Welp this horrible season might be coming to an end. And the outlook for the future doesn’t look any better.
Well, it looks like it's pretty much over now. 5-0 Stanford, top of 7th, and we're not even out of the inning yet. Fouts now leaving the game, which pretty much means Murphy is conceding. I would call this a pretty sad effort, especially when your season is on the line. Fouts threw well enough thru six innings to win, but we have had absolutely zero production at the plate. Will Murphy fix it in the offseason? That remains to be seen. All I know is this team has broken all of the wrong records and streaks this year. We'll see what happens next year.
I hate to be that person, but unless something changes with who we get in the transfer portal or how we approach hitting then you can just expect us in a game 7 next year. This has been coming for years and it was finally time to pay the piper.
Shipman, Prange, and Johnson are most likely coming back and could have more productive years, but none of them are dominating hitters even at their best. We desperately need someone that is going to knock the crap out of the ball and has self control at the plate.
Exactly and I agree We actually need several that can knock the crap out of the ball with self control. One can be pitched around to easily.
I agree with all that, but Stanford is not some big home run hitting team. They just have a bunch of hitters, (not slappers), that seem to be consistent at getting single after single. And as has happened all year, teams catch up to Montana in the late innings because there's not much change of speed. Hopefully she can develop that over the offseason. We gave her absolutely no help in game 2 today, just a bunch of feebleness at the plate. I really hope Murphy will change his philosophy and get a hitting coach. The game has changed and it's passing him by.
Question for those who follow this more closely than me: how much of this is on Murphy? I've read in various places that he's stubbornly clinging to an outdated approach to the game, lacks in-game situational awareness, rides single pitchers too much and refuses to hire a hitting coach. Fouts did all she could today and deserved better.
I'm assuming that since Murphy helped put Bama softball on the map, he'll be given the opportunity to correct things, but do you guys think he will?
I'm assuming that since Murphy helped put Bama softball on the map, he'll be given the opportunity to correct things, but do you guys think he will?
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.
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.
Exactly! You have to question the thought process of moving/slapping/changing players... If they were recruited as a position player WHY try to make them something they are not?
I think Murphy feels he has some "secret to success" that is unrealistic. His philosophy may have worked 10yrs ago but not today. Much like CNS, you have to change with game...even if you don't like it
I nearly fell out of my chair in the 5th when I saw 3 straight slappers come up. I was like "this cant be real".
There are things that can probably be fixed like hitting, and there are some that MUST be fixed internally before next year if we are to avoid this result.
Hopefully this season will get Murph's attention. If not, the future won't be good. In 2011 he fired the pitching coach - Vann Studeman - and hired Tyrone Prothro's wife - a former Bama pitcher. Our pitching has been really good since that change. Studeman got the head coaching job at Miss St and flopped. She's selling real estate in T-Town now.
I don't know who coaches hitting for us - whether it's Murphy himself, or Habetz. Murphy and Habetz have been together forever - don't see him firing her. And I don't know if there are NCAA rules on how many assistants a team can have in softball. But if we don't change things will tank soon. Oklahoma, Arkansas, and others are proof that the future of college softball is in power hitting. Time for Bama to get on that train.
Also - you can be certain that other programs will use our weak hitting against us when recruiting pitchers. "Go to Bama and you'll have to pitch shutouts to win games".
The problem is that he is paying Alyson almost strictly as an infield coach just so she can have a paid position. Murphy is our hitting coach despite whatever distinction he wants to give Alyson.
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