Softball

Shelby was great. Range ok, arm exceptional.

Casey was strong.

But all indications are that Romero and Knighten are at least their equals in fielding. Whomever plays SS may not have quite the arm strength the first year, but possibly better range.

Not sure why you think we'll drop off defensively. Arnold was incredible from day one. She had ONE error on the year, and that was in the NCAA's. Romero and Knighten have just as strong ratings defensively.

Not sure whom we'll replace Lauren with. Could drop off there.

Plus or minus, we'll likely be about the same defensively.

Offensively, that's another issue. Shelby and Lauren hit 47 home runs. We'll not get anywhere near that from their replacements, nor will we get enough increase from returning starters to offset the differences. I suspect a 20 HR drop, at least.

We may come close to matching the team average, but this team set the OU and big 12 record for team batting. The newbies have the pedigrees to hit for average, but likely still a drop-off.

It's pitching where I would hope to improve. Finney has a pitching pedigree up there with the best we've ever had. Chestnut strong as well. And I don't know why everyone seems to want to write Kelsey off. She had 38 wins in 2014. U La La had a pitcher have a down year like Kelsey that came back last year to be their ace. No reason Kelsey can't come back, and truthfully, she was making progress at season's end, just not all the way. I could forsee a staff where Patty used as many as four pitchers, regularly. And successfully.

Bottom line is Gasso and the staff are as good as any, and I expect another run towards the WCWS. Baylor and Tejas probably see next year as an opportunity to end the Sooner's B12 title run, but I expect them to be disappointed.

The team will be different, but plus or minus, just as good as we've seen the last four or five years.
 
SoonerMGB56 said:
Shelby was great. Range ok, arm exceptional.

Casey was strong.

But all indications are that Romero and Knighten are at least their equals in fielding. Whomever plays SS may not have quite the arm strength the first year, but possibly better range.

Not sure why you think we'll drop off defensively. Arnold was incredible from day one. She had ONE error on the year, and that was in the NCAA's. Romero and Knighten have just as strong ratings defensively.

Not sure whom we'll replace Lauren with. Could drop off there.

Plus or minus, we'll likely be about the same defensively.

Offensively, that's another issue. Shelby and Lauren hit 47 home runs. We'll not get anywhere near that from their replacements, nor will we get enough increase from returning starters to offset the differences. I suspect a 20 HR drop, at least.

We may come close to matching the team average, but this team set the OU and big 12 record for team batting. The newbies have the pedigrees to hit for average, but likely still a drop-off.

It's pitching where I would hope to improve. Finney has a pitching pedigree up there with the best we've ever had. Chestnut strong as well. And I don't know why everyone seems to want to write Kelsey off. She had 38 wins in 2014. U La La had a pitcher have a down year like Kelsey that came back last year to be their ace. No reason Kelsey can't come back, and truthfully, she was making progress at season's end, just not all the way. I could forsee a staff where Patty used as many as four pitchers, regularly. And successfully.

Bottom line is Gasso and the staff are as good as any, and I expect another run towards the WCWS. Baylor and Tejas probably see next year as an opportunity to end the Sooner's B12 title run, but I expect them to be disappointed.

The team will be different, but plus or minus, just as good as we've seen the last four or five years.
Click to expand...
Excellent first post! That is very similar to my evaluations. Shelby was OK to good as far as range. Her arm was about as strong as any that I have seen, and that is probably more important at shortstop. She was becoming as good as some see her as having been. She was a superb first-year shortstop.

I think Patti has Kylie Lundberg penciled in as Lauren's replacement. That's a lot to expect. But, she expects power from Lundberg, and she will probably start at first. I don't know if she will have the consistency. I get the impression that she could be 300 with 15 home runs as a freshman.

Arnold was our best defender. She made some plays that were remarkable. We had trouble very early in the year fielding bunts until Arnold was taught to cover Paige by charging so hard. Paige was weak on bunts.

I don't expect a 380 average. But, then, we didn't hit 380 in playoffs this year either.
 
SoonerMGB56 said:
Shelby was great. Range ok, arm exceptional.

Casey was strong.

But all indications are that Romero and Knighten are at least their equals in fielding. Whomever plays SS may not have quite the arm strength the first year, but possibly better range.

Not sure why you think we'll drop off defensively. Arnold was incredible from day one. She had ONE error on the year, and that was in the NCAA's. Romero and Knighten have just as strong ratings defensively.

Not sure whom we'll replace Lauren with. Could drop off there.

Plus or minus, we'll likely be about the same defensively.

Offensively, that's another issue. Shelby and Lauren hit 47 home runs. We'll not get anywhere near that from their replacements, nor will we get enough increase from returning starters to offset the differences. I suspect a 20 HR drop, at least.

We may come close to matching the team average, but this team set the OU and big 12 record for team batting. The newbies have the pedigrees to hit for average, but likely still a drop-off.

It's pitching where I would hope to improve. Finney has a pitching pedigree up there with the best we've ever had. Chestnut strong as well. And I don't know why everyone seems to want to write Kelsey off. She had 38 wins in 2014. U La La had a pitcher have a down year like Kelsey that came back last year to be their ace. No reason Kelsey can't come back, and truthfully, she was making progress at season's end, just not all the way. I could forsee a staff where Patty used as many as four pitchers, regularly. And successfully.

Bottom line is Gasso and the staff are as good as any, and I expect another run towards the WCWS. Baylor and Tejas probably see next year as an opportunity to end the Sooner's B12 title run, but I expect them to be disappointed.

The team will be different, but plus or minus, just as good as we've seen the last four or five years.
Click to expand...

Great post! However, I do think some of the returners will take up some of the HR slack from Lauren and Shelby leaving. I think Nicole and Paige could have at least 10 more HRs between them next year.

You're right, Kelsey Arnold was outstanding at 3B defensively! It's almost like you never noticed she was there and that's a huge compliment because if there were mistakes, you'd notice!

I'm not giving up on Stevens and I don't think Patty nor the team have either. She was showing improvement the last few weeks of the season. Some of the other opportunities she would have had before tourney were rained out unfortunately. I definitely hope she's back to herself next year. She did win 38 games the year before and led us to the WCWS. You can't get there on hitting alone.

I think the biggest dropoff (or at least from outside appearances) may be on the leadership side. Lauren, Shelby, Georgia, Jessica and Callie provided tremendous leadership for this team. I'm sure there are great leaders returning but may take a little time to develop.

I expect to have stronger pitching next year and not as many HRs. May take us a while to gel but expect to be playing top 10 ball come playoff time. Just hope we're not screwed again with seeding!
 
Great points, all. And welcome to the board, SoonerMGB.

In my opinion, what makes Shelby a great shorstop (she's also great at third and even at second) is not just her range or her arm. It's more about her great hands and the way she's able to react to bad hops and in-between hops and field balls that would get past many players. That kind of hand-eye coordination is rare and displayed by only the very elite players.

Also, tycat's comment about the significance of losing team leadership – Lauren, Shelby, Georgia, et al – can't be overlooked.

All in all, I do agree that the talent that's arriving in Norman is elite and potentially more than sufficient to offset the loss of our departing seniors. I can only hope, like someone else stated, that this young team will gel Sooner, rather than later. With Gasso pulling the strings and pushing the buttons, these Sooners should remain formidable and hopefully will return to the CWS after a flukey one-year absence.
 
The interesting thing from Gasso's last interview with James Hale after the season - is on the KREF Podcast - was the fact that she stated Erin, Kady, and Paige would be the leaders. Gasso did not expect a problem.

Again, on defense, I don't believe it is necessarily the players but rather Gasso is the key. She will absolutely not accept an average defensive team. She is all about it and she will drill this young team until you don't want to hit the ball anywhere.

I am going to be interested in where Finney and Paige play when they are not pitching. Yes, Paige was the DP and hit incredibly - she has a ton of power. However, Finney is actually a big time slugger as well.

How about these HS stats in 25 games? Finney batted .774 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI. She cranked 13 doubles and three triples, scored 35 runs and drew 25 walks, striking out just once. She finished the season with an .846 on-base percentage and a 1.903 slugging percentage and concluded her prep softball career with a state-record 38 home runs. By the way, she did the same thing in Summer Ball.

By the way, that Bishop Gorman team from Wichita is ranked #1 in the nation by Max Preps and #2 in the Nation by USA Today.
 
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Here is a nice article on Finney.

Brittany Finney’s (Near) Perfect Season (5/31)

It doesn’t get much better—or more dominant—at the high school level than the season that Brittany Finney of Bishop Carroll High of Wichita, Kan. turned in this year.

Brittany Finney (7 ) and Bishop Carroll won the school’s 5th straight 5A Kansas title. Friday afternoon, the senior headed to the Univ. of Oklahoma capped off an All-American season by pitching the Golden Eagles to a fifth straight state championship and, appropriately, she won the 5A State title game by pitching a no-hitter in Carroll’s 10-0 win over Blue Valley West.

In the latest FAB 50 high school rankings, Carroll is ranked No. 7 in the nation and can only go up as teams still playing rated higher could lose in playoffs this week.

In her high school career, Finney played on teams that went 90-6 and she herself compiled a 56-4 pitching record.

Not perfect, but pretty darn close, although the last two years have been perfect for Carroll, which went 50-0 after Finney transferred in prior to the start of the 2014 campaign.

Last year, she split pitching duties with Jessi Haffner, now at Oklahoma State, but this year it was all Brittany in the circle and she showed why she is one of the elite pitchers in the country as she gave up only three earned runs all season while going 14-0 with a 0.30 ERA and 11 shut outs, six no-hitters and two perfect games.

“I go into every game expecting us to win,” Finney told the Wichita Eagle after Friday’s game. “I don’t expect anything less. We just had to push through every single game that we had. Every game, it was just a new opportunity to show everybody what we’ve got. Each win was just that much more important.”

To cap off the playoffs, the standout player—who plays for the So Cal-based Explosion club team which finished tied for 7th at last year’s PGF 18U Premier Nationals—pitched every inning for the Golden Eagles in the three playoff championship games and Finney threw 24 strikeouts in 20 innings while allowing only one earned run on seven hits.

The senior also homered in each of those games and totaled 17 home runs for the season, which gave her 38 for her career—a Kansas high school state record.

Finney also holds the state marks for career RBI (140), hits in a game (5) and home runs in a game (3).

The soon-to-be Sooner hit a remarkable .774 this year with an on-base percentage of .846 and an astronomical slugging percentage of 1.903.

While Finney was shutting teams down in the playoffs, the Golden Eagles’ offense made sure she got plenty of run support.

Carroll beat Shawnee Heights in the semi’s 7-2 and in the final game put three runs across in the fifth inning, including a Finney solo shot, and then plated five more in the sixth inning to shut the game down early and give the powerhouse team from Wichita another state title.

According to her father, Gary, Brittany will be starting at OU on June 8 and he and the family will be moving to Wyoming this week as part of a job change.

“It’s a tough time,” the star pitcher’s father states, “but I guess she needs to become the great person I know she will be. Maybe softball has helped her to get there.”
 
A 1903 slugging percentage is rather difficult to achieve. If you get a single with every at bat, you have a 1000. If you get a double with every at bat, you would have a 2000. Thus, this is about like never making an out and getting nine doubles and a single in every ten at bats. Five home runs in ten at bats would also be 2000. That is why Lauren's 960 career slugging percentage is so astounding, even more so than her home run record. It is an overall hitting percentage: consistency and power. It would have been over a 1000, but she only had 811 as a junior when she was injured.
 
Sounds like Brittany Finney is a real stud (metaphorically speaking).
 
Even though I believe we may not be as good defensively and perhaps not as productive on offense, I do think we may have a better year because of pitching. I think Finney will give us that other pitcher we were missing this year. Patty didn't have many pitching options this year but she will next season. That will make a significant difference against the good teams.
 
SoonerNorm said:
Even though I believe we may not be as good defensively and perhaps not as productive on offense, I do think we may have a better year because of pitching. I think Finney will give us that other pitcher we were missing this year. Patty didn't have many pitching options this year but she will next season. That will make a significant difference against the good teams.
Click to expand...

The old saying goes, "Good pitching will beat good hitting any time, and vice versa". If I had a choice I would always take the good pitching.
 
OU was 49-9. That isn't exactly a bad year. Our losses were revealing:

4-8 at Arizona State when Shelby walked a batter. Two ground balls followed. Then, we intentionally walked two batters to load the bases!! Kemp hit a walk-off grand slam.

4-5 to Arizona at Palm Springs when we had allowed two unearned runs. A walk-off home run by Fox in the bottom of the seventh got Paige, who had had one of the errors that led to the two unearned runs.

5-6 Georgia at Palm Springs when Georgia scored the winning runs with infield hits to third and short (bunt and grounder). We hadn't learned to field bunts yet.

0-1 at LSU when Paige and Hoover both tossed two hitters. The one hit by LSU was a home run by Bell who had fouled out to catcher and struck out before hitting a solo shot.

2-10 At LSU, so what.

0-8 to Baylor in Norman? We had two singles? Bad, bad day.

2-4 to Kansas in Lawrence when Brickey and Chavez hit two-run home runs, the last being a walk-off. They were one for five in other at bats against Paige with three strikeouts. The problem, we blew chance after chance to win in regulation.

In our losses, was it pitching or hitting that let us down the most? We scored 4-4-5-0-2-0-2 in our regular season losses. Our 385 hitting didn't seem to work all the time.
 
The USSSA Pride swept four from Dallas Charge in McKinney, Tx. Now, they get twice in Kansas City (Thur and Fri) and twice in Columbia (Mon and Tue).

Michelle Gascoigne shut out the PA Rebellion on a two-hitter, 5-0. Dallas Escabedo pitched for the Rebellion.
 
sybarite said:
The USSSA Pride swept four from Dallas Charge in McKinney, Tx. Now, they get twice in Kansas City (Thur and Fri) and twice in Columbia (Mon and Tue).

Michelle Gascoigne shut out the PA Rebellion on a two-hitter, 5-0. Dallas Escabedo pitched for the Rebellion.
Click to expand...

Gascoigne is another (past, present, future) Sooner stud.
 
scrybe said:
Gascoigne is another (past, present, future) Sooner stud.
Click to expand...

+1! It was bad for her, in a way, that Keilani was here at the same time as Michelle! Still LOVED that finals game she pitched! And so glad she is a Sooner!
 
The Pride is back on TV tonight at 7:00, same channel. In the last game, Lauren finally got another hit, 1-3. Shelby was only 1-4 which is a slump compared to her start. I think she is 8 for about 14.

Wrong. It's 8:35. Although the sooner twitter says it is televised on CBS sports, I can't find it.
 
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Rookie leaders in Avg. minimum 15 AB's Shelby Pendley .409; Kaitlyn Richardson .375; and Cheyenne Cordes 370.
 
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