Softball Season - 1 week away

[psycHOGlogist]

Maybe we could all use a break from the drama and disappointment of the WBB team for a bit (at least until the next transfer is announced, or a coaching search starts).

Softball season starts next Saturday, 2/11, with the Hogs on the road in Denton, TX, playing two games each against UMass-Lowell and the host UNT team. It's year 2 of the Deifel regime, and you have to hope that the only way to go is up after last season's predictable, though still disappointing, 10-31 mark, which featured a single conference win.

There's been some staff turnover, as Boo de Oliveira accepted the HC position at Purdue over the summer, and Coach Deifel hired Nevada Head Coach Matt Meuchel to come in and serve as an Assistant on her staff. It was a surprising move for Meuchel, who was reasonably successful as a HC at Nevada, and who has a very strong reputation as a "numbers" guy in softball - total stats/probabilities nerd. Will be interesting to see how he fits in with Deifel and Yolanda McRae, back for a second season as the hitting coach.

We lost very few seniors from last year's team, with Claire Clark the only player who used all of her eligibility last season. However, there were some other departures, too. Little used Ileana Aleman graduated and left, and there were several transfers. Dani Brochu transferred to Illinois. Morgan Felts left for UCA. Peyton Carter has rejoined her high school teammate Chase Nelson (who transferred from Missouri) at Southern Miss. And Jesse Mullen has moved on to Kennesaw State. And finally, as had been announced last year Sydney Wright was medically retired.

There will be plenty of newcomers this season. Several transfers into the program were announced late last spring. These included players from Louisville (INF Sydney Benz), FIU (INF AJ Belans), and UT-Martin (P/1B Katie Warrick). Don't know much about Benz, but Belans is supposed to be a very good all-around player, and Warrick is reputed to have some pop in her bat and to be a serviceable (but not ace) pitcher.

The freshman class is reasonably large, though it's one smaller than it was intended to be. And the loss was unfortunate - our second highest rated recruit, Jade Miller, left after the fall semester. Not sure what the deal was there, but she did commit to the old staff, so maybe she just didn't feel like she fit in. The other newcomers include highly rated LHP Caroline Hedgcock, highly rated RHP Autumn Storms, twins Macy (C) and Maddie (UTL) Brotherton from Mena, INF Aly Manzo, INF Keely Edwards fom Harrisburg, OF Sydney Parr from NLR, and INF Hailey MacKay. Storms reportedly looked very good during the fall season. Hedgcock, on the other hand, did not pitch. Another poster told me that they were trying to work on her mechanics, so not sure if she will be ready for this spring, will take a redshirt, or what.

Stephanie Canfield returns from her medical RS for her senior season, which is a big boost offensively (and probably defensively, too).

College softball is all about pitching, and it looks like we will be relying on a rotation of senior workhorse Grace Moll, Fr Storms, and TR-So Warrick (at least that's who pitched this fall, for the most part). We also have Allison Stewart on the roster. She was injured most of last season, so she's a big question mark. Moll reportedly looked fantastic in fall ball, and if she can get either Storms or Warrick to provide her with enough rest to stay fresh, she could have a really good year. The poor girl practically threw her arm off last year, and we only had freshmen (Carter, mainly) and outfielders (Clark, Tori Cooper) to spell her. The (knock wood) improved depth in the circle could really make a big difference for us this year.

Sorting out who plays where in the field will be interesting. Based on the roster, it seems that Autumn Russell, who started almost every game at 3b last season, has returned to her natural OF position. That makes me wonder if Madison Yanetti, who played 3b as a freshman but moved to SS last year, goes back to third? AJ Belans is reportedly good enough to be on the field, so I wonder if she's the SS? Parker Pocklington did a decent job at 2b last year, and 1b looks to be a contest between Ashley Diaz, Warrick, and maybe Nichole Schroeder. Behind the plate, you have Shelby Hiers and Lauren Archuleta who both saw time last year. C was a very big problem for us last year - lots of passed balls and errant throws. It will be interesting to see how much improvement there is this year. After all, Deifel was a fantastic catcher when she played.

In the OF, I am assuming you can pencil in Canfield as the everyday CF. It seems to me that you would want to get all the bats from Schroeder, Warrick, Hiers, and Diaz in the lineup, and the only way I see to do that is to assign Diaz/Warrick at 1b/DP, put Hiers behind the plate, and Schroeder in the OF. But last year, Deifel really seemed to prerfer Archuleta at C. And Schroeder is decent in the OF, but she is not the greatest defensive outfielder on the roster. Kryzsko did a nice job at times last year, as did Tori Cooper (though she could be an adventure on defense). Does sophomore Carley Haizlip get a look, or the freshman Parr? Does Russell remain a starter now that she's back in the OF? Lots of questions.

On offense, I think we should be better. Having Canfield back to set the table at the top of the lineup will be a big help. The team is also loaded with speed, though that's not something that the staff seemed to take advantage of last season (not all that many SB attempts, and not all that many pinch runners). Hiers, Schroeder, Diaz, Belans, and Warrick all have some serious pop in their bats, and all can hit for reasonable averages. If we can get Canfield and a couple others to get on base ahead of them more frequently, we could have a reasonable uptick in offensive output.

As for the first weekend, both the Mean Green and the RiverHawks return veteran lineups and pitchers, but neither team was particularly good last year. UNT had a couple good wins during their season (beating Baylor twice), but they did not make their conference tournament (only 5 wins in C-USA, which is a decent but not great softball conference). The RiverHawks were considerably worse, putting up a record sort of similar to ours, but against a lot weaker competition. I would hope that we would do rather well against UML, and though UNT should be more of a test at their place, you'd have to hope we'd do well.

Looking forward to what I hope is an improving season this year!

[flippinhogmana]

thanks for the thorough and concise report PSYCHE.

[Hogwild8765]

It will be interesting to see how the season plays out.  I think Deifel has to implement more changes even beyond pitching for this team only had one SEC win with all the starters you referenced above .  Grace no doubt pitched her heart out and she should have more help this year but just changing this or one or 2 players around isn't going to be enough of a game changer to turn this program around in my opinion. With a roster of around 28+ she needs to find the right chemistry and talent that the team can rally around and frankly that may mean some new needed young blood.  I am sure there are players on the team that are tired of losing but are also beaten down and they won't help the rally cry if they can't get pass the last few seasons.  I hope Deifel has been trying to rebuild the team chemistry, finding new leaders,  and trying to rebuild the heart of this team for they will need that just as much as talent to succeed in the SEC. 

[sw403]

Thanks for the update.  I'm ready for the season to start!

[beartown]

Thanks for all the info! It is always hard to find out much about what is going on with the program, when you live in central Arkansas.

[Iwastherein1969]

how are the majorettes and pom pom girls coming along this year ? oh and the girls who dance at the Razorback baseball games, clearly these crews could make a tremendous difference in how Arkansas sports are perceived