Softball 2013

LaPorteAveApostle · October 01, 2012, 12:26:33 PM

: ) in baseball, they'd be the "replacement umps", or "rumps" for short : )

valpopal, how dost thou take such cool paintings for pictures? is it instagram, magic, etc?

boomdad · October 04, 2012, 09:43:40 AM

The Ladies get their rings tomorrow for the conference championship at the half time ceremony at the football game. If someone that is there and takes pics can post a few I would greatly appreciate it. Due to work cant make it up until Sun. Thanks

historyman · October 04, 2012, 11:09:48 AM

Quote from: boomdad on October 4, 2012, 09:43:40 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"The Ladies get their rings tomorrow for the conference championship at the half time ceremony at the football game."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't the Homecoming football game against Butler on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.? Did I lose a day? Today is Thursday, is it not?

boomdad · October 04, 2012, 01:36:20 PM

sorry, you are correct saturday

new2ff · October 05, 2012, 07:41:31 AM

Anyone who watched, how did they do in last weeks scrimmages? With Duncan,Doerfiler,Marinec & Joy all back,they have some pretty good sticks, how did pitching look & new players ?

Do they have a lot coming back for alumni game?

valpopal · October 06, 2012, 04:33:24 PM

"The Ladies get their rings tomorrow for the conference championship at the half time ceremony at the football game. If someone that is there and takes pics can post a few I would greatly appreciate it. Due to work cant make it up until Sun. Thanks--boomdad"

Here you go, boomdad, the women receiving their championship rings:

valpopal · October 30, 2012, 09:55:07 PM

Congrats to the Women:

"The Valparaiso softball team has been named an All-Academic Team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) after posting a team GPA of 3.367 during the 2011-2012 academic year, which ranked 28th in the nation among Division I programs. It marked the second straight season that the Crusaders have earned All-Academic Team honors from the NFCA, as they improved both on last season's GPA (3.320) and rank among D-I programs (32nd)."

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2012-13/12124/crusader-softball-earns-all-academic-team-honor/

new2ff · November 29, 2012, 03:33:39 PM

Great site for seeing how competition is doing on top recruits, google up; goldfastpitch.com/verbals- shows 2013-2015 Golds that have signed intents or verbal.

boomdad · December 08, 2012, 01:51:35 PM

2013 schedule is out

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/schedule/

new2ff · December 10, 2012, 09:18:32 PM

Should be some good games pre-conference.[ Horizon should be much improved top to bottom]
Belmont will be better LY.
Dayton & Charleston Southern will be better LY.
Temple will be good this year & Central Ar. pretty salty.
FGU & TN. & W KY.will be very tough.
Maryland lost Knight the big time pitcher, but will be good.
Iowa State has not been good in past & Valpo shut them down LY, but they are banking on 3 big time recruits, have to wait & see.

LaPorteAveApostle · December 10, 2012, 09:50:27 PM

AWESOME: game against FGCU, right down here!

MUCH LESS AWESOME: it's an unavoidable work night

KL31NY · December 10, 2012, 10:23:40 PM

That's a ton of road games to close out April!!!

Nice having YSU at home after it, though

new2ff · December 11, 2012, 08:01:17 AM

I would not look at YTS as a sure win. They have both pitchers back & 2 very good players in Rumph & Ingalls. Might want to keep eye on Canada recruit Castiglione & a big slugger from Coal city, Il. We blew them out 2 times last year, but 2 games were 4-3 & 13-12. Loss of Thomas will hurt them.

KL31NY · December 11, 2012, 10:48:30 AM

And things are not necessarily going to be easy just focusing on our end either. We graduated a lot of talent, and all our regular pitching from the last couple seasons.

new2ff · December 11, 2012, 07:06:57 PM

KL3- The loss of the 3 pitchers at Valpo will definitely hurt, they started for 4 years & got better & better. I don't know anything about this years pitching.
We do have some very good hitters coming back and should have good leadership with Joy & Marinec. Duncan could have a monster year with Joy or Marinec batting behind her.
Still, it will take some pitchers to step up? Should be fun, either way.

KL31NY · December 11, 2012, 10:45:04 PM

Just checked the roster. Boy, that's a big team. It's only a few more players more than what we usually have, but it seems like so much more. I also have some free time, so here's some extended analysis on the team.

In terms of pitching, we have a 5th-year senior in Amanda Bolton who has pitched sparingly at best for VU, a JUCO transfer named Ashlyn Michalak with two years of post-secondary experience, and three freshmen pitchers. Also among our positions players, I know at least Lindsey Norway pitched in high school (and was pretty good too). There will be a lot of options, but the lack of college experience concerns me. You either gotta have one workhorse pitcher like a lot of the major schools or two, three reliable starters to have good pitching, and it's arguably the most important facet to a good softball program.

In addition to replacing our pitching (two starters and one reliever), we need to fill roles at starting catcher, first base, and center field. Joy coming back is great since she can really hold down third base. I believe Duncan has some experience at first base from high school, so she could replace Kelsey Phalen there, and we can get another hitter to fill Duncan's spot at DP if we want to go that route. We've got a lot of people who can play outfield, so I'm not *too* concerned about that. Catcher should go to Tarah McShane (Jordan Rutkowski's backup last year) unless freshman Janelle Bouchard or some other player can win the spot.

Valposter · December 12, 2012, 10:19:45 AM

Best of Luck to Valpo Softball in 2013.........I really enjoyed watching their Post-Season run last year! Who will be the toughest competition in the HL in trying to repeat?

Go Valpo!

boomdad · December 12, 2012, 03:01:11 PM

Quote from: KL31NY on December 11, 2012, 10:45:04 PM
Just checked the roster. Boy, that's a big team. It's only a few more players more than what we usually have, but it seems like so much more. I also have some free time, so here's some extended analysis on the team.

In terms of pitching, we have a 5th-year senior in Amanda Bolton who has pitched sparingly at best for VU, a JUCO transfer named Ashlyn Michalak with two years of post-secondary experience, and three freshmen pitchers. Also among our positions players, I know at least Lindsey Norway pitched in high school (and was pretty good too). There will be a lot of options, but the lack of college experience concerns me. You either gotta have one workhorse pitcher like a lot of the major schools or two, three reliable starters to have good pitching, and it's arguably the most important facet to a good softball program.

In addition to replacing our pitching (two starters and one reliever), we need to fill roles at starting catcher, first base, and center field. Joy coming back is great since she can really hold down third base. I believe Duncan has some experience at first base from high school, so she could replace Kelsey Phalen there, and we can get another hitter to fill Duncan's spot at DP if we want to go that route. We've got a lot of people who can play outfield, so I'm not *too* concerned about that. Catcher should go to Tarah McShane (Jordan Rutkowski's backup last year) unless freshman Janelle Bouchard or some other player can win the spot.

You are correct Duncan does have 1st base experience at the High School and Gold level as well. According to what we were told when she committed to Valpo that was the long term plan for her. You bring up a very good point about the DH spot. I think the team could only be helped by using Bridwell,s speed as the DH If Duncan does move to the right side. You also have a very good stick and out field experience in Brown. He at some point in the future is going to have to groom someone to take over the left side of the infield once Joy leaves.

Catcher will be interesting . Unless someone absolutely blows the other away in Jan in Practice you could see shared duties behind the plate at that position. And to be honest im not sure that wouldent be a bad Idea to keep both fresh for the League Tournament. Rutowski was spent last season. I talked to her at the conclusion of the CSU series last year and you could see she was just flat wore out. Such a physical and demanding job back there any help they get towards the end of the season may help us as a team in the long run.

boomdad · December 24, 2012, 11:18:08 AM

Just wanted to take a moment to wish all the players, family and friends a merry Christmas and a happy new year....................... 6 weeks and 5 days until season starts......

new2ff · January 12, 2013, 05:13:12 PM

College Sports Madness.com added college softball [ I think 2nd year ] & picked pre season All Conference teams. Valpo had Ichyama & Duncan on 1st team & Marinec on 2nd.
Loyola had most represented.

boomdad · January 12, 2013, 10:18:24 PM

They love Loyola dont they..........

valpotx · January 13, 2013, 02:26:31 AM

Is that lefty pitcher back for Loyola? I thought she was a FR last year, and she seemed like she would continue to be at a high level, and tough to beat. Any word on how our pitching looks boomdad? That will determine how our year goes, as we have some solid hitters/fielders back.

new2ff · January 13, 2013, 10:42:06 AM

I don't know how our pitching looked this Fall, will have to leave that up to Boomdad or others who watched the games against the D-1 competition . We do have some very good hitters coming back & Joy coming back was a HUGE plus.
Loyola with Gardner as #1 pitcher & Ciran #2 should be tough. I think Green Bay will be MUCH better & will bare watching & YTS seems to be on the upswing.

I saw where Loyola signed a couple of Middle-infielders from 2013/14 [ from Bev Bandits ] that could solidify them for 3-4 years up the middle.

boomdad · January 13, 2013, 08:23:00 PM

Our pitching diddnt look bad at all in the fall. I think we can compete. But I also think theres a Maturity issue as to how much Coach Stevens can get out of his freshman thru the season. Everyone knows how a rebuilding season is.

new2ff · February 04, 2013, 09:06:14 PM

With the start of the season this w/e, thought they would have a preview of the season or a coaches blog. for those close to the subject, how are things looking for opening week.
I see jackson State & central Ar. as the toughest, they both have a good pitcher & quite a few players back.
I would think Belmont & WIU should be a couple of wins. I know Valpo will get the hits, Joy,Duncan & Marinic for starters.Pitching will be the key & will need a couple to put any kind of a string together.
Maybe if local paper had or has an article, someone can post it.
Good luck to the team this w/e.