FSU Softball Had A Long Weekend
Posted by NoleCC
And I don’t mean the relaxing type.
Let me start off with the bright spots first today. The Noles pulled out a 5-4 victory over Georgia Tech yesterday (which show they can still bounce back from a crappy day), with an unlikely hero contributing. Michelle Snyder hit a 3-run bomb in the 4th inning, and the Noles pounded out 12 hits as a team. Gober pitched all 8 innings in the victory.
That’s basically all the positives I can directly take from last weekend.
Looking at Sunday, the Noles committed 3 errors. McConn had 2 of them. Shayla Jackson and Monica Montez each had 1 in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, and Michelle Snyder had 1 in the second game of the doubleheader. That’s 6 errors over the weekend. Georgia Tech committed a whopping 2 all weekend. FSU also left 25 runners on base in the 3 game series. Errors + LOB Â = Losses.
I understand some of the fan frustration out there, but it’s not just one player every day. There’s a consistent issue with errors, and many of them are mental errors from what I’ve seen. Â Mental errors “should” be easy to fix, but many times they aren’t, because of the player’s mindset. Physical errors can be overcome over time with practice, but that doesn’t do anybody any good immediately. On the flip side, there are some positions where I happily take a crap batting average because of defensive capabilities, or vice versa. The problem that FSU has at this point in regards to fixing problems like that, is that the bench, in my view, is thin. That can only change over a recruiting class or two, from players suddenly improving from one year to another (ie, Ashley Stager who has stepped up her game in 2009).
A few more positives:
I lied a bit earlier. I found a few more positives to take from the weekend. The pitching staff didn’t give up a lot of walks. Walks are probably my biggest pet peeve in baseball / softball. FSU managed to pull one out in extra innings, which wasn’t a characteristic of the Noles until 2009. Also, I don’t think FSU has peaked for 2009 yet. Peaking at the right time is key, right now it would be a bit early. I’ll chalk some of this up as a good learning experience for the Noles, and hopefully they learned something they can use down the road in the ACC Tournament.
So fans, after a win, and a day to relax… what’s on your mind? What needs correcting, and more importantly, HOW would you go about correcting it? Â Sound off in the comments!
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Ed on 
ecwforever on 
Someone posted a couple weeks ago that at the California tournament FSU was dropping routine fly balls, yikes. Anyway, the first inning grand slam was a direct result of single, error, wild pitch, walk and hbp. That pretty much summed up the kind of day we were going to have. We are better than last season but I dont think the problems with certain players will improve, 2 specifically that shall remain unnamed from now on :). We just need to give Coach A and her staff time to get their players in. I have enjoyed the marked improvements by our pitching staff and Stager.
Also, is it just me or is Montez swinging the bat better.
Ed, by all means feel free to continue to name players you have a beef with. I’m not here to censor anything in that regard. It’s obvious where the main defensive problems are, but it’s also obvious that you realize it’s more than just those two players ultimately that need to step up their game.
As for Montez, yes, it appears that she’s been swinging the bat better. I’m hoping to get out to the complex this weekend for some games.
Kristie and Michelle seem to struggle the most, although as soon as I typed that yesterday Michelle hit a 3 run homer.
FSU is sitting LAST in fielding %- no surprise to anyone after this weekend which almost lost them the last game. They aren’t much better in hitting but Snyder did hit better. I cringe every time it’s batters 6-9 coming up in the order. Maybe the coaching strategy should be spreading the hitters throughout the order (however that could backfire with getting even less runs than we are now). Besides Snyder hitting at keys times this weekend I have to give credit to Rafter who batted .455 against GT for the weekend, especially since she’s playing with a fractured wrist (since getting HBP in a game against Washington but just found out it’s busted). Perhaps someone out there can confirm her injury status and why she doesn’t have it casted? She was able to get things started but no one behind her to finish up by scoring runs. FSU left way too many runners on base.
The only good point I can come up with thus far is that I figure UNC and GT are at the top so hopefully things should be getting much better. They will have to prove just how good they are but their fielding and batting has to improve if they are going to win games.
Good information Bill. I knew Rafter took one off the wrist, but wow, fractured, tough young women.
Sr. year, too far committed into the season to redshirt. She’s just toughing it out and trying to deal with the pain as best as possible. It is definitely fractured.
If she had it casted she would not be able to play (as stated in the NCAA rules). Heard she told the docs if they put one on she would remove it anyhow. The most difficult part is batting because of the bending of the wrist and the vibration of the ball off the bat causes lots of pain. Definitely one tough lady.
Agreed on the toughness of Rafter… I just hope it doesn’t make anything worse or cause problems for her later on down the road.