The SEC is just brutally difficult for women's sports and softball is probably the toughest. Crazy deep.

Damn. LSU was #1 in baseball & softball?

Oh well, not for long corn dogs. Ags will be #1 tomorrow morning!

Lane you should be nice to those who provide this SOFTBALL information. I really don't give a hoot about LSU baseball, so it's cool if y'all are #1.

BTW - I hate corn dogs.

Wonder if Chief likes corn dogs?

Its absolutely brutal in the SEC this year. Tough, tough sledding but the girls have handled their schedule well so far.

@Pudge
Thanks for adding this to TexAgs.

I try and add the weekly Top 25 link and identify where the SEC schools fall each week.
However these standings are even more important in order to track who makes it to the SEC tourney and beyond.

Pudge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

---

Wonder if Chief likes corn dogs?

---

LOL!! Had to laugh....he might have to spend about $400,000 to buy and try out as many as he wants if LSU wins the cast! Otherwise, I might have to ship him some -- I don't even know where to buy them!! LOL

quote:

---

@Pudge
Thanks for adding this to TexAgs.

I try and add the weekly Top 25 link and identify where the SEC schools fall each week.
However these standings are even more important in order to track who makes it to the SEC tourney and beyond.

---

It's going to be an interesting poll this week when they come out tomorrow. Here's what I posted on what everyone has done this past week in the top 10. I would really enjoy it for Coach Evans and the Aggie players to get into that Top 10 as well. It's just brutal in conference. We (LSU) had to go to Florida (I went) and then to Kentucky. Still have to go to Tennessee and Missouri (I'm going). And still have to host the Aggies and Auburn. I haven't looked at the Aggies schedule coming up, but I know it's just as brutal.

In the ESPN top 10...

#1 LSU lost 2 of 3 at #15 Kentucky
#2 Florida gave up 3 run lead with 2 outs in the bottom of 7th to lose at Miss State yesterday.
#3 Oregon was run ruled by Washington last night in Eugene
#4 Michigan lost to 11-26 Iowa in Ann Arbor yesterday.
#5 Alabama lost at home to #23 Texas A&M 11-5 yesterday.
#6 Oklahoma swept 16-20 Texas Tech in Lubbock.
#7 Georgia has lost 2 games at #18 Tennessee so far this weekend
#8 Louisiana-Lafayette lost one game at 21-15 Texas State-San Marcos this weekend
#9 Auburn lost one game at #20 Missouri, but gave up a lot of runs all weekend.
#10 UCLA was open this weekend.

Further down the list ---
#11 Florida State split a weekday DH with Auburn
#12 Minnesota lost one to Nebraska
#13 Baylor lost one to a bad Okie State team.
#14 Arizona lost two to #21 Arizona State
#15 Kentucky beat #1 LSU twice
#16 Cal swept Oregon State
#17 Washington lost 2 out of 3 to #3 Oregon
#18 Tennessee beat #8 Georgia twice so far this series.
#19 Central Florida swept UConn
#20 Missouri lost series at home to #9 Auburn
#21 Arizona State won 2 out 3 at #14 Arizona
#22 Kansas was swept by tu (not ranked) in Kansas
#23 TAMU lost 2 out of 3 at #5 Alabama (no shame in that)
#24 Va Tech was swept at Notre Dame
#25 South Alabama swept Georgia State, run ruled by #1 LSU in midweek game.

The Aggies, even though they lost 2 out of 3 at the Rhodes House, should not feel bad about it. LSU may own Alabama at Tiger Park (Bama is 0-9), but Bama beats the dog mess out of us in Tuscaloosa every time we go. Y'all had the Tide beat in Game 2 and beat them good yesterday and that will play favorably in many voters eyes. I think the Aggies maintain their ranking and maybe even move up one or two slots based on the teams around them in the poll. Now for LSU, we could be anywhere from 1 to 5 -- that will be interesting.

The team that shocks me that is ranked too high is Arizona. No way they are the #14th team in America. I saw them play out in California this year and went to the regional in Tuscon last year. I also saw the video of Auburn beating them 20-4 this year. Arizona doesn't have the pitching like they used to and if they get out of Tuscon, they don't hit the number of home runs like they do at home. Their stats are inflated at home because of the stadium. Last year, I griped several times about us hitting a pop fly, and the next thing, it was a home run.

Thanks for the updates. Being a softball dad, I love me some softball.

Thanks, I like ladies softball. I had a daughter play as long as legs would let her and in high school, she camped at A&M. All I could ever hear about was a football player--Shea Walker. Again, Thanks.

The AGGIES schedule coming up has us playing Georgia Tech in a NC series this weekend.
Then Murder's Row hits as far as I'm concerned (The April Series are all back to back)

April Series:
Host Auburn
At Baton Rouge
At Gainesville

May Series:
Host Ole Miss

Then again to say A&M has any tougher of a schedule than anyone else is simply drawing straws.
For Example Tennessee is closing out their series tonight hosting Georgia (with a 2-0 surprising series lead), next week they play AT Auburn, then host LSU...
Tough-Tough-Tough

Do we have a dominant pitcher (like the ones we see at the very top schools) in the pipeline?

quote:

---

Do we have a dominant pitcher (like the ones we see at the very top schools) in the pipeline?

---

Yes. Finally. It only took Evans 7 years to sign another truly elite pitcher in Samantha Show. Even though I'm not a big fan of Evans' record at A&M, I predict the program is about to go on another run of 2-3 WCWS because Show is the real deal and combined with the young offensive talent, I can't see how A&M won't be hosting Supers 3 times in the next 4 years.

Finally. I like softball but if our team doesn't have a dominant pitcher it is really hard to watch us play in this league.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Do we have a dominant pitcher (like the ones we see at the very top schools) in the pipeline?

---

Yes. Finally. It only took Evans 7 years to sign another truly elite pitcher in Samantha Show. Even though I'm not a big fan of Evans' record at A&M, I predict the program is about to go on another run of 2-3 WCWS because Show is the real deal and combined with the young offensive talent, I can't see how A&M won't be hosting Supers 3 times in the next 4 years.

---

That's a bold prediction considered the conference. If half that comes true it will be awesome

anyone catch the end of the UGA-UT game?

I guess a balk was called when the bulldog pitcher stumbled and fell to the ground during her windup to pitch. Runner on 3rd was awarded home plate. Game over

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Do we have a dominant pitcher (like the ones we see at the very top schools) in the pipeline?

---

Yes. Finally. It only took Evans 7 years to sign another truly elite pitcher in Samantha Show. Even though I'm not a big fan of Evans' record at A&M, I predict the program is about to go on another run of 2-3 WCWS because Show is the real deal and combined with the young offensive talent, I can't see how A&M won't be hosting Supers 3 times in the next 4 years.

---

That's a bold prediction considered the conference. If half that comes true it will be awesome

---

Really not going out on a limb at all with that prediction. Show is the real deal and a dominant strike-out pitcher that we haven't had since Megan Gibson in '08. Think about the top teams in the WCWS every year and their ace pitchers, that's what Show will be for A&M. Show is ranked as one of the top 4-5 pitchers in the nation and Top 10 recruit overall.

quote:

---

anyone catch the end of the UGA-UT game?

I guess a balk was called when the bulldog pitcher stumbled and fell to the ground during her windup to pitch. Runner on 3rd was awarded home plate. Game over

---

I believe it was an illegal pitch call.

I'm still awaiting some clarification on this but IF she would have rolled the ball home to the catcher it would have been called a "ball".

IMO opinion the Freshman that was pitching for Georgia the entire game should never have been pulled. It was her game to win or lose. I think the coaches out coached themselves trying to "situational" pitch in that instance.

quote:

---

Think about the top teams in the WCWS every year and their ace pitchers, that's what Show will be for A&M. Show is ranked as one of the top
4-5 pitchers in the nation and Top 10 recruit overall.

---

How hard it is it in general to get a pipeline going where you can get those pitchers on a fairly regular basis? If you are not an elite program is the 7-8 years we have waited between elite pitcher the norm?

I thought an illegal pitch just added another ball to the hitter's count -- apparently it also advance runners -- essentially the equivalent of a balk

quote:

---

I thought an illegal pitch just added another ball to the hitter's count -- apparently it also advance runners -- essentially the equivalent of a balk

---

That is correct. Last night, if the Georgia pitcher had just let the ball go, it would have been a ball instead of an illegal pitch. The run may have still scored, but there would have been a play to be made.

The deal with the pitchers are they aren't out there every year. Heck here in Texas you almost cant find dominant pitching to play in select ball. There are a few in each class that are elite. That's why you have to go play these national tourneys to face girls from all over the country to see elite pitching. For instance, in Central Texas right now, to me, there is one elite pitcher, shes a 2018 commit to OU. There are many other really good ones, but she is the type that can dominate. That's across all classifications 2018-2015's. Think about that. Then you have Show(2015) in the Houston area, and no one jumps out at me from the Dallas area. There are a whole lot of D1 pitchers, that are great pitchers, in those age groups right now and some may grow into an elite type pitcher, but there are only a handful in the whole state of Texas in 4 age groups that are truly cant miss, bonafide elite pitchers. At least this is how I see it.

That's why you see the likes of Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona State's, etc.. of the world have these big runs for two or three year. They end up with this dominant pitcher and they roll with her for 3-4 years. Then she leaves and they aren't quite as dominant, ala ASU, UCLA, ZONA, Tenn, Baylor even ou and bama aren't as dominant this year as a few years ago. If you look across the top SEC teams Florida is riding their awesome pitching from last year that won them the WCWS. Most of the strong pitchers in the SEC are fish or sophomores.

I think our pitching is above average. When Fox's drop ball is working we normally win or as we have seen are winning until the last inning. The more AB's a batter has against Fox the smarter they get to lay off that pitch(in theory). Marks is a great complement to her bc her main pitches have totally different movement. They just don't have that extra high end speed to blow it past you. I personally would like to see us have more team speed and utilize the short game more. Which I think they have done more the last month and our record shows. The thing about the SEC is any team can win on any day, excluding Arkansas. So when you make it to post season play anything can happen. We just have less room for error in the circle then some teams.

viva also wanted to add that we were suppose to have had a good pitcher two years ago and she switched her commitment in the final days to ASU I believe and left us hanging. Thankfully we were able to get Fox to transfer here from tu or we could have been in a world of hurt. I would think that you don't normally get a chance at these high end pitchers ever year so you use the small amount of schollys (4-7 per year) to build the rest of the team. It is also probably hard to recruit an elite pitcher when you have one on staff, knowing that she will get most of the innings, where she can go to a team in need of one to start from day one. Show should be really good, and with the talent at the plate we have, we should be looking for some great runs over the next few years. Add they new facilities to this and away we go!!

Colt, how good is Show? I've had someone who is coach of a rival ASA club tell me she is "bad to the bone." But it seems like we haven't heard much from her in the last year or so after she won the Gatorade player of the year in Texas a couple years ago. I've had some hope that she might be that dominant pitcher that would help push us to the top of the sec.

quote:

---

Colt, how good is Show? I've had someone who is coach of a rival ASA club tell me she is "bad to the bone." But it seems like we haven't heard much from her in the last year or so after she won the Gatorade player of the year in Texas a couple years ago. I've had some hope that she might be that dominant pitcher that would help push us to the top of the sec.

---

Show transferred to East Bernard (small school) so maybe she didn't get the pub like she did as a sophomore (although I have seen a lot of articles about her). Not sure how she has done in select (I have heard she has done well in the past with the Texas Aces) but after being ruled eligible sometime past midway through the season last year (her junior season) she took an otherwise mediocre East Bernard team to the state final. East Bernard was something like 10-12 until Show was ruled eligible for varsity play. They immediately become the state favorites as soon as Show was allowed to play. Show didn't disappoint as she completely dominated on the mound and East Bernard won every game until the state final. Until the state final she allowed no earned runs and only 10 hits. She can also hit and is a lot like Scarborough and Gibson as she can do it all with lots of power.

The biggest problem early on last year was that the East Bernard catcher had trouble catching Show's pitches, especially her rise ball and a lot of strike outs ended up on first base. East Bernard was also shaky at best defensively. She strikes out just about everyone though so it didn't matter until the state final (she struck out 15 in a dominating semi-final win). In the state final, a very good, disciplined Crawford team did a good job of laying off the rise ball and making contact enough times to put pressure on EB's defense and force them to make some plays. They went old school with drag bunts/slaps and just "make contact". They drew some walks. Mixed with a couple of legit and timely hits, they were able to edge EB in the state final. It was the only time Show didn't completely dominate. Hats off to Crawford.

She is dominating again this year. Averaging over 2 strikeouts per inning once again. I believe East Bernard has won every game but one so far this year (the lone loss was 2-0 to Bay City early in the season even though Show threw a no hitter). They were playing tonight but I strongly suspect they won. As of last week, she was hitting over .700 with 10 HR.

The level of competition isn't always great and some games are just unfair but she is fun to watch. Her select ball would be a better indicator of future success but you can still see her ability. It is obvious regardless of the comp. I have watched her pitch for East Bernard several times and she has very good velocity, an excellent rise ball and the usual assortment of other pitches which are continually getting better (and which she will need at the next level). Her pitching is impressive if you stand behind home plate and ignore the hitters (or lack thereof) and just watch her work.

Another future Ag plays for East Bernard as well. Kelbi Fortenberry is a junior this year and transferred to East Bernard last year just as Show did. Fortenberry came over from Foster (where she hit over .500 as a freshman). Fortenberry can hit and has great wheels. She is the lightning to Show's thunder.

Holy crap! No offense to this year's team, but after reading this thread, I'm already looking forward to next year!

Exciting times are certainly ahead, but it is still fun to watch this years team battle in the SEC. Our young kids are doing a lot of good things right now. Even in some of these losses, you see them maturing each game, and getting better.... Fun stuff to watch.

I'm pretty sure Show went to the Bombers for this summer. Along with Fortenberry and a bunch of other girls that moved off of some other really good select teams.

I don't understand moving to the Bombers. Cheaper dues? It's not like they need more exposure and Aces express seems like a good organization in Houston.

quote:

---

Colt, how good is Show? I've had someone who is coach of a rival ASA club tell me she is "bad to the bone." But it seems like we haven't heard much from her in the last year or so after she won the Gatorade player of the year in Texas a couple years ago. I've had some hope that she might be that dominant pitcher that would help push us to the top of the sec.

---

Show is the real deal - a dominant elite pitcher. Possibly the best A&M has had since the 80s. Like I said before, A&M should be in the WCWS at least twice during her career, if not 3 times and compete for a national title. With the young roster and a good offense, A&M will be very good and compete with Florida and Alabama for SEC titles.

Dogdoc, Thats the word on the street...

I'm not doubting you at all. Just don't understand to Bombers' draw.

quote:

---

Even in some of these losses, you see them maturing each game, and getting better.... Fun stuff to watch.

---

I think we witnessed that this weekend. Getting run ruled and shut out Friday, then dropping a close one Saturday that we should have won, to annihilating the the same pitcher on Sunday who shut us out the previous Friday.