AuburnFamilyNews.com: T-Minus Ten Days

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

T-Minus Ten Days

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It’s been six months since Track ‘Em Tigers wrapped up the 2016 softball season which ended in a heartbreaking scene for the Auburn softball team and their fans. The matchup between Oklahoma and Auburn featured a contrast of styles. The Sooners were a team anchored by an ace pitcher and a fantastic defense among the very top in defensive efficiency. On the other side was a team with a “pitch by committee” approach, who made occasional mistakes in the field, but could hit the ball like few other teams. On that day, the former won out. 

While Oklahoma players stormed the field for yet another Women’s College World Series Championship, the Tigers wrapped their arms around freshman Courtney Shea. The young player, with tears streaming down her face, offered a tear-soaked apology after she grounded the final out in a pinch at-bat with two outs. Even as the Sooners  celebrated, it was the Auburn team that most every follower of the game said “watch out for that team next year.” 

In 2017, fans will see the combination of coach Clint Myers’ coaching and recruiting for truly the first time. While he and his staff have done a tremendous job at coaching the previous staff’s players which include Rhodes, Carosone, Howard, and All-World Kasey Cooper, it will be the development of his recruits such as Shea that will be on display this year. He wasn’t shy about throwing the young players into the fire last season and while the outgoing 2016 Tigers’ season will become folklore, it will be the innings played and the at-bats for the young players throughout that season that will pay massive dividends in the future. 

The words “can’t miss softball” are not frequently uttered, yet they should be. In a world where opening weekend neutral site football games for premier programs is all the rage, softball has done its best to capture that same atmosphere.

In T-Minus Ten days, softball fans are going to get just that. It begins against the very team where the last Tigers left off: the Oklahoma Sooners. The two teams will square off on February 9th in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. As mentioned, the book is out on the Sooners, and that book is very good thanks to the superb coaching of  Patty Gasso. Not so for the Tigers.  

Other than Kasey Cooper playing third, not much is known about the Tigers and it isn’t because of talent. Starting just to Cooper’s left, there will be a big-time battle between Haley Fagan, who missed most of the year due to injury and her 2016 replacement Whitney Jordan. Late in the season, Fagan’s bat earned her the designated hitter spot, but that isn’t necessarily the case this year as Auburn is loaded with hitters thanks to the return of Cody Myers, who spent last season with the San Diego Padres. In his absence Auburn’s hitting slumped from .339 to .317 as a team. 

For an even more deeper look at the depth, look no further than catcher. On most teams, Carlee Wallace would be a no-questions starter. Yet Courtney Shea has been a big stick at the plate in limited opportunities, hitting .225 while belting eight homers and has perhaps more upside from inside the box than Wallace who hit .287 with five homers.

There will also be positional battles everywhere on the field, including in the circle where freshman ace Ashlee Swindell will make the rest of the pitching staff fight for appearances, although fellow pitcher Kaylee Carlson is listed as one of the ten juniors to watch this season. Other questions remain: who will lock down the vacated 2nd base left by Carosone? Will senior Jenna Abbott find a place on the field? 

“It was interesting, the four coaches on Thursday submitted lineups, if we started today, what your lineup would be,” Myers said. “And we had four different lineups. We couldn’t agree on nine players.” Coach went on to say “If somebody doesn’t do the job, if we’re not mentally in to the process of execution, somebody else may be given [the start] because they’ve had a good week of practice.” That’s a great problem to have and it will likely be on full displace on February 2nd at 1PM on ESPNU. Make sure to follow me on Twitter as I live tweet reactions to the game. 

The post T-Minus Ten Days appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.



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