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Current state of Griz Softball……

H

HookedonGriz

Well-known member
DONOR
I saw earlier someone mentioned our 5 wins…that’s how far our program has fallen. When we have fans celebrating a .333 win % and record of 5-10.

Griz are last in conf in batting avg at a measly .219

Griz are second to last in ERA at 4.79

Griz are second to last in fielding at .947

Griz have the most errors at 22….compare that to sac st with 7

Griz have the most strikeouts at 75

Griz are last in on base % at an awful .311

This one drives me the most crazy….the Griz are a whopping. 1-3 on stolen bases. 1 for 3! Compare that to Sac and Idaho St who seem to be the top dogs. Sac is 20-24 and ISU is 20-23. The Griz are freaking 1-3, which is exactly the small ball, be aggressive and putting pressure on a defense stuff that I talk about that this staff refuses to do and has refused to do for five years and why this staff can’t win.

This is not good guys. No one should be happy or excited with the Griz softball product being put on the field. This staff should have been removed 2 years ago and 100% removed or resigned after what they put up last year.

The ONLY shining star so far has been freshman pitcher Rylee Rehbein (who I was told woud be the real deal when she signed) who is 2-1 with a 2.69 ERA and is second in Ks with 30.

They need a new staff and reset. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect better results.
 
Bad news is the Griz will probably win 15-20 games with this soft schedule. Everyone will rejoice and no changes will be made.
 
I wholeheartedly Hooked. It’s time for a coaching change, however I think there’s a little bigger picture issue at hand for why a change hasn’t been made yet. I mentioned it last season and it appears that Haslam agreed with me. At some point hey may just have to bite the bullet and go for it
 
Well hell, HookedonGriz... I guess I am the fan you're ridiculing for.... supporting the teams of my alma mater. Asking honestly, just what is it that you want ME to do?
What is it exactly, that this program and its facility need to change?
Other than its lack of restrooms, I've heard frequently from parent-fans of other teams that NO Big Sky facility comes close to Montana's.
And fan support? Last spring I spent three weeks comparing Montana's paid attendance stats against other Big Sky Schools. In every instance, Montana's paid attendance equaled or bettered the paid attendance of ALL other Big Sky schools combined.
I pay and support the team because the games are mostly fun. I get to know a few of the players and always find they're serious about school and getting a degree.
Beyond that, I don't have any answers for you. And... yes. I will celebrate every win this team achieves, on the field and in the classrom.
I also support Kent Haslam and his oversight and direction of Montana athletics.
So that's why I personally celebrate Montana's teams.
Always a Montana Griz fan.
.
 
Griz til I die said:
I wholeheartedly Hooked. It’s time for a coaching change, however I think there’s a little bigger picture issue at hand for why a change hasn’t been made yet. I mentioned it last season and it appears that Haslam agreed with me. At some point hey may just have to bite the bullet and go for it
Click to expand...

I must have missed what you’re alluding to. Feel free to PM me if it’s controversial. Thanks!
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Well hell, HookedonGriz... I guess I am the fan you're ridiculing for.... supporting the teams of my alma mater. Asking honestly, just what is it that you want ME to do?
What is it exactly, that this program and its facility need to change?
Other than its lack of restrooms, I've heard frequently from parent-fans of other teams that NO Big Sky facility comes close to Montana's.
And fan support? Last spring I spent three weeks comparing Montana's paid attendance stats against other Big Sky Schools. In every instance, Montana's paid attendance equaled or bettered the paid attendance of ALL other Big Sky schools combined.
I pay and support the team because the games are mostly fun. I get to know a few of the players and always find they're serious about school and getting a degree.
Beyond that, I don't have any answers for you. And... yes. I will celebrate every win this team achieves, on the field and in the classrom.
I also support Kent Haslam and his oversight and direction of Montana athletics.
So that's why I personally celebrate Montana's teams.
Always a Montana Griz fan.
.
Click to expand...

I think you misread my entire post? I have no problem with you rooting on the team. We all want them to be great.

I pointed out that a poster (not you) mentioned we have 5 wins already which was a bunch more than this time last year….like that was something to celebrate or be proud of. I disagree with that 100% and was pointing out we really have fallen when we celebrate a .333 win %.

Furthermore, what you mentioned about our amazing facility and fan base is the EXACT reason we shouldn’t be okay with being mediocre. This program will be completely mediocre to bad with the current staff. It’s as simple as that. I am tired of our fans being okay with it. Nothing more nothing less.
 
HookedonGriz said:
I saw earlier someone mentioned our 5 wins…that’s how far our program has fallen. When we have fans celebrating a .333 win % and record of 5-10.

Griz are last in conf in batting avg at a measly .219

Griz are second to last in ERA at 4.79

Griz are second to last in fielding at .947

Griz have the most errors at 22….compare that to sac st with 7

Griz have the most strikeouts at 75

Griz are last in on base % at an awful .311

This one drives me the most crazy….the Griz are a whopping. 1-3 on stolen bases. 1 for 3! Compare that to Sac and Idaho St who seem to be the top dogs. Sac is 20-24 and ISU is 20-23. The Griz are freaking 1-3, which is exactly the small ball, be aggressive and putting pressure on a defense stuff that I talk about that this staff refuses to do and has refused to do for five years and why this staff can’t win.

This is not good guys. No one should be happy or excited with the Griz softball product being put on the field. This staff should have been removed 2 years ago and 100% removed or resigned after what they put up last year.

The ONLY shining star so far has been freshman pitcher Rylee Rehbein (who I was told woud be the real deal when she signed) who is 2-1 with a 2.69 ERA and is second in Ks with 30.

They need a new staff and reset. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect better results.
Click to expand...

The lack of aggression on the base paths is concerning given our team BA. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Edit: Nope.
 
Hooked: I'm pretty certain I understand everything you've written herein and do not directly disagree with anything you have advocated. My opinions are somewhat tangential to yours.
I nonetheless will be that Griz fan who will follow, and support this team -- in attendance -- at every game... in essence, I will be OK with this team and support them as a team and individuals, regrdless of winning %.
I'm old and have seen too many "lynch mobs" over the years... even to the point of once being asked by a h.s. superintendent if I would "step in" as an interim coach after the head coach (a good friend) was scheduled to be given his termination notice.I said "no" and ended up going down with the boat. That was my last coaching stint.
I will trust and support these coaches and their players. I believe they have potential to compete in the Big Sky this year. Though I have supported the team with modest financial donations, I am NOT an insider.
To wit: I trust Kent Haslam and respect how he's managed the Montana Athletics programs over the years. Go GrizSB.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Hooked: I'm pretty certain I understand everything you've written herein and do not directly disagree with anything you have advocated. My opinions are somewhat tangential to yours.
I nonetheless will be that Griz fan who will follow, and support this team -- in attendance -- at every game... in essence, I will be OK with this team and support them as a team and individuals, regrdless of winning %.
I'm old and have seen too many "lynch mobs" over the years... even to the point of once being asked by a h.s. superintendent if I would "step in" as an interim coach after the head coach (a good friend) was scheduled to be given his termination notice.I said "no" and ended up going down with the boat. That was my last coaching stint.
I will trust and support these coaches and their players. I believe they have potential to compete in the Big Sky this year. Though I have supported the team with modest financial donations, I am NOT an insider.
To wit: I trust Kent Haslam and respect how he's managed the Montana Athletics programs over the years. Go GrizSB.
Click to expand...

I think and hope we all want Griz SB to be successful. It’s tough playing in these early tourneys against teams who have been outdoors all winter while we were in batting/pitching facilities indoors. I’m always hopeful, but the thing that concerns me is not seeming to attempt to manufacture runs when we’re not hitting for average. I’m no expert, not by a long shot, but 3 attempted steals through 15 games seems low. Maybe it’s personnel; maybe every catcher we’ve faced has a cannon so the coaches didn’t want to run on them. IDK, but I assume we all will continue to support the team.
 
I also would like to see more focus on “manufacturing runs” by putting pressure on defenses with a short game and stealing bases. However, I don’t believe we have the capability to get it done and I don’t think trying to force it would be a good strategy.

First, I don’t think we have the capability to steal bases. Last year we had 13 attempts and only 3 this year. Coaches time their runners and they have POP times on opposing catchers, and I assume the math does not make sense. The good news for 2025 is we did appear to focus heavily on recruiting some speed as it was heavily mentioned in the recruiting article.

Second, our ability to implement a short game (drag & slap) will be non-existent without some speed and left-handed bats. Jantzi is our only lefty, and she appears to swing away almost exclusively and based on her success I would not ask her to bunt or slap. Maybe we could try some sneaky bunts from the right side but my experience in coaching at the high school level is this approach has limited success and with the better defenses in colleges I see this approach unlikely to have good results.

We have an anemic .311 OBP. Putting more focus on a short game/stealing strategy means we are likely taking what limited runners we do have off the basepaths, giving away outs and shortening the game. I would rather extend the game a bit by having more at bats and hope we hit a double to drive in what runners we do have. I know hope is not a great strategy, but it might be all we have.

If Rehbein keeps throwing shutouts this is all moot 😊
 
Just for discussion…,here are stolen base and attempts data under Pinkerton:

2015
35 for 41
85%

2016
47 for 55
85%

2017
33 for 43
76%


Then Melanie:

2018
27-38
71%

2019
15-21
71%

2020
12-17
70%

2021
20-30
66%

2022
23-26
88%

2023
9-13
69%


So Pinkerton teams stolen base attempts per season on avg was 46 and he averaged 82% success over his 3 years.

Mels teams attempts avg is 24 per season with a success rate of 72% over 6 seasons.

Pinkerton teams were way more agressive and successful. They attempted steals almost 2X more than Mel’s teams on avg per season with a 10% higher success rate. This right here folks is just one of the key differences in Pink vs Mel and how this staff is unagressive and does not pressure defenses.
 
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