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BSC Softball Power Rankings Week #3

Grizfan-24

Grizfan-24

Well-known member
Staff member
We've completed two full weekends of softball play and its time to evaluate some of what we saw. Time for the first power ranking of the season.

Rankings are definitely in flux. The overall rankings when referring to the quality wins is using last years RPI

1. Sacramento State (5-4) Quality Win: #63 MTSU Upcoming: Face three quality opponents this weekend in Michigan, Fresno State and UCSB.
2. Idaho State (10-1) Quality Win: #135 University of San Diego Upcoming: Face a murders row of top 100 opponents this weekend in Arizona State, Grand Canyon, Ohio State and Texas State.
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3. Montana (3-7) Quality Win: #119 Louisiana Monroe Upcoming: A weekend to get some things right, with CSU Bakersfield and St.Mary's this weekend. Both teams were sub 200 teams last year.
4. Weber State (3-7) Quality Win: #131 Cal Baptist: Upcoming: Utah State, Eastern Kentucky, Utah Tech. A tournament in St. George that is full of teams that are Big Sky Conference Caliber or maybe a tick above.
5. Northern Colorado (2-7) Quality Win: #141 Sam Houston State Upcoming: UCSB, St Johns and Michigan. Same tournament as Sacramento State.
6. Portland State (1-9): Quality Win: #184 Utah State. Upcoming: DH v Pacific who was a low 200's team last year.

-- Based upon observation, I think Portland State is a bit a unlucky to be 1-9 and has played a pretty decent schedule full of teams that are conference comparatives. Idaho State's record might be a bit inflated, but they are beating up on the teams on their schedule which isn't something anyone else is doing. Every one else is a hodge podge of good wins and uneven performances. Sacramento State's record, and performance against better programs gives them the nod so far. The rest? Flip a coin between 3 and 6.

-- I think we'll know more about ISU this weekend because their schedule goes from soft to absurdly hard in the span of a weekend. Sacramento State and Northern Colorado are at the same tournament, similar to Montana/Sac State last weekend, where Sacramento has a real good shot at establishing themselves as the top team in the BSC. Weber State and Montana find themselves in tournaments that are chalk full of teams that are in the same level of most Big Sky Teams. Both teams have similar issues, gotten most better pitching from last year but the offense has been a mix of good and not-so-good. Portland State gets their first home games of the year before they head off to Hawaii the following week against Pacific.

-- Statistics that stand out:
1. Hitting: Sacramento State hitting 376 as a team and slugging .506. On the opposite end, Montana's offensive struggles from a year ago continue. After an encouraging start against ULM/Southern, Montana has gone ice cold and is hitting a league low .213 with a league leading 49 K's. Walks are up from a year ago, and they are second in teh conference in doubles, but again those balls when in play are finding defenders.
2. Homeruns: Idaho State predictably leads the league w/ home runs with 8 and SS is second with 5. Lewa Day has 4 for Sac State, and the Yee/Brown combo picked up where they left off last year and along with Gracie Smith they have combined for 7 of ISU's 8 HR's.
3. Pitching: Idaho States pitching has been other worldly good so far with a 1.26 era with 3 SHO's and 5CG from 3 different pitchers. The rest of the conference is between 3 and 6 (which is what you'd expect this time of year). Taylor Fitzergald from ISU is 3-0 with a .58 era. Most teams have had really good ace pitching and a bit more questionable two 's and threes. Sacramento State and Idaho State clearly have gotten better pitching early out of the depth of their staff. For Montana if you throw out the disaster that was the 13 run inning against Nebraska had shown significant improvement in the pitching category, they'd be closer to the 4.00 ERA line which is almost 3 runs a game better than at most points last year. Similarly WSU has seen a marked improvement in the circle dropping their ERA by a similar margin from last year. Both teams who were non-competitive at many points last year, are getting a bit more consistentcy there.
4. Defensively: Sacramento State plays a lot of clean baseball. They've only committed three errors in 243 chances so far. Montana, PSU and UNC have been the sloppiest, and its cost them wins. They are averaging about 2 a game, and with all three teams putting a heavy premium on pitching to contact, it hurts.
 
Thanks for this outstnding summary, Grizfan-24. Let me just toss in a couple Montana variables that are hard to measure:
1. -- It was a tough road trip for Montana, since their flight from the New Orleans Mambo back to Missoula was canceled, SO... the team caught a bus to Houston then rented vans for the rest of the 750-mile trip to El Paso. There may have been some team bonding, but it was also probably a tough 1-day extended road trip for the kids as athletes and students.
2 -- The return of Elise Ontiveros (second game of the UTEP tourney) quickly stabilized Montana outfield defense, and the right side of the infield with the return of soph Makena Strong to 2b.
3. -- Montana's pitching showed some faintly promising signs. Grace Haegele bounced back from the Nebraska disaster and frosh Nyeala Herndon pitched very well in relief of Rylee Rehbein... Nyeala's first true baptism vs. D1 hitting. This week's tourney will reveal a lot more about Montana's pitching progress.
 
Haven’t seen many updates. How’s the team doing? Still holding strong at #3 in the conference or have they moved up a bit? 🤞🏼
 
I’m sorry GJ, I hate to be that guy. My glasses are as maroon colored as anyone’s but the truth is painful and our softball team is just plain bad. This is our conference record over the last 3 years and how many games back we would be.

WSU 24-11 —
Sac St 24-13 1.0
PSU 20-16 4.5
UNC 23-16 3.0
ISU 18-18 6.5
Mont 10-28 15.5
SUU 0-18

I included SUU cus ‘22 was their last year in the con and 30% of our 10 wins came against them that year. That was also the only year in the last 3 we weren’t in last place, we finished 6th which is where we were last year and this year after SUU left. We are the Northern Colorado of the football conference.
 
alabamagrizzly said:
I’m sorry GJ, I hate to be that guy. My glasses are as maroon colored as anyone’s but the truth is painful and our softball team is just plain bad. This is our conference record over the last 3 years and how many games back we would be.

WSU 24-11 —
Sac St 24-13 1.0
PSU 20-16 4.5
UNC 23-16 3.0
ISU 18-18 6.5
Mont 10-28 15.5
SUU 0-18

I included SUU cus ‘22 was their last year in the con and 30% of our 10 wins came against them that year. That was also the only year in the last 3 we weren’t in last place, we finished 6th which is where we were last year and this year after SUU left. We are the Northern Colorado of the football conference.
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This team is literally the definition of insanity… where you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Like I’ve said from the very start, it starts all with the staff and their inability to generate offense, steal bases, play small ball, etc. I knew this team was going to struggle from day one and they barely scraped by Carroll College. It’s actually worse than I thought. Unfortunately Griz softball has become an afterthought for so many now because of all of these losses and the administration turning a blind eye to it. I promise each and every one of you, a new staff with a new philosophy and approach will instantly make this team better. Instantly.
 
HookedonGriz said:
This team is literally the definition of insanity… where you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Like I’ve said from the very start, it starts all with the staff and their inability to generate offense, steal bases, play small ball, etc. I knew this team was going to struggle from day one and they barely scraped by Carroll College. It’s actually worse than I thought. Unfortunately Griz softball has become an afterthought for so many now because of all of these losses and the administration turning a blind eye to it. I promise each and every one of you, a new staff with a new philosophy and approach will instantly make this team better. Instantly.
Click to expand...
It's painful man cause you look at how successful of a year it's been for the athletic department with Football and Soccer both winning conference championships, Men's and Women's Basketball both winning 20+ games, and now even Men's and Women's Tennis sitting at the top of the standings, you have to wonder what might have been with Softball the last few years. Softball as a collegiate sport has really taken off the last few years and with the resources and facilities at UM, we have everything we need to be successful and contending for the Big Sky every year. I really hope Haslam makes a decision to go in a different direction at the end of the season, but as I've mentioned before, I don't think it's that easy
 
I watched all three games played in Ogden this year. My observations were that the Griz had a good bunch of heavy hitters, a solid infeild, and they all played hard. What seemed to be lacking, at least to me, was over all speed, speed in the outfeild, and depth in the bull pen. I saw one pitcher that looked pretty good, but they rode her until she had nothing left. Your outfeild was a step or two slow to get to some very catchable fly balls. Base running was sub par. Runners seemed to never get the extra base when it was there for the taking. I was assuming they were just too slow to get there.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but those are some areas to think about in future recruiting.
 
oldrunner said:
I watched all three games played in Ogden this year. My observations were that the Griz had a good bunch of heavy hitters, a solid infeild, and they all played hard. What seemed to be lacking, at least to me, was over all speed, speed in the outfeild, and depth in the bull pen. I saw one pitcher that looked pretty good, but they rode her until she had nothing left. Your outfeild was a step or two slow to get to some very catchable fly balls. Base running was sub par. Runners seemed to never get the extra base when it was there for the taking. I was assuming they were just too slow to get there.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but those are some areas to think about in future recruiting.
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As is usual from you, oldrunner: Reasoned, objective sports analysis. Kudos.
 
oldrunner said:
I watched all three games played in Ogden this year. My observations were that the Griz had a good bunch of heavy hitters, a solid infeild, and they all played hard. What seemed to be lacking, at least to me, was over all speed, speed in the outfeild, and depth in the bull pen. I saw one pitcher that looked pretty good, but they rode her until she had nothing left. Your outfeild was a step or two slow to get to some very catchable fly balls. Base running was sub par. Runners seemed to never get the extra base when it was there for the taking. I was assuming they were just too slow to get there.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but those are some areas to think about in future recruiting.
Click to expand...
I believe most of our outfield except Ontiveras who has been hobbled by injury played infield in high school. They might not have the instincts a natural OFer would have. Speed on the base paths, or the lacking of, has been one of the biggest complaints here. We are routinely the least aggressive team in the con when it comes to stealing bases, and I would assume turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples. As for the pitching, we’ve taken some hits the last couple years to injury and I’m not sure our pitching coach is very good at developing pitchers. It’s been pointed out to me though that in women’s softball, you don’t develop them as much as just make in game corrections.
 
This year seemed to pivot again, on lack of pitching depth. They've been down right unlucky with it the past two years. Butterfield broke her ankle last year and chose not to return. Brock fought through arm troubles last year only to be have shoulder surgery this year. They've had to ask for innings from pitchers who just by exposure would be vastly better in 2-3 inning bursts. That was the discussion, about how to limit exposure this year, and it was going to be about matchups and reducing pitching load.

Its a hunch, but my guess is Rehbein for as good as she was in non-conference play has either hit a fatigue wall, or might be hurt. She went from 5-6 innings every outing to not getting more than I think 3 in any outing since the Weber State conference. As I said in the other post about the last two weeks, Haegele needs to avoid the inning where she completely loses the plot. She hasn't been able to minimize damage.

I've said this before, softball pitching is a feel position unlike baseball which is almost entirely mechanical. I've worked with them (HS softball pitchers) enough to know enough about what is going on but not enough to assert x or y or prescribe solutions. Part of it is that for most average high school and college softball pitchers their land point and drive is just inconsistent enough that you don't get that release you want. Moreover with the almost obsessive emphasis on drive, it amplifies your need to be on time with your release and at times I just don't see a lot of consistency in both drive and strike point to be consistent. That is very much a HS issue, especially the emphasis on kinetics/analytics with arm speed, and there is a bit of an issue right now not only with control/mechanics but also with the injuries (shoulder/elbow) that have cropped up in the past few years.

College hitters are vastly better, and as I said about Haegele last year, and they simply don't chase. Moreover they absolutely punish mistakes. Brinka's advantage is that she has D1 control and stays down in the zone. Her mistakes tend to be down and that has allowed her to be relatively consistent throughout the course of the season.

Mel has been a pitching coach wherever she's been and had great success working with pitchers. That hasn't translated here, and there has been a lot reasons why that might be the case, but it is the Achilles heal of this program over the past two years.

We'd be 10-15 games better over the past two years if the pitching was just league average.
 
Grizfan-24 said:
This year seemed to pivot again, on lack of pitching depth. They've been down right unlucky with it the past two years. Butterfield broke her ankle last year and chose not to return. Brock fought through arm troubles last year only to be have shoulder surgery this year. They've had to ask for innings from pitchers who just by exposure would be vastly better in 2-3 inning bursts. That was the discussion, about how to limit exposure this year, and it was going to be about matchups and reducing pitching load.

Its a hunch, but my guess is Rehbein for as good as she was in non-conference play has either hit a fatigue wall, or might be hurt. She went from 5-6 innings every outing to not getting more than I think 3 in any outing since the Weber State conference. As I said in the other post about the last two weeks, Haegele needs to avoid the inning where she completely loses the plot. She hasn't been able to minimize damage.

I've said this before, softball pitching is a feel position unlike baseball which is almost entirely mechanical. I've worked with them (HS softball pitchers) enough to know enough about what is going on but not enough to assert x or y or prescribe solutions. Part of it is that for most average high school and college softball pitchers their land point and drive is just inconsistent enough that you don't get that release you want. Moreover with the almost obsessive emphasis on drive, it amplifies your need to be on time with your release and at times I just don't see a lot of consistency in both drive and strike point to be consistent. That is very much a HS issue, especially the emphasis on kinetics/analytics with arm speed, and there is a bit of an issue right now not only with control/mechanics but also with the injuries (shoulder/elbow) that have cropped up in the past few years.

College hitters are vastly better, and as I said about Haegele last year, and they simply don't chase. Moreover they absolutely punish mistakes. Brinka's advantage is that she has D1 control and stays down in the zone. Her mistakes tend to be down and that has allowed her to be relatively consistent throughout the course of the season.

Mel has been a pitching coach wherever she's been and had great success working with pitchers. That hasn't translated here, and there has been a lot reasons why that might be the case, but it is the Achilles heal of this program over the past two years.

We'd be 10-15 games better over the past two years if the pitching was just league average.
Click to expand...
I fear you are correct about the fatigue/injury issue. Furthermore, it's simply too much to expect of a frosh only months away from high school, to transition to college-level challenges... both in innings pitched (stamina) and in making refined control adjustments.
 
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