Carousel of Confusion, Can OU Grab The Golden Ring?

[1KCSoonerFan]

I was wondering how JT can counter the pitching carousel tactic we've seen a few times now. I know the ladies have the fundamentals of good hitting down, and several of the hitters are elite level. They have experience with every pitch that has ever been thrown.

I've heard lots of talk from players about how OU's batters come to the plate with a plan, or hunting a pitch. They study film on the pitcher they will face. Maybe the approach is too focused on specifics when facing the carousel of confusion?

I seem to be wrong in my thinking (in another post) that making lots of pitching changes is a disadvantage for the pitchers, too, that may lead to more walks and mistakes (that get hit out of the park), and you have to throw your 'worst' pitcher at some point. (Even OU's elite pitching staff can come in first inning and give up some hits until they settle down in later innings.) To be fair, we have also won every game so far when the opposing pitching staff looks like the pilot scramble on an airfield during The Battle of Britain in WWII.

Why don't teams change pitchers every inning against opponents other than OU? Maybe they do, but I don't hear about it. Maybe they will start doing that more in the future?

I am scratching my head, NOT criticizing the team's lack of anything. For all I know, LSU may have played one of the greatest games in the history of softball - and OU still won and shut them out. Until we can sting a team for doing this kind of gimmick, we are going to keep seeing it. I'm hoping that the more OU sees it, the more they will adjust to it. I know they are looking closely at it.

Your thoughts?

[TALSOONER]

As a fan I have little insight into college pitching mush less batting, but seems to me creating a plan against an ACE pitcher is easier than dealing with 4, 5 or 6 pitchers. Knowing what pitch will be next, based on stats, leads to more hits. Trying to guess what pitch is coming leads to fewer hits, if the pitcher is any good. Teams have to work overtime when facing OU, and having to prepare for 3 quality pitchers.

If I were a high school pitcher I would be excited about the increase in Scholarship for pitchers. And I foresee more dual skill players. Coaches will be looking for left fielders that also pitch, just switch positions to get the same effect as replacing players.

Bahl in left, May in right, and Storako at 1st, switching every inning, or every batter....???

[oufanforever]

I was wondering how JT can counter the pitching carousel tactic we've seen a few times now. I know the ladies have the fundamentals of good hitting down, and several of the hitters are elite level. They have experience with every pitch that has ever been thrown.

I've heard lots of talk from players about how OU's batters come to the plate with a plan, or hunting a pitch. They study film on the pitcher they will face. Maybe the approach is too focused on specifics when facing the carousel of confusion?

I seem to be wrong in my thinking (in another post) that making lots of pitching changes is a disadvantage for the pitchers, too, that may lead to more walks and mistakes (that get hit out of the park), and you have to throw your 'worst' pitcher at some point. (Even OU's elite pitching staff can come in first inning and give up some hits until they settle down in later innings.) To be fair, we have also won every game so far when the opposing pitching staff looks like the pilot scramble on an airfield during The Battle of Britain in WWII.

Why don't teams change pitchers every inning against opponents other than OU? Maybe they do, but I don't hear about it. Maybe they will start doing that more in the future?

I am scratching my head, NOT criticizing the team's lack of anything. For all I know, LSU may have played one of the greatest games in the history of softball - and OU still won and shut them out. Until we can sting a team for doing this kind of gimmick, we are going to keep seeing it. I'm hoping that the more OU sees it, the more they will adjust to it. I know they are looking closely at it.

Your thoughts?

The big risk of bringing new pitchers is they can't find the strike zone and start walking people. To take advantage of that, the hitter has to be patient and may need to take some pitches they could hit at times. Last night OU's hitter were not patient against LSU (evidenced by only 1 walk on the night). Even if you don't get a hit, a patient at bat makes the pitcher show what they have and can help your teammates coming up next. How many full counts did OU got to last night? How many 7+ pitch at bats? OU hitters can hit almost any pitch, but that doesn't mean they hit them equally well. Against a new pitcher, I feel OU hitters just see something they can hit and swing at it rather than waiting for something they can hit well. Just my 2 cents.

[portalball]

That is the blue print to beat OU, and there are teams with better pitching staffs than LSU

[Bixby_Sooner]

I thought I'd throw in my $0.02 worth on this subject. After thinking about it, I'd say, it's been fairly well established that a single pitcher no matter how good will see batting averages rise the more often they face the same batters in a game (3rd time throught he order vs. 1st time, etc.), no matter the level (not including t-ball).

We all know that each pitcher has their "go to" pitch, and even if they are the same pitch (riseball for example), they don't appear to the batter to be the same. The are a "custom" pitch. Each pitcher has different physique, which creates their own windup, delivery, release point, etc, creating a new look for each batter and requiring unique adjustments. While watching film gives you a pitcher's tendencies, until you step into the box facing that pitcher live, you won't know exactly how much or what to adjust (if at all). OU hitters have great confidence in the box and fear no one (look what they did to UCLA's staff), which is why they are successful far more often than not - they can make adjustments on the fly when hitting. They are relentless, and above all, they almost always make their opponents pay for any errors which are committed.

I am probably in the minority here, if not alone, in thinking that this pitching carousel tactic being employed by other teams is actually a good thing. Teams have picked up on this tactic as the season has gone along and more teams (with better pitching staffs) are going to employ it as we go deeper into the season. In doing this with better staffs and more often, OU hitters will see this more frequently and will learn more quickly (and better) how to adjust, thereby making it a strength rather than a weakness.

I think the heardest adjustment to be made, will be for the OU fans. They will have to adjust to not seeing as many home runs, or run rule games, and "only" winning games by scoring a "mere" 3-5 runs a game. We are truly a spoiled bunch. It's Patty's fault though. She, like Barry created the Monster and must keep feeding it.

[oufanforever]

That is the blue print to beat OU, and there are teams with better pitching staffs than LSU

Looking at the losses OU had in the last 3 years, I have to disagree with this statement.

Georgia 2021 - Avant went 9 innings
OSU 2021 - Eberle went 7 innings
JMU 2021 - Alexander went 8 innings
FSU 2021 - Watson went 5.2, Sandercock went 1.1
Texas 2022 - Dolcini went 7 innings
OSU 2022 - Maxwell went 3 innings, Day went 5 innings
UCLA 2022 - Faraimo went 4 innings, Azevedo went 3 innings
Baylor 2023 - Orme went 4 innings, Binford went 3 innings

The committee approach may get you to 7 innings and not get run ruled, but close don't count in softball.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I'm hopeful that we start using small ball in cases where we see teams throwing a new pitcher every inning. Get on the base and put pressure on these inexperienced pitchers. Also, as someone mentioned above, I love the idea of teaching our hitters patience because oftentimes in the LSU game the third strike swing was a ball. It is very difficult to get random pitchers who haven't played much to hit all strikes. If we become known as a team that will wait out pitches and are rewarded with walks, I think you will start seeing pitchers forced to focus on strikes and that pressure plus small ball on base pressure should allow us to open up the offense in even these situations.

[1KCSoonerFan]

TALSOONER - I lol'd when I thought about OU flipping the script on other teams, and let them face The Carousel of Champions. No doubt that having triple-threat players (who pitch, play another position, and hit on an elite level) would really add the wrinkles to a game plan.

Bixby - Familiarity with a tactic has to be an advantage eventually, I agree! I wondered about giving our batters the green light to trust their instincts and experiences, throw plans to the wind, and get in the box to HIT IT HARD. A change-up is still a change-up for the most part, right?

oufanforever - Thank you for the stats. Stats keep at least one of my feet on the ground. I also noticed that all those losses did not include two in a row. Recently and thankfully, OU has had such a small sample size of losses it is hard to draw too many conclusions....other than OU is very hard to beat. And, stats show we are undefeated by the carousel so far; so, maybe it isn't such a big advantage. (It does make some moments very heart-stopping, though.) How many pitchers were used in the Liberty game? And I think we only won that one because of a throwing error.

SoonerGirl - The virtue of patience, I could not agree more with you. There were a couple times during the game when Coach had to slow things down with a little 'conference' action. We were ripping through outs and at bats almost like we wanted to get out of there ASAP. I keep expecting to see more walks when the pitching changes heat up, but so far, not as many as I thought would happen. (oufan alluded to these points, too.)

I heard Coach say that if two-of-three aspects of OU's game are on point, they are very hard to beat. Point proven. Coach also said the team would be working hard(er) on hitting this week. Would love to be a fly on the wall during those practices.

[Oklahombre]

Someone remind me, who started this carousel of pitchers? Was it Tech?

[oufanforever]

Someone remind me, who started this carousel of pitchers? Was it Tech?

FSU