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Alot can be read or misread in t

Sorry to hear about your in-person experiences.  When I was playing, I was always nice to any fans that showed up, and hopefully our athletes do the same nowadays.  Based on his harsh response to what was essentially praise for his daughter's skill set, your comment doesn't surprise me as much.  Some parents can't take any criticism of their child, that when something even has the remote possibility of being such a thing, they lash out.  This has happened a few times on this board, but mainly with basketball parents (Jay Harris' dad, and Brandon Wood's dad come to mind) thus far.  When my son is born in a few weeks, I am sure that I will have that same pride they do in their children, but hope to be much more tolerant of others' opinions, as long as they aren't personal attacks.

Alot can be read or mis read in font on a board like this. Some times its hard to tell if it is praise or a dig. I apologize if you believe it was an attack on you personally.Britts name is plastered all over the internet, she has her detractors and her supporters and I try not to be one of those parents that get overly caught up in it. My natural nature is a bit gruff and that can come across the wrong way especially in type. I have people all the time that come to me at games , talk to me and give me advice on how they think she could be improved. It happens. Everyone is a hitting instructor, everyone is a coach, Its just part of the game and being a parent of a student athlete that does well in her sport. We as a family still have friends at Valpo. Nothing Negative from me about the University or the kids there, And contrary to what the last poster said even the alums.

Good luck in the remainder of the season

Boomdad's response to the post re: his daughter is example of a problem I've witnessed at the handful of non-MBB road events I've attended since graduating. The parents keep to themselves and treat alums like lepers sometimes even refusing to acknowledge their presence (as a matter of fact boomdad did exactly that to me in Phoenix 2 years ago).

While at the games I sometimes feel I can't even talk about the action for fear of offending a parent. I must stress that NOT all parents are like this and I've had more than a few pleasant conversation during a game...however, too many are.

I appreciate that parents have a different perspective than alums and that their love of their children far exceeds our love of Valpo, but that is not an excuse for how some behave toward us. We are there to support Valpo's student athletes in the same way alums supported us on the field (or in my case, onstage at concerts in the Chapel/VUCA).

I know it was off topic, but that's been on my chest for a couple of years.


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Im a little confused. As memory serves we went to a party held by the alum and I thought it was all a pretty good experience. Being a freshmans dad I had no idea how to act, except to be polite to anyone I met. I am sorry but I do not remember snubbing anyone at any time. I sat with the upper classman parents, just trying to fit in. I do not remember talking to any alum about the games. I have no idea where this came from unless it is in retaliation to me answering questions to what Tx wrote

1) We are about to be 4-14, losing big to Boise State.- Look to your coach. He is responsible not Britt.

2)   We are sure missing Brittany Duncan this year, while she is hitting in the 3 and 4 spots at Louisville during different games, and they are 10-6.- Again look to your coach. And by the way The Cards are now 12 and 6.

3) I think that it is crap that you can transfer to another D-1 school and play right away in baseball and softball, but not in basketball. Thems the rules. She asked to be released, The Coach, the compliance office and the NCAA said.... OK AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW CERTAIN GUIDELINES.... which we did.

4)  I have never heard a reason for this, does anyone know why she is able to play right away? - Because we followed the rules. Asked politely, diddnt muddy the waters. This is allowed as long as your compliance office approves it, It happens all the time in softball/Baseball. Go to the College softball forums and look at the transfers from one college to another in softball.

5)  She left because she wanted to play against top competition, it had nothing to do with academic reasons, as evidenced by her quotes on her Louisville athletic profile.- I believe I covered this when she transferred and I also posted here as to the reasons why.  She left to be closer to home, be closer to family, to be able to have that family attend games, To play in her family's home state. And yes to be able to play at a Major Level and contribute to that program.

The problem with Valpos record has nothing to do with Britt leaving Valpo Or her ability to play the next season without setting out. As far as their record........ I would suggest you look a little closer to home to find the reasons for that. 

In my opinion Gordon Gee is an idiot and is miffed because his beloved Buckeyes ( which by the way I cannot stand OSU  ) Cannot beat a SEC team in any thing but name calling and boasting. Nor most any other conference out side the big ten in any sport. His attitude is pretty much status Quo in the buckeye state.... They cant beat any one out side of their own conference so the other teams must be either toothless hillbilly's or its some conspiracy by the catholic church. There is a reason they canned his butt....hes a tool. The common thought is here to boast and brag on their record of going undefeated by playing teams like Youngstown state and their like in the beginning of their season..... and then get waxed when they have to play real teams. And then set back and looked shocked and toss disparaging remarks around.

Britt transferred for a couple reasons Louisville is pretty close to home, better competition, better facilities. It was just a good fit. The ability to play for a Major her last 2 years and to be able to have the chance to make an impact at that level. Reading more into it than that just muddies the waters.


Tim

Brittany Duncan has accepted an offer from the university of Louisville as a junior transfer. From our family to everyone at Valpo we say thanks for 2 great seasons, We would like to thank the coaching staff, AD and the professors for all their help and support. Good luck next season ladies we know you will do well.

Tim Duncan

Not having Duncan in the lineup really hurts, especially against pitching like we saw yesterday.


Well, interesting.

As opposed to last year, when we had two hard-fought losses...this year we had two blowout losses, including getting no-hit, but... we won a game!

I suppose it's a good trade--especially considering that we weren't supposed to do as much this year, and ended up doing more.

Cheers to the ladies!  You make us proud.

(btw, what happened to Duncan?)


My comment to this is to ask the coach.... she was given the green light by the trainer and suited up and ready to go. Im still scratching my head over it.

I had the chance to sneak over to the UIC softball field in the middle of the baseball game last weekend to catch the last few outs of the championship softball game.  I really enjoyed watching this faster paced game.  Here's a link to a few pictures I took and put into a Google + album.  They are uncropped and unedited, but anyone can download and do what they like with them.  Boomdad, can you pass these on to the other softball folks, and let me know if you are able to download, please?  Congrats on a great season!  While I am a Michigan man from '85, I hope the Crusader ladies can shock 'em in the Regional.  GO VALPO!

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107694216823525506352/albums/5877492231921532913

Great pics yes was able to down load, will pass along the info thanks for taking them

Will Duncan be back for the tournament and any thoughts on why Doerffler, who must be putting the ball in play because she has so few strikeouts, can't seem to get a hit?

Thats up to the coach and trainer about Duncan

I hate knocking our players, but she definitely seems like an upgrade over Norway.  It seems that we still put Lindsay in for defensive help at the end of the games, but she has been a .200 hitter since she got here, and we needed more offense with Duncan out.  We can only have so many sub-.200 hitters and still win games (Wisniewski, Doerffler, Norway).

Im not really sure if Duncan coming back in will help the line up much. Im sure it cant hurt but she has been pitched around all season and has for lack of better words been reduced to a contact hitter at best. Her ba. ob and slug numbers are still respectable but her production numbers are way down. The simple reason is there is no protection in the 5 hole. Last season Rutowski made it almost impossible for that to happen. When your 4 hole leads off between 35 to 40% of the time and no protection behind her you are pretty much setting that 4 hole up to fail. There are batters in the 6 ,7 hole that might have made a difference. Place Bouchard behind Duncan and give the pitching battery something to think about. Joy, Britt and Janelle would make a pretty nice 4,5,6.

I coach myself at the 18 exposure level so I know how it feels to be second guessed all the time. But towards the end of a pretty frustrating season you sometimes set back and think what if..........

Boomdad- there is no doubt that having someone behind you will make a difference. The loss of Rutkowski, Phalen & the fantastic leadoff,3 slot,2 slot [ where ever you needed her] Strickland hurt. Valpo lost 3 very good pitchers & 3 very good hitters. Having Strickland get on 35-40% of the time ahead of a hitter helps.
It will be interesting what they do next year with the loss of Joy & don't know if Marinic is going to stay for 6th year or not? Hopefully one or two of the incoming Freshmen can add to the mix
In the meantime, I would like to see them give Korb a shot.
But, I'm no coach, so what do I know.

More food for thought. Joy was having a carrear  high season until britt was injured. With no one to protect Joys back she has dropped from a 350 avg to a 318..... It definalty makes a difference when they start pitching around you

I hate knocking our players, but she definitely seems like an upgrade over Norway.  It seems that we still put Lindsay in for defensive help at the end of the games, but she has been a .200 hitter since she got here, and we needed more offense with Duncan out.  We can only have so many sub-.200 hitters and still win games (Wisniewski, Doerffler, Norway).

Im not really sure if Duncan coming back in will help the line up much. Im sure it cant hurt but she has been pitched around all season and has for lack of better words been reduced to a contact hitter at best. Her ba. ob and slug numbers are still respectable but her production numbers are way down. The simple reason is there is no protection in the 5 hole. Last season Rutowski made it almost impossible for that to happen. When your 4 hole leads off between 35 to 40% of the time and no protection behind her you are pretty much setting that 4 hole up to fail. There are batters in the 6 ,7 hole that might have made a difference. Place Bouchard behind Duncan and give the pitching battery something to think about. Joy, Britt and Janelle would make a pretty nice 4,5,6.

I coach myself at the 18 exposure level so I know how it feels to be second guessed all the time. But towards the end of a pretty frustrating season you sometimes set back and think what if..........

The trainer shut Duncan down for a few days. Her hamstring has some how been tweaked and she was afraid to let her torq at the plate on it. Hopefully back by Notre Dame. Although that not being a conference game I would park her bottom n a bath tub full of ice until Detroit next weekend.

Nice job ladies way to come back in the second game

Not really looking forward to playing at Dayton this weekend.  The DH on Saturday is going to be very cold.  It would be slightly worse in Valpo, though, as the temp is a few degrees colder and the field is still unplayable.  I'll attitude adjust and embrace the cold tomorrow.  The parent/fan group is meeting at Texas Roadhouse near the WSU campus after Friday's game for a warmup.  All are welcome!  GO VALPO!

It could be worse, WSU projected to be 47 and sunny on sat. Valpo 37 I would take the 10 degree diff in temp any day.....Softball plays WSU at Valpo this weekend. they better try to get all 3 in on sat because sunday looks like snow. Good luck this weekend

Another pitcher from Valpo rakes in the weekly award. Nice job Taylor.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2012-13/12488/duncan-weissenhofer-sweep-horizon-league-weekly-honors/

We have some impressive numbers early in the season, Our pitchers sticks and defense will only get better. If you look at how young we are and look at what we lead in individual and team stats. It becomes even more impressive.

Individual Leaders.

BA-First
RBI - First
HR - Tied for second
Runs _First
Pitching wins- First
Pitching strikeouts- Second

Team Stats

Fielding % - First
HR -Second
RBI- First
Runs -First
Hits - Second

The 2 freshman in the lineup are making an immediate impact. Bouchard already gets my vote as new comer of the year. she has the confidence and moxy of an upper classman. Defense and offense both are spot on.
Kat Raniere in the lead off is a great fit. Number 2 in over all BA. She sets the table very well.

We have 6 hitters over 300 and I really dont believe we have hit our stride yet. Look for much better numbers by Conference play

Nice job ladies keep banging away

WKU has a nice junior pitcher in Emily Rousseau. Hid the ball well, threw low 60,s with alot of movement, We just couldent pick the ball up. 95% of the bats were way behind. Popping in the mit before the swing finished.

SDSU ..... Sorry we should have been on that pitcher like white on rice.  But in the kids defense the game was finished the next morning with new a new ump behind the plate and what was a strike last night was a ball the next morning...... Still no offense to brag about

Dayton, We waited until the last of the game to hit. Not enough moxy in the box as one old coach I know would say. Pitching was well enough to keep us in the game. The offense helped its pitchers that game.

Pitt. Again we waited until the last 1/4 of the game to bring the bats to the game, A huge huge terrible call made by the ump between 1st and 2nd who wasnt in position to make the call ended the rally and the game. Its tough enough to compete with a Big East school, do they have to beat the umpires also?

Western Mich. Again we should have gone loco crazy with the bats on the pitcher. Had we faced her last season with our 3,4,5 order. 911 would have had to be on speed dial. Just not enough offense.

Saw some glimmers of greatness from players this weekend. Tara diddnt wait for anyone or any thing she just ripped the ball was very excited to see her cut loose. You could see the hunger in alot of the freshman at the plate also. Defensively were pretty solid all the way around the field. Just some normal freshman pitching mistakes that cost a few long balls. Way to many runners left on base, Probably left bases loaded at least 3 times thru the weekend. Also the 4 hole was lead off way to much. Having Duncan as a lead off is like driving a bull dozer to the super market for a loaf of bread. ( sorry..... dad humor ) Give em time let em grow up and figure it out and they will be solid. The scores of the games dosent tell the whole story. I will bet a drink that what is seen after spring break will look alot different from what was seen this weekend. Keep working ladies it will get better

Way to go Joy and Sierra

http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/valpos-ichiyama-pico-sweep-softball-weekly-awards.html

Nice article on the Team

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2012-13/12380/crusader-softball-set-for-2013-season/

Havent read or seen any thing from the team , coach or the Horizon league. I thought like you there would have been some pre season info out. We will find out in 4 days how much gas the pitching has. Good luck ladies and will see everyone in Nashville.

Our pitching diddnt look bad at all in the fall. I think we can compete. But I also think theres a Maturity issue as to how much Coach Stevens can get out of his freshman thru the season. Everyone knows how a rebuilding season is.

They love Loyola dont they..........

Just wanted to take a moment to wish all the players, family and friends a merry Christmas and a happy new year....................... 6 weeks and 5 days until season starts......

Just checked the roster. Boy, that's a big team. It's only a few more players more than what we usually have, but it seems like so much more. I also have some free time, so here's some extended analysis on the team.

In terms of pitching, we have a 5th-year senior in Amanda Bolton who has pitched sparingly at best for VU, a JUCO transfer named Ashlyn Michalak with two years of post-secondary experience, and three freshmen pitchers. Also among our positions players, I know at least Lindsey Norway pitched in high school (and was pretty good too). There will be a lot of options, but the lack of college experience concerns me. You either gotta have one workhorse pitcher like a lot of the major schools or two, three reliable starters to have good pitching, and it's arguably the most important facet to a good softball program.

In addition to replacing our pitching (two starters and one reliever), we need to fill roles at starting catcher, first base, and center field. Joy coming back is great since she can really hold down third base. I believe Duncan has some experience at first base from high school, so she could replace Kelsey Phalen there, and we can get another hitter to fill Duncan's spot at DP if we want to go that route. We've got a lot of people who can play outfield, so I'm not *too* concerned about that. Catcher should go to Tarah McShane (Jordan Rutkowski's backup last year) unless freshman Janelle Bouchard or some other player can win the spot.

You are correct Duncan does have 1st base experience at the High School and Gold level as well. According to what we were told when she committed to Valpo that was the long term plan for her. You bring up a very good point about the DH spot. I think the team could only be helped by using Bridwell,s speed as the DH If Duncan does move to the right side. You also have a very good stick and out field experience in Brown. He at some point in the future is going to have to groom someone to take over the left side of the infield once Joy leaves.

Catcher will be interesting . Unless someone absolutely blows the other away in Jan in Practice you could see shared duties behind the plate at that position. And to be honest im not sure that wouldent be a bad Idea to keep both fresh for the League Tournament. Rutowski was spent last season. I talked to her at the conclusion of the CSU series last year and you could see she was just flat wore out. Such a physical and demanding job back there any help they get towards the end of the season may help us as a team in the long run.

2013 schedule is out

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/schedule/

sorry, you are correct saturday

The Ladies get their rings tomorrow for the conference championship at the half time ceremony at the football game. If someone that is there and takes pics can post a few I would greatly appreciate it. Due to work cant make it up until Sun. Thanks