It was recorded Thanksgiving week and is really good. I happened to speak with Coach last week and he repeated many of the things he said in the Podcast - especially about the pitching. In case you're tight on time, here are some of the highlights: "Our pitching has really impressed me this fall....they have progressed week by week...they're just getting better and better" Bree Carrico - redshirted last year, on paper had the best numbers in the fall Sophie Kleiman - battled injury bug, but will be back and throwing bullets soon Cassie Grizzard - perfected her change up Addison Fisher - freshman, left-hander from Tennessee, throws upper 60s, throws strikes, competes, looked impressive this fall Avery Layton - from Indiana, touching 71, throws up and down, change up, the last two weeks, she has looked as good as anybody he can remember Emma Mazzarone - "if she was wearing a different jersey in a different conference, everybody would be talking about her - she hit 75 on the radar gun, she throws bullets, this year she has a focus that's way different from last year,..Mazz is as talented as any pitcher in the country." "We have a lot of options...some of the pitching decisions will be based on matchups "Mazz - a lefthander at 73, Avery, a right-hander at 70, Fisher, a lefthander with more changeups, Grizzard more off-speed, Kleiman with a heavy dropball...we have more options...lot of X's and O's to think about." Offense: "We lost 55 home runs...first couple of bomb Fridays, we hit 50 and I thought we might have to manufacture runs, but then the number kept going up. We hit 118 the last week of fall practice... We have power - we have a lot of it." Kylie Aldridge is a freak, Emma Mazzarone is going to hit this year - she is swinging as good as any hitter we have - she has stupid power - she is Corie-esk" Michelle Chatfield is better, Annika Rohs is better He is excited about the offense and thinks we'll be okay - the way Mazz is swinging, he can't keep her out of the lineup Gaby Mizzelle is just hammering softballs right now. Her bat speed is up 8 mph since getting here, "she's killing balls right now." Annie has really increased her bat speed, we don't need her to hit HRs - just turn the order . There's been improvement by everybody - that's what we do at VT- we make players better Our infield defense was Top 5 in the country last year, we'll have multiple players in the outfield - we need to catch the routine fly balls and go make average plays and go hit 20 home runs. Scheduling: 1st weekend South Carolina tourney 2nd weekend: Charlotte tourney 3rd weekend: Georgia tourney 4th weekend: Auburn tourney 5th weekend: host a tournament in Salem, playing Michigan on Thursday night Salem is really nice facility, they are hosting the Olympic team, one of the nicest facilities in the country, it's well-run, they have run the D2 national tournament, they run their tournaments professionally. Michigan will be coming this year. It's a really good facility Virginia loves their softball - Virginia is a great state for softball. There's a LOT of good softball players in Virginia UVA has really raised their level of softball. Joanna Hardin is one of his favorite coaches and has done a great job there. There are several options for listening to the Podcast - I linked the Apple version. Listen for a few minutes after Pete finishes. They talk about Franklin's hiring and I even get a call out...lol ** Edited by VTChip at 12/11/2025, 11:41:37 AM