Pitching - As good as we think that Mazzarone and Carrico are, we have to be mentally prepared as fans that teams can get to to them. To me, it will be how they fare against teams like Duke, FSU, or another good team in the ACC tournament, and then how they hold up against a regional host or second-best regional team. We give up walks. That is what is going to hurt. Bree and Mazzarone are not wearing down. Both Mazzarone and Pete said that she needed to focus better to start the Friday game. Pete called her average that game. So much was done by GT with two outs. Remember, some of those runs given up the pitchers came from some infield errors or outfielders not getting to balls, like the one that dropped in center field and the one that went over the head in right field. So, the defense can make a pitcher's numbers look great and the defense can also make a pitcher's numbers look worse. After that first inning or so against GT on Sunday, Mazzarone was better. She fell behind 3-0 for three straight batters in the first inning, and, as much as some fans want to blame the umpire, most of those balls were balls, not because of some perceived small strike zone by the umpire. Many of Yaeger's issues catching Mazzarone's wild pitches were more about her having to reach really wide to try and snag a wild pitch versus her just losing them. She acknowledged that she did not have a good March at the plate. It is not about her hand. It was just doing well. I think the hitting "issues" for the team go more to situational hitting where we can only say so many times that "we hit it hard but just at someone". We have to do better with RISP, especially against good teams. For GT, to me, one pitcher did the best against us, especially on Saturday. I think GT took her out prematurely on Sunday when she had not really given up much. I don't even know if UNC will have "wounded animal" syndrome. Every team, including VT, would have that mindset if it was about trying to sneak into. We have to assume they can beat us, regardless of attaching any mindset to them. I am not sure if answered your thoughts. I think the bottom line is that this team is very good, but it might be a step below elite. Mazzarone and Carrico can be good, but they can also be vulnerable. I would not trust Layton against a top 15 program, so I would not hang my hat on her performance this past weekend. As much as many batters are "consistent", we go through some mini-power slumps. Even though Chatfield's average is fine, she is way behind her HR pace from the last two seasons. Nora is just starting this year but she has fallen back of Lynch in that team lead. Aldridge had a bad Saturday or Sunday, HR aside :). She came up with opportunities to drive in runs and ended at least 1-2 innings. Not an attack on her, just something that likely won't happen every weekend. The other big issue this weekend was just missed opportunities. We had based loaded twice in one inning Sunday, at least one with no outs and maybe other times. We will be fine. It will basically come down to how we do when have to face good teams in the tournaments.