The GT series was eye opening. Yes, they're probably better than any of us thought, but it's still a series we needed to win. Saturday and Sunday were downright ugly at times, if we're being honest. I think the series raised 3 issues: 1. How much to read into Mazz and Bree's struggles in Games 2 and 3? Did GT just over-prepare with film study and pounce on their tendencies? It's interesting that Layton fared better (in both losses). Perhaps they didn't watch much (or any) film on her. Or are Mazz and Bree wearing down? I want to believe it's the former and just give GT some credit. Needless to say, if those two don't get back to their prior form, we aren't going to get very far at all in the post season. 2. Were GT's pitchers really that talented, or is the book out on VT in terms of struggles against changes in speed? We looked fooled many times, and swung at many bad pitches out of the zone. A lot of times we made weak contact, infield popups or soft foul tips. Timing was off as soon as Kenley Hilleary entered on Saturday. It seems to me most pitchers change speed. Why did GT fool us more often than other teams we've faced? 3. Can Zoe return to early season form? It's been mentioned her catching hand is feeling the effects of catching Mazz's heaters. It was tough to see her drop all of those pitches on Friday night (fortunately it didn't matter for the run-rule win). But I think it's impacting her batting, too. She's hitting .195 dating back to the BC series with no homers and only one double since that series. Kylie did a great job catching on Sat/Sun, but it's been noted on here that she has some nagging injury that makes it less than ideal for her to catch. And it may have impacted her at the plate also (she was 1 for 8 in the games she caught against GT, vs. a .407 average coming into Saturday). Sorry for the long post, but these are the things that GT exposed. UNC is trying to sneak into the tournament, that means they'll have a wounded animal desperation kind of attitude coming to Blacksburg this weekend. Not to paint a negative picture or raise alarm - these are just discussion topics. This team has overcome adversity before. The ladies are tough and determined, and I am confident that Pete and his staff are up to the challenge of getting the team's confidence back for the last 7 games. I do sometimes wonder if a team like GT possibly out-prepped us in terms of film study and strategy but that's impossible to know. Hope to see a nice rebound win vs. Liberty on Wednesday and maybe get that confidence back before UNC arrives!