Big East

[yellow ball]

What about Providence College. What's it going to take for them to be competitive.

[jonriv]

What about Providence College. What's it going to take for them to be competitive.

A new coach and some talent

[AlwaysImprove]

Big East just released their preseason coaches poll.
http://bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/230661/DePaul-Tops-2012-BIG-EAST-Softball-Preseason-Poll.aspx

DePaul, Syracuse, Notre Dame ...

[Kirt]

What about Providence College. What's it going to take for them to be competitive.

The good news for the Friars is that they have some solid hitters (Kiesel from Ramona CA led them last year at .348 and is just a Junior this year) and along with their best five hitters (for average) they return their three lowest-ERA pitchers.

The bad news is that nobody with more than 12 innings pitched last year had an ERA under 4. Worse than that, in conference play those same two pitchers had ERAs over 5. So to me that's the obvious answer: They have to see significant improvement from Grosso and Clauss as there are no freshman pitchers listed. Get at least one of those ERAs down into the 2s and they can make some noise. With no significant losses, I'd be really surprised if they didn't improve on their 7-13 conference record.

Schedule is pretty good, I'd say, with no Syracuse or Louisville. Of the pre-season poll top-five, that leaves a home trio against Notre Dame, a doubleheader at USF and they finish with three at DePaul.

Another "what's it going to take" might be to play a tougher non-conference schedule. On paper the three Big East teams they will play might be their toughest opponents of the year.

Still, with such question marks at pitching, it's hard to put them in the top five.

[Kirt]

Well, so far sure looks like USF is the team to beat. Louisville also looking good at this point, but as of today (with ND dropping the 2nd game of their doubleheader at Rutgers for their first conference loss) USF is the only undefeated team in conference. Still, with five teams in the top 35, the Big East overall is actually looking pretty good as a whole.

Nevins of USF is pretty much a fixture as conference pitcher of the week. She's been lights-out in virtually every game. If she keeps it up, USF will not only win the conference but in the right spot just might represent the conference in the WCWS.

The "top five" remain the same, with UConn at 6-3 in 6th. Rutgers, Providence and Pitt are just under .500 in league play.

[tds]

Well, so far sure looks like USF is the team to beat. Louisville also looking good at this point, but as of today (with ND dropping the 2nd game of their doubleheader at Rutgers for their first conference loss) USF is the only undefeated team in conference. Still, with five teams in the top 35, the Big East overall is actually looking pretty good as a whole.

Nevins of USF is pretty much a fixture as conference pitcher of the week. She's been lights-out in virtually every game. If she keeps it up, USF will not only win the conference but in the right spot just might represent the conference in the WCWS.

The "top five" remain the same, with UConn at 6-3 in 6th. Rutgers, Providence and Pitt are just under .500 in league play.

So much for USF......