USA vs. Japan/ Michelle Smith

[sharktank]

Sat down to watch the game (taped) and was watching some shabby play by the USA. Michelle rightfully was pointing out some poor base running by the USA. However, the play with Moultre being put out at third on an unbelievable play at shortstop was over the top.

Situation, 2 outs with Taylor on third and Moultre on second. Not sure who the hitter was. Ground ball in the 5/6 hole. Taylor breaks home as she should. Moultre breaks for third. The shortstop (very,very good) dives to her backhand side and back flips with her glove only a perfect flip to the third baseman ( I think she was safe at third) and the umpire calls Moultre out at third to end the inning. The umpire rules that the run did not score because the out was recorded before the run crossed the plate and the USA miss a chance for a big inning.

Michelle Smith for 2 innings kept coming back to the play stating that Moultre should not have gone to third on that play and it was a big mistake. Any disagreement here but, are runners not taught to run on anything hit with 2 out especially with Moultre type speed? I can almost hear her complain if the ball would have gone through to the outfield and Moultre would have paused to let the ball go through and would have settled with stopping at third. I saw some bad base running as well as Hoagland getting thrown out trying to steal second chasing 4 runs.

I guess there is a big vote in 56 days to see if softball will be reinstated for the 2020 Olympics. Maybe the plan is to lose to show the Olympic committee that USA does not dominate the sport. Careful what you wish for, Japan may take it to them in 2020.

[jonriv]

The Japanese team has many of the same advantages the old team USA had- continuity,talent and a team of perennial professionals. They also have a much stronger professional league. Perhaps if the games are in Tokyo there might be return of diamond sports to the olympics

[Sam]

Anybody notice Japan's infield playing in with a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning? USA scored on a bleeder over SS. How do these people get coaching jobs?

OBTW: Japan didn't have to face Ricketts.

[jonriv]

Anybody notice Japan's infield playing in with a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning? USA scored on a bleeder over SS. How do these people get coaching jobs?

OBTW: Japan didn't have to face Ricketts.

I do recall them beating Cat Osterman in the Olympics. Ricketts may have helped, but the major issue that Team USA has is lack of international Experience. Much of the Japanese team has been playing with the National Team for years. You see that with many of the International Teams(like the Netherlands). Superior talent does not always beat superior teamwork. The longer TeamUSA gets to play with each other, the better they will become. Perhaps this loss can be an early wake-up call.

[dodgerblue]

Michelle Smith for 2 innings kept coming back to the play stating that Moultre should not have gone to third on that play and it was a big mistake. Any disagreement here but, are runners not taught to run on anything hit with 2 out especially with Moultre type speed? I can almost hear her complain if the ball would have gone through to the outfield and Moultre would have paused to let the ball go through and would have settled with stopping at third. I saw some bad base running as well as Hoagland getting thrown out trying to steal second chasing 4 runs.

I always thought that was an un-written rule to not advance if the ball was hit in front of you. I thought it was poor judgement also when the girl try to squeeze a double out of a single. I think the US beat themselves here the opportunities were there just poor player decisions. Don't get me wrong we have some of the fastest runners out there you just need to play smart ball especially trailing by 4.

[sbparent12]

Anybody notice Japan's infield playing in with a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning? USA scored on a bleeder over SS. How do these people get coaching jobs?

OBTW: Japan didn't have to face Ricketts.

I do recall them beating Cat Osterman in the Olympics. Ricketts may have helped, but the major issue that Team USA has is lack of international Experience. Much of the Japanese team has been playing with the National Team for years. You see that with many of the International Teams(like the Netherlands). Superior talent does not always beat superior teamwork. The longer TeamUSA gets to play with each other, the better they will become. Perhaps this loss can be an early wake-up call.

What exactly is international experience? Is international experience better than college experience? IMO experience is experience no matter who you are playing. These girls on the USA team have been playing since most were single digits and should have known better regarding many of the mistakes they made. Other than Japan, I really saw nothing special out of the other teams in the World Cup. The Aussies and Canadians did not look overly strong. The base running mistakes made by the USA were just dumb mistakes in my opinion (Dodgerblue said it below that you don't advance on a play in front of you).

The coach even made several comments in this interviews about having to teach the international game. What is the international game? Is it faster than the college game? It is better defensively? Not following his logic.

[SoCalASABlue]

DABR (dumb ass base running) is the least of Team USA's problems. How about being able to hit the outside pitch? Other than Lauren Gibson, no one seemed to be able to adjust pitch by pitch. Laura Berg as OF coach looked like she was going to cry after those blunders in the outfield.

I'm sure she's a great kid but Cheridan Hawkins is the best pitcher they could find to replace Ricketts?

5 of 7 Ks LOOKING against Ueno? Don't we all teach our players to hack at anything close with 2 strikes?

It's pretty bad when the US coach says on national TV "I guess we need to teach our pitchers how to use a rosin bag" because of the heavier and evidently harder-to-grip Mizuno ball.

We'll see how they do in Canada at the next one...

[jonriv]

Anybody notice Japan's infield playing in with a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning? USA scored on a bleeder over SS. How do these people get coaching jobs?

OBTW: Japan didn't have to face Ricketts.

I do recall them beating Cat Osterman in the Olympics. Ricketts may have helped, but the major issue that Team USA has is lack of international Experience. Much of the Japanese team has been playing with the National Team for years. You see that with many of the International Teams(like the Netherlands). Superior talent does not always beat superior teamwork. The longer TeamUSA gets to play with each other, the better they will become. Perhaps this loss can be an early wake-up call.

What exactly is international experience? Is international experience better than college experience? IMO experience is experience no matter who you are playing. These girls on the USA team have been playing since most were single digits and should have known better regarding many of the mistakes they made. Other than Japan, I really saw nothing special out of the other teams in the World Cup. The Aussies and Canadians did not look overly strong. The base running mistakes made by the USA were just dumb mistakes in my opinion (Dodgerblue said it below that you don't advance on a play in front of you).

The coach even made several comments in this interviews about having to teach the international game. What is the international game? Is it faster than the college game? It is better defensively? Not following his logic.

The international game has teams of players that have played together for several years. Many who got their initial experience in the NCAA and have been playing pro or semi pro for years. They also have more experience in the international travel part of it. What has started to happen in international softball is what happened to international basketball pre-dream team. Japan, The Netherlands and Italy all more robust pro leagues than what we have here. There are better overall players in the US, but some of the international teams are able to bridge the talent gap with the experience of playing together(nothing that can't be overcome)

[Fredegar]

Agree with sbparent and socalasa. Base-running and batting with 2 strikes, are not different in International Play. As for "international travel", are you serious? Our team traveled to OKC. They travel farther for NCAA conference games.

Fact is: We got beat that day by an excellent Japanese team. Ueno is damn good. Maybe an argument could be made that some of the members of Team USA were a little nervous or pressing too hard to impress new teammates/coaches. Maybe our pitchers/catchers need to spend more time together. Time will tell.

[jonriv]

Agree with sbparent and socalasa. Base-running and batting with 2 strikes, are not different in International Play. As for "international travel", are you serious? Our team traveled to OKC. They travel farther for NCAA conference games.

Fact is: We got beat that day by an excellent Japanese team. Ueno is damn good. Maybe an argument could be made that some of the members of Team USA were a little nervous or pressing too hard to impress new teammates/coaches. Maybe our pitchers/catchers need to spend more time together. Time will tell.

I was referring to the international game as a whole, not just this series in Oklahoma. The international aspect is that you are representing your country and in many ways it makes things different- especially when it comes to nerves