2026 Softball Offseason

[Vobserver]

The same number of players hit the field at any given moment.

That has not changed.

What has changed is who you can and should recruit.

There has never been a time in sports history where more talented players are riding the pine doing nothing, while their talents die on the vine.

The opportunity for a great recruiter to change that for a competitive player has never been greater.

Go after juniors every year hard and heavy.

Money can be secondary.

The problem with your theory is that one can't "recruit" players still on another team's roster. Of course, we all know that the P4's skirt that rule all the time. The problem is that if someone outside the money club does so aggressively, they may be looking at USL 1973 redux.

[Vobserver]

It would be a nice improvement if the Cajuns can somehow lower their team era in 2027 to between 3.0 and 3.5. That would be a nice improvement from the last 2 years. 3.79 and 3.69 respectively.

I used those numbers because I believe that in the current climate 3.0 to 3.5 will become the new norm for programs outside the money club. Since 2024, the P4 have pretty much dominated the recruitment of elite pitchers, especially from the portal. Programs outside the money club will have to adjust their portal recruiting focus toward run producers, because acquiring experienced D1 pitchers with ERA under 3.0 in the portal is now virtually impossible without excessive amounts of money, as is keeping pitchers with low ERA.

Playing time is important, but I don't believe that many girls will leave a program that is paying them 3 or 4 or 10 times the money that a program like ours can afford just to get more PT.

[JMV Just My View]

I used those numbers because I believe that in the current climate 3.0 to 3.5 will become the new norm for programs outside the money club. Since 2024, the P4 have pretty much dominated the recruitment of elite pitchers, especially from the portal. Programs outside the money club will have to adjust their portal recruiting focus toward run producers, because acquiring experienced D1 pitchers with ERA under 3.0 in the portal is now virtually impossible without excessive amounts of money, as is keeping pitchers with low ERA.

Playing time is important, but I don't believe that many girls will leave a program that is paying them 3 or 4 or 10 times the money that a program like ours can afford just to get more PT.

Valid points by everyone. The game has changed a lot. The hitters have caught up with the pitchers for the most part, and there are fewer and fewer stud pitchers out there. The ones that are studs are on the best teams. And now, with the way the portal and NIL work, those big schools are signing lower school's #1's, 2's and sometimes #3's just to hide them on their rosters. So that also waters the pitching down. Bottom line is that mid majors are just about done. They can still make a little noise, but not on a national stage. UL still thinks they are king dicks in softball.They need to adjust and not try to recruit like a P4 team and think that kids below the SBC is also below them. All I want is for them to be at least the best G5 school. Right not they are not even an top 25 G5 school.

[Vobserver]

Valid points by everyone. The game has changed a lot. The hitters have caught up with the pitchers for the most part, and there are fewer and fewer stud pitchers out there. The ones that are studs are on the best teams. And now, with the way the portal and NIL work, those big schools are signing lower school's #1's, 2's and sometimes #3's just to hide them on their rosters. So that also waters the pitching down. Bottom line is that mid majors are just about done. They can still make a little noise, but not on a national stage. UL still thinks they are king dicks in softball.They need to adjust and not try to recruit like a P4 team and think that kids below the SBC is also below them.

I agree. I honestly believe that schools in our position need to look very closely at young pitchers [freshmen and sophomores] with insanely low ERA/WHIP/BAA numbers in the D2 ranks, particularly those with 100+ IP at successful programs. These girls are likely better prospects than P4 retreads with 5 ERA.

[Mark Hemphill]

All I want is for them to be at least the best G5 school. Right not they are not even an top 25 G5 school.

This. I love Aly and she knows that. But her recruiting philosophy frustrates me. I don't understand why we aren't giving the D2's and JUCO's a hard look. We don't have the money to attract a nationally ranked recruit unless it's a hometown girl who might give a discount. So why not look at these levels of softball to find a diamond in the rough? To have only signed 2 players so far is such a frustrating thing to me. Especially when I see that other comparable programs have signed 5 and 6 players from the portal. I work with someone whose daughter played travel ball for the Hotshot organization. He said that a former UL player now coaches for them and has given the UL coaches a heads up about several girls in that organization who were interested in UL. He said nothing but crickets from UL about these girls of which some have gone on to sign with other D1 programs. This is what frustrates me about this coaching staff. Why ignore a potential advantage like this?

[Roarman]

I used those numbers because I believe that in the current climate 3.0 to 3.5 will become the new norm for programs outside the money club. Since 2024, the P4 have pretty much dominated the recruitment of elite pitchers, especially from the portal. Programs outside the money club will have to adjust their portal recruiting focus toward run producers, because acquiring experienced D1 pitchers with ERA under 3.0 in the portal is now virtually impossible without excessive amounts of money, as is keeping pitchers with low ERA.

Playing time is important, but I don't believe that many girls will leave a program that is paying them 3 or 4 or 10 times the money that a program like ours can afford just to get more PT.

So, what you're saying is because the P4 schools now have all of the elite pitchers, the chances of the Cajuns ever having an elite pitcher again are very slim. And, if they happen to recruit one or develop one, they won't be here for long because they will chase the money. Therefore, the only way the Cajuns can be successful is having a team full of run producers who can outscore their opponents.

Well, unfortunately, the last two years, the Cajun teams were not built on run producers. Just look at number of home runs hit, doubles, runs scored, total bases, batting average and slugging percentage. And, maybe most importantly, sacrifice bunts.

If you are correct and the Cajuns can't field a team with an era below 3 and can't field a team with run producers, results going forward will be the same results as the team experienced the last two years.

[Vobserver]

So, what you're saying is because the P4 schools now have all of the elite pitchers, the chances of the Cajuns ever having an elite pitcher again are very slim. And, if they happen to recruit one or develop one, they won't be here for long because they will chase the money. Therefore, the only way the Cajuns can be successful is having a team full of run producers who can outscore their opponents.

Well, unfortunately, the last two years, the Cajun teams were not built on run producers. Just look at number of home runs hit, doubles, runs scored, total bases, batting average and slugging percentage. And, maybe most importantly, sacrifice bunts.

If you are correct and the Cajuns can't field a team with an era below 3 and can't field a team with run producers, results going forward will be the same results as the team experienced the last two years.

Believe me, I look at all those things, and because our staff persists in trying to play small ball, our offensive production has been held down. Obviously we need more run producers, fewer slappers and a change in both recruiting philosophy and in game coaching philosophy to achieve success in this era.

[Vobserver]

This. I love Aly and she knows that. But her recruiting philosophy frustrates me. I don't understand why we aren't giving the D2's and JUCO's a hard look. We don't have the money to attract a nationally ranked recruit unless it's a hometown girl who might give a discount. So why not look at these levels of softball to find a diamond in the rough? To have only signed 2 players so far is such a frustrating thing to me. Especially when I see that other comparable programs have signed 5 and 6 players from the portal. I work with someone whose daughter played travel ball for the Hotshot organization. He said that a former UL player now coaches for them and has given the UL coaches a heads up about several girls in that organization who were interested in UL. He said nothing but crickets from UL about these girls of which some have gone on to sign with other D1 programs. This is what frustrates me about this coaching staff. Why ignore a potential advantage like this?

What you said. 100%

[cajunref]

Totally agree. This staff's recruiting approach is doomed for failure. Unless we have a boat load of cash, which we don't, you cannot target the players we are and ignore others as Mark has said. You can't recuit like you did at Bama, it will not work in today's landscape. If you can't or won't understand that, then maybe it's time for a change.

[Vobserver]

Just as an aside: Of the top 10 ERA in D2 this past season, there are 7 with at least 2 years of remaining eligibility all of whom have ERA of 1.44 or better with 85 or more IP.

[Turbine]

The problem with your theory is that one can't "recruit" players still on another team's roster. Of course, we all know that the P4's skirt that rule all the time. The problem is that if someone outside the money club does so aggressively, they may be looking at USL 1973 redux.

That's a good point.

I'm thinking about the ones who arrived at the P4 School while that school had an ace on the mound, so they sat their freshman and sophomore year.

Now it's their junior year coming up and they're packing but have no stats to speak of mostly because they haven't had any playing time.

Go after them

I'm reminded of Jim Rome's old quote Rack'em when they have a great performance. Well the P4s is can stack'em but they can't rack'em (all.)

So when those players that were in the stack, but didn't rack and decided to pack ... it's time to attract.

[JMV Just My View]

That's a good point.

I'm thinking about the ones who arrived at the P4 School while that school had an ace on the mound, so they sat their freshman and sophomore year.

Now it's their junior year coming up and they're packing but have no stats to speak of mostly because they haven't had any playing time.

Go after them

I'm reminded of Jim Rome's old quote Rack'em when they have a great performance. Well the P4s is can stack'em but they can't rack'em (all.)

So when those players that were in the stack, but didn't rack and decided to pack ... it's time to attract.

Mound=Baseball
Pitching Circle=Softball

[Turbine]

Mound=Baseball
Pitching Circle=Softball

Somebody got it backwards ... because ... everybody knows ... "Almond Joy got nuts ... Mounds don't."

[JMV Just My View]

This. I love Aly and she knows that. But her recruiting philosophy frustrates me. I don't understand why we aren't giving the D2's and JUCO's a hard look. We don't have the money to attract a nationally ranked recruit unless it's a hometown girl who might give a discount. So why not look at these levels of softball to find a diamond in the rough? To have only signed 2 players so far is such a frustrating thing to me. Especially when I see that other comparable programs have signed 5 and 6 players from the portal. I work with someone whose daughter played travel ball for the Hotshot organization. He said that a former UL player now coaches for them and has given the UL coaches a heads-up about several girls in that organization who were interested in UL. He said nothing but crickets from UL about these girls, some of whom have gone on to sign with other D1 programs. This is what frustrates me about this coaching staff. Why ignore a potential advantage like this?

Are you talking about portal kids that have signed with other programs or high school kids who have signed with other programs? I've been told by a reliable source that Alyson will not sign anyone she hasn't personally reviewed.

[Headcase33]

So, what you're saying is because the P4 schools now have all of the elite pitchers, the chances of the Cajuns ever having an elite pitcher again are very slim. And, if they happen to recruit one or develop one, they won't be here for long because they will chase the money. Therefore, the only way the Cajuns can be successful is having a team full of run producers who can outscore their opponents.

Well, unfortunately, the last two years, the Cajun teams were not built on run producers. Just look at number of home runs hit, doubles, runs scored, total bases, batting average and slugging percentage. And, maybe most importantly, sacrifice bunts.

If you are correct and the Cajuns can't field a team with an era below 3 and can't field a team with run producers, results going forward will be the same results as the team experienced the last two years.

That is correct, I dont see the cajuns back in the Top 25 if even Regionals they way its going.