Crimson Red Sports

I just found out that Bama will scrimmage at 1 p.m. this afternoon so Mrs. J and i will go watch the ladies and see what they are looking like.

Well?  (http://bullgatorslounge.com/images/smilies/waiting.gif) 

We went to the scrimmage and it was exciting to see the ladies out there getting ready to start the season. The only bad thing that we saw was Peyton Grantham, third baseman, was still limping and rehabbing her knee injury from last season. I was hoping that she would be ok by now but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

The practice/scrimmage was very intense as CPM put them through a very heavy workout. There seems to be plenty of talent on the team that Peyton's injury shouldn't affect the lineup to a heavy degree but she is good at third and with her bat and will be missed. CPM runs a good scrimmage, it is like a real game but it rotates the players after each inning, including the pitchers. The batters seemed to have the edge which isn't surprising for this time of the year but when I see the batters get some good hits off the solid pitching that Bama has, it made me feel good about the offense this year. Their infield practice was very intense as well as everything is run at a hot pace and again the players were changing positions in a rotation.

I liked what I saw as far as the preparation for this year and how it is being done. The intensity of the players and the heavy coaching that was being given to all of the players gave me a better understanding of why Bama is so good every year. During the scrimmage, VanBraekle was positioned behind the pitchers, giving them instructions pitch by pitch as they did their rotation each inning. I won't make any assessment of the pitchers but they all seemed to be doing well as far as my opinion goes, VanBraekle may think different.  :dunno:

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon and I wish all of you softball fans could have been there with us. The first game is Feb. 5th against South Alabama so we don't have to wait much longer for them to start play. RTR!!

Thanks for the update.  Too bad for Payton though.  Hopefully she will be back in "game" shape before the season is over.  I'm looking forward to making the trip down there at least a time or two to watch them play, hopefully...

I'm thinking there may be a redshirt in store for Peyton this year but you never know, these athletes heal pretty fast anymore with the great rehab facilities and therapy that they have.

A redshirt might be in store for her.  I can't help wondering if her injury wasn't more serious than they have revealed though.  If it happened last season and didn't require surgery then one would think she would be good-to-go by now as long as she has done all the rehab that she was supposed to...

I didn't get to talk with her but I'm thinking she had surgery because she was walking the stairs of the stadium as part of her rehab. :dunno: