| SOFTBALL TIPS |
|
|
|
| SITE STUFF |
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
| • |
June 26, 2005 |
| • |
July 03, 2005 |
| • |
July 10, 2005 |
| • |
July 17, 2005 |
| • |
July 24, 2005 |
| • |
July 31, 2005 |
| • |
August 07, 2005 |
| • |
August 14, 2005 |
| • |
August 21, 2005 |
| • |
August 28, 2005 |
| • |
September 11, 2005 |
| • |
October 02, 2005 |
| • |
October 09, 2005 |
| • |
October 23, 2005 |
| • |
October 30, 2005 |
| • |
November 06, 2005 |
| • |
November 13, 2005 |
| • |
December 04, 2005 |
| • |
December 18, 2005 |
| • |
December 25, 2005 |
| • |
January 08, 2006 |
| • |
January 15, 2006 |
| • |
January 29, 2006 |
| • |
February 05, 2006 |
| • |
February 12, 2006 |
| • |
February 19, 2006 |
| • |
February 26, 2006 |
| • |
March 05, 2006 |
| • |
March 12, 2006 |
| • |
March 19, 2006 |
| • |
March 26, 2006 |
| • |
April 02, 2006 |
| • |
April 09, 2006 |
| • |
April 16, 2006 |
| • |
April 23, 2006 |
| • |
April 30, 2006 |
| • |
May 07, 2006 |
| • |
May 14, 2006 |
| • |
May 21, 2006 |
| • |
May 28, 2006 |
| • |
June 04, 2006 |
| • |
June 11, 2006 |
| • |
June 18, 2006 |
| • |
June 25, 2006 |
| • |
July 09, 2006 |
| • |
July 16, 2006 |
| • |
July 23, 2006 |
| • |
July 30, 2006 |
| • |
August 13, 2006 |
| • |
August 20, 2006 |
| • |
September 03, 2006 |
| • |
September 10, 2006 |
| • |
September 17, 2006 |
| • |
September 24, 2006 |
| • |
October 01, 2006 |
| • |
October 08, 2006 |
| • |
October 15, 2006 |
| • |
October 22, 2006 |
| • |
November 12, 2006 |
| • |
November 26, 2006 |
| • |
December 31, 2006 |
| • |
January 14, 2007 |
| • |
January 21, 2007 |
| • |
January 28, 2007 |
| • |
February 04, 2007 |
| • |
February 11, 2007 |
| • |
February 18, 2007 |
| • |
February 25, 2007 |
| • |
March 04, 2007 |
| • |
March 11, 2007 |
| • |
March 18, 2007 |
| • |
April 01, 2007 |
| • |
April 08, 2007 |
| • |
April 15, 2007 |
| • |
April 22, 2007 |
| • |
April 29, 2007 |
| • |
May 06, 2007 |
| • |
May 13, 2007 |
| • |
May 20, 2007 |
| • |
May 27, 2007 |
| • |
June 03, 2007 |
| • |
June 10, 2007 |
| • |
June 17, 2007 |
| • |
June 24, 2007 |
| • |
July 01, 2007 |
| • |
July 22, 2007 |
| • |
July 29, 2007 |
| • |
August 12, 2007 |
| • |
August 19, 2007 |
| • |
September 02, 2007 |
| • |
September 16, 2007 |
| • |
September 30, 2007 |
| • |
October 07, 2007 |
| • |
October 14, 2007 |
| • |
October 21, 2007 |
| • |
November 04, 2007 |
| • |
November 18, 2007 |
| • |
November 25, 2007 |
| • |
December 02, 2007 |
| • |
December 09, 2007 |
| • |
December 16, 2007 |
| • |
January 13, 2008 |
| • |
February 17, 2008 |
| • |
February 24, 2008 |
| • |
March 02, 2008 |
| • |
March 09, 2008 |
| • |
March 30, 2008 |
| • |
April 06, 2008 |
| • |
April 13, 2008 |
| • |
April 20, 2008 |
| • |
April 27, 2008 |
| • |
May 04, 2008 |
| • |
May 11, 2008 |
| • |
May 18, 2008 |
| • |
May 25, 2008 |
| • |
June 01, 2008 |
| • |
June 15, 2008 |
| • |
June 22, 2008 |
| • |
June 29, 2008 |
| • |
July 06, 2008 |
| • |
July 13, 2008 |
| • |
July 20, 2008 |
| • |
August 03, 2008 |
| • |
August 10, 2008 |
| • |
August 17, 2008 |
| • |
August 24, 2008 |
| • |
August 31, 2008 |
| • |
September 07, 2008 |
| • |
September 14, 2008 |
| • |
September 21, 2008 |
| • |
September 28, 2008 |
| • |
October 05, 2008 |
| • |
October 12, 2008 |
| • |
October 19, 2008 |
| • |
October 26, 2008 |
| • |
November 02, 2008 |
| • |
November 09, 2008 |
| • |
November 16, 2008 |
| • |
November 30, 2008 |
| • |
December 07, 2008 |
| • |
December 21, 2008 |
| • |
December 28, 2008 |
| • |
February 15, 2009 |
| • |
February 22, 2009 |
| • |
April 12, 2009 |
| • |
April 19, 2009 |
| • |
April 26, 2009 |
| • |
May 03, 2009 |
| • |
May 10, 2009 |
| • |
May 17, 2009 |
| • |
May 24, 2009 |
| • |
May 31, 2009 |
| • |
June 07, 2009 |
| • |
June 14, 2009 |
| • |
June 21, 2009 |
| • |
July 05, 2009 |
| • |
July 12, 2009 |
| • |
July 19, 2009 |
| • |
August 02, 2009 |
| • |
August 30, 2009 |
| • |
September 06, 2009 |
| • |
September 20, 2009 |
| • |
October 04, 2009 |
| • |
October 11, 2009 |
| • |
October 18, 2009 |
| • |
November 08, 2009 |
| • |
November 15, 2009 |
| • |
November 22, 2009 |
| • |
November 29, 2009 |
| • |
December 27, 2009 |
| • |
January 03, 2010 |
| • |
January 10, 2010 |
| • |
January 17, 2010 |
| • |
January 24, 2010 |
| • |
January 31, 2010 |
| • |
March 14, 2010 |
| • |
March 21, 2010 |
| • |
March 28, 2010 |
| • |
April 04, 2010 |
| • |
April 18, 2010 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
43 Thoughts
by Dave
Thursday, April 22, 2010
I think I have already told you that my state has made the leap (bad joke) to the new 43 foot pitching distance this year, one year ahead of the mandated change. Hopefully, yours has too. It has changed the game in at least 43 ways. I like it. I have too many thoughts about this to write about in one article so I'll stick with the most important reasons I think the change is really good for the game. It now takes 9 players to make a good high school softball team.
There is a girl out there (actually, I can think of many) who is playing varsity ball for the 4th straight year. She's an outfielder. From the day she made varsity, her team has had an outstanding ace pitcher. That pitcher mows down hitters in her sleep. I don't know about her average number of K's, but let's say it is almost 10-12 a game. (Our state's career strikeout record was around 1,300 at the end of the 40 foot period. In a career filled with 20-30 game seasons, that means the average number for the record holder was something like 10-15 per game.) That means, on our girl's team, less than half the outs were recorded in the field.
The particular girl we are talking about played every inning at one of the outfield positions. During a 30 game year, she made a play on exactly one ball. If we were to extrapolate that one year, she made 4 plays in 120 games, about 820 innings, or about 2,500 outs. FOUR PLAYS! She made up 11 percent of her team's defense and participated in point-one percent of the outs!
This kid is a marvelous athlete. She trains year round. She does strength work, flexibility stuff, and speed and agility. She loves to track down fly balls and has someone hitting them to her whenever she can find a partner. In practices, she might see 4 balls hit to her inside of one minute, often for 20 minutes at a time. Before each and every game, she'll generally warm up with more than four balls being hit to her. She works hard to be the best outfielder she can be. And for what? One stinkin' ball hit to her in the thirteenth game of the year? 4 lousy balls hit to her during her entire career?
That was then, this is now. I've been to see many games pitched from 43 feet. The number of strikeouts has been cut by more than half. There are still strikeouts. Sometimes there are a lot of them. Some pitchers remain dominant to a large degree. : But even dominant pitchers are not experiencing the number of strikeouts they have in the past. They get hit, sometimes fairly hard. Pressure has been put on the defenses and, for the most part, they are enjoying that!
A kid who works hard for four years can expect to see maybe one ball, maybe more, every game. If an outfielder cannot field a fly, a line drive, etc., she should maybe look for work elsewhere. Good fielders are shining. Poor ones are making errors.
I would say that in a fictional specimen game which might have ended 1-0 in 10 innings last year, that same game probably ends 4-2 or something like that today. The TEAM that is better often wins. The TEAM which has less defensive ability, is maybe not coached as well, or which does not have that mental toughness to make the plays when the pressure is on, often loses. The team which last year might have won all its games because they possessed the best pitcher, catcher, and shortstop while trying to merely hide lesser players at other positions, this year is suffering unexpected losses. That's not to say they lose a lot but they do need their whole team to play well in order to pull out games aga9inst good competition.
Of course, the other side of that is the all star pitcher who does not have anyone behind her is struggling. But on the other hand, the very good, well coached team that has merely an above average pitcher can compete. It boils down to what it should boil down to. High school softball teams need some talent, to be well prepared, and to play hard in order to win. It is much more enjoyable to watch but not because scores are higher. It is more enjoyable to watch because there is so much more action. I'll take a 1-0 game in which there are no strikeouts over one 8-7 in which most outs come from the K.
I am one of those purists who still loves an old fashioned pitchers duel in either baseball or softball. But the value of that experience is very much diminished when every game I go to watch is a duel. I don't mind when I happen to be watching two of the best pitchers in the area, state or country plow down hitters. But when some run of the mill pitcher throwing 50-55 with little movement and no change of speed is doing it just like the girl throwing UFOs at 60-65, something is wrong.
It was bad when varsity softball players were sometimes required to react to pitches faster than MLB batters and always much faster than the boys on varsity baseball. The girls may still have to have quicker reactions than the boys but right now, I'd have to say that they are hitting the pitches, even fast ones into play. This is good for developing the hitters but it is far better for developing the fielders. And, truth be told, it really helps the pitchers to develop too!
When a pitcher can throw a plain vanilla fastball past 7 out of 9 hitters, she does not have to work, either physically or mentally. When she must hit her spots, move the ball around, change speeds, and out-think the opposition, well, then she is pitching. When a pitcher has to pitch, she gets better.
It seemed odd to me, before I gave it much thought, that there were so many strikeouts in fastpitch softball. I guess I convinced myself that this had to do with the ability of pitchers. But when I saw kids who were apparently nothing special throw pitches of the same speed to approximately the same spots, over and over again, I started wondering what was wrong with softball hitting. Actually, a bunch of baseball hitting instructors have said the same over the years. Now it seems a little more clear to me that the hitters are not nearly as bad as I once thought. It also is clear to me that many pitchers are not nearly as good as I once thought they were.
As I alluded to earlier, the evaluation of the move to 43 feet cannot really be done based on the scores of games. They are up but that is not the issue. It must be looked at with an eye towards how many defensive players are actually involved in the game. I'[d have to say that more girls than ever before are having their performances contribute to final results. In short, the quality of our sport, its ability to entertain, is about the number of balls hit into play. The best way to evaluate that is based upon the number of strikeouts. That has been drastically reduced. And the corresponding quality of our game has been drastically increased. At least, that's my opinion.
 
|
|
|
