Wisconsin High School Fastpitch Bulletins 2005-2006
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The Fastpitch Bulletin #12 - March 8, 2006

Just off the outside corner! Or maybe dust off the outside corner!

Hello everyone - It's great to hear from all the people who e-mail back and tell me they enjoy the nightly diatribes and to those of you who do, thanks for the kind words. They are what keep me going.

Today I have posted more team and conference previews because more people have answered the bell. Mauston of the SCC now has a preview. Baraboo of the Badger North, The Six Rivers East has a full conference preview as does the newly formed Midwest Classic Conference Classic Division. Also the Eastern Wisconsin has some information on the website now.

Don't get caught looking at a third strike and having to drag your expensive bat back to the dugout by not getting around to sending in a preview on your team and your conference. It really does behoove everyone to send something in. Most of us agree that your kids deserve it.

Here is a paragraph from the first Bulletin I wrote for this school year back in the fall. Take a look at it again or perhaps for the first time.

The WIAA's Marcy Thurwachter informed me early last summer that outside of baseball, softball coaches had the lowest percentage of returned official's evaluations in the entire WIAA program. That's not a very good thing to hang our hats on. Those evaluations are becoming a tool that will have great impact on the tournament series. Collectively, we need to do a better job of taking care of the responsibilities of being a head softball coach. I believe some of the other responsibilities include, calling in game scores to the media, e-mailing scores to The Fastpitch Chronicle, making sure you meet the deadlines for coaches association items such as all district and all state nominations, academic all state nominations, dues in on time and much, much more.

Since that time we have learned that the WIAA will be assigning umpires for all regional games as well as the sectionals and state tournament. Just three short years ago individual schools were hiring the officials for regional games and there were lots of complaints about that. Now, the WIAA is doing it. That means that coaches need to make sure they have cards from officials or that officials are signing your scorebooks with their name printed or written legibly and their official number is included. At the end of the season we need to collectively do a better job of getting the official evaluations into the WIAA office. Perhaps a penalty might even be in order.

I'm trying to include the name of every coach with the previews on the website and want to also list how many years that coach has been the head coach. E-mail that information to me and I will update it on the page. Also be sure to check The Fastpitch Chronicle Coach's Honor Roll page and get your name or a friend's name added where it is appropriate.

Thanks to Greg Lampe for mailing all the plaques that were not handed out at the dinner during the Sunday portion of the Coaching Clinic in Stevens Point. It was greatly appreciated.

Get your dues paid if they are not. From what I understood at the clinic our membership numbers are up and the clinic attendance set a new record as well. I didn't make it into the dinner hall to hear if those numbers were officially announced or not so maybe somebody on the WFSCA executive board can update me officially and I can pass those numbers along.

To all of you going to warmer weather to get in some early season practice, scrimmages or games - here's hoping our weather turns warm and we can all get outside early.

I'll be at the WIAA girls state tournament tomorrow and Friday so there probably won't be a bulletin for a couple of days. If you have a topic in mind that you'd like me or somebody else to address in the Bulletins just e-mail me those thoughts. That's why I typed about officials evaluations tonight - a reader suggested I do that.

If you are entered in the Poynette Jamboree on May 5-6 send me an e-mail that indicates that you are. I don't want to miss anyone in the scheduling process and sending me an e-mail will only help me double and triple check the list I have and the one my Athletic Director has. It looks like we will most likely be playing four games under the lights on Friday night - Luxemburg-Casco vs Prescott is a given already. Madison East will also be under the lights on Friday night. Darren and Ross from Sportsdiamond are planning on being there with a trailer load of great bargains and the brats are always fantastic.

Have a great day and as always,

Keep it Rising!

Bob Tomlinson
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The Fastpitch Bulletin #13 for March 9, 2006

It’s Going, Going, Going --- I'ts Gone! You can kiss that baby goodbye!

Hello Everyone – I got home from the girls’ basketball tourney earlier than I thought I might so I thought I’d give you something to read and think about tonight in the world of fastpitch softball.

I had a suggestion from a reader for a topic for a Bulletin so I am going to cover that topic tonight because it’s a good one.

Helmets and face masks is the topic. NOCSAE seals and the whole gamut. According to the coach that asked me to write about helmets and face masks, an umpire told her last year that the helmet and mask must be made by the same manufacturer. For instance, a Schutt batting helmet must have a Schutt face mask etc.

That’s not true and is another case of misinformation being thrown around and then confusing the entire thing. The face mask, according to John Peterson at the rules interpretation meetings must have the NOCSAE seal or stamp on it so make sure that is the case. I looked at some new ones in the past few days and noted that a couple didn’t have one of those on the mask.

Here’s the e-mail I received today.

I’m not sure if the topic has come up with you, but it might be worth passing along so here goes. My equipment supplier was under the impression that the face masks for the batting helmets had to be by the same manufacturer as the helmet. He came to that conclusion last year after another coach was told by an official his helmet/face masks weren’t legal because the masks and helmets were made by different companies. I asked my AD, who emailed Marcy at WIAA, who in turn replied that the masks do NOT have to match the helmet’s manufacturer. This can make a huge difference and just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page. I’d especially hate to see officials misinterpret the situation and tell a team they couldn’t play because the face masks don’t match the helmets.

And I surely agree with the writer in that I’d hate to see a team not get to play for the same reason.

I’ve added more previews tonight thanks to the fact that more people took the time to send them in. There is a Woodland Conference preview. There is a preview on Rosholt of the Central Wisconsin Large, there is one on Randolph of the Trailways North Conference.

I saw a bunch of softball coaches at the girls’ tournament and at Badger Sporting Goods during the lunch time. I decided to spring for everyone’s lunch at Badger. I just thought it was my turn to buy.

A special thanks goes out to Badger Sporting Goods for another great steak and Brat Fry during the state tournaments. It was good to see my good friend Bobby Roach again.

Hey – Have a great day and

Keep it Rising!

Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #14 - March 10, 2006

I'm out here in right field just watchin' the dandelions grow!

Hello Again Everyone - For me, the high school basketball season came to an end today. I'd been to the girls' state tournament yesterday and then again this morning. After the second game of the morning session I decided it was time to log out of basketball and log into fastpitch softball in a more passionate manner than I had up until today.

I left the Alliant Energy Center Coliseum and headed for my car only to find out that I'd left my headlights on earlier in the morning. The battery was dead. I borrowed a set of jumper cables and a fella's car to use to jump-start the truck and then headed for lunch again at Badger Sporting Goods. There were some people there I wanted to buy lunch for including Steve Schmikla of McFarland, Phil Kamrath of Pardeeville, Bob Sulser of Beloit Turner, Dan Reierson of Rio and a host of others. All in all the bill wasn't too bad! Next year it's their turn to buy.

While there I picked up the softball equipment I had requisitioned. That sort of got me pumped a bit more so I delivered the new catcher's gear to our varsity catcher and told her to sleep with it on all weekend. I told her that if I receive a report that she failed to follow through on that order I was taking the stuff back or giving it to the JV catcher instead. I think she'll look pretty spiffy tonight in that TAG black and orange catcher's gear. She might have trouble rolling over with that hockey style helmet on but you're not supposed to take those off for anything during your defensive half inning so she will be well protected in bed this weekend. She said, "Mr. T, this is like Christmas in March!" "Yes it is," I answered.

I have added more preseason team and conference profiles to The Fastpitch Chronicle website tonight. Look in the Central Wisconsin Large area for Weyauwega Fremont and Bonduel. Both of those programs forwarded great previews. Also check out The Beloit Turner preview in the Rock Valley area of that page of my website. There is a short preview from the Northern Lakes, and one from the Middle Border Conference.

Look closely at the team previews that have the coach's name and how many years they have been coaching. That's what I want to keep updated. When you send in the preview include that information. Another thing I like is when you included your assistant coaches as well. Those great helpers deserve some notoriety as well.

On April 1st, McFarland will be hosting our annual early season scrimmage at their great facility. Two great diamonds, batting cages, concession stand that features Poynette Franks and more - like great conversation, great and friendly umpires and more. We need one more team to go head to head with three of us - McFarland, Middleton and Poynette. If interested get back in touch with me immediately. We'll take the first one that chooses to bang heads with the three of us on that Saturday. I'll then put you in touch with Brad Minter at McFarland (AD).

It's time to really start getting into topics that make a difference in the game. Tonight's is Rule 6 - the pitching rule. I always get reports from the readers of these Bulletins that umpires here and there don't seem to understand Rule 6. There's really no excuse for that happening but the one thing that I get all the time is that an umpire here or there fails to remember that a pitcher does not have to ever have two feet in contact with the pitcher's plate in NFHS competition. The pitcher shall step on the pitcher's plate with at least one foot and have her hands separated when she does so.

The reason this was our first topic area is because a reader asked me to bring this up. Here is their quote --- "One topic that comes up for me at least once a year is that an ignorant coach, or one looking for a distraction, will convince an umpire who may not do a lot of softball games, that our pitcher is taking an illegal position prior to her delivery. It may come more from the fact that our pitchers are pretty good and other coaches are looking for a distraction. I'm just waiting for the time a coach actually convinces an umpire that he is right! I have one pitcher who starts with her non-pivot foot behind, not touching the pitcher's plate. It seems like every year, this rule pops up somewhere. It generally occurs with an umpire who is not quite sure of the rule. Even though the rule is clearly stated and even the diagrams in the book clearly point out legal and illegal positioning of the feet, it happens at least once a year. I don't know. It always bugs me, maybe especially up north here where we play, umpires are not consistent with the rules. I don't feel I should have to explain rules to an umpire. I have enough trouble trying to coach my team! Just a thought. If you feel it's not worthy of comment, please disregard. -- EG - Northwestern Wisconsin Area

Those of us who have been around fastpitch for years will remember when a pitcher actually had to "present" the ball to the batter. That meant that you had to show the batter the ball before you started your motion/delivery. That rule left the game more than 27 years ago but I still, on occasion, hear some girls' grandfather yell at the umpire, "Hey ump, she's not presenting the ball!" I always chuckle when I hear that - it brings back great memories.

Memories like the bruhaha my men's team got into in 1970 in a tournament in Oxford, Wisconsin. In those days of top notch men's fastpitch softball there was not a 16' circle drawn around the pitcher's plate. Nope, not at all. In those days it was the pitcher's responsibility to "look back" any and all baserunners who were on base at the time of the pitch. So, the pitcher pitched it and all runners broke off their bags. If a pitcher did not "look back" all runners the runner didn't have to return to the bag before the next pitch. In essence they were allowed to lead off. Heck, if you had a 10-12 foot lead on the next pitch, you could easily steal second or third base. When that would happen a long, heated bruhaha would ensue. The pitcher would claim that they did look the runners back and the umpires would say that they didn't. The runner and the coaches would chime in with their two cents worth. It was electrifying. Then, an umpire friend of mine from Minnesota and his buddies figured out that a chalked circle around the pitcher's plate would eliminate all the guys getting thrown out of games who argued with them over whether or not they looked all the runners back. It worked and viola - we still have a chalked 16' diameter circle around the pitcher's plate.

It all goes back to what I constantly tell my students and my athletes - "You can't appreciate where you are today at unless you understand how you got there."

For instance - young softball coaches should never assume that what we have today is the way things have always been. The game has changed and evolved since the WIAA figured out that it was a good game and one that would increase participation numbers. In the earliest years, those of us who coached dealt with issues such as a 12-game regular season limit on the schedule. A rule that restricted how many innings a pitcher could pitch in a week. A pitching rule that required two feet on the pitcher's plate. Pitchers who couldn't throw a ball through a piece of Saran Wrap stretched tightly on a wooden frame but still had to get people out. State tournament games that were high scoring affairs because of the innings restriction. Grass infields at the site of the state tournament. Fences that were 300' from home plate. A concession stand at the state tournament site where it would actually take three to five innings of standing in line to get a Coke. Dugouts that were beyond the infield dirt. Tiny little boxes along the sidelines that coaches were allowed to stand in when your team was in the field at the state tournament. Bench areas where you had to bring your own tarp to cover the area in case of rain or energy sapping sunlight. Blue tarps, brown tarps, green tarps and no tarps. Four games at a time and on a facility where everyone had to be out of the place by about 5 PM so the local men's slow pitch players could get on the field for their beer league games. Coaches had to members of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association if you wanted to belong to a professional organization.

Nope, don't assume anything and be sure to appreciate what you have - There are still many of the Pioneers of this sport in this state in our coaching ranks. Each year we lose a few more but there are still enough "fossils" hanging in there because they love the game, the kids and know and understand how we got to where we are at. Look on my Coaches Honor Roll Page and you can find the list of The Pioneers. The next time you see one - tell him, or her thanks!

High School Fastpitch Softball in Wisconsin! You've come a long, long way Baby!

On another note - if you are looking for a place to store your stats so your players, parents and fans can get at them readily check out statsandgo.com on the internet. They will be able to help you out.

It's important you know, you gotta know how to catch, you gotta know how to throw - that's why I'm out here in right field just watching the dandelions grow.

Have a great weekend folks and -------
come Monday -------
Play Ball!

Keep it Rising!
Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #15, March 15, 2006

Holy Cow!

The past two nights found me cussing at this computer but in reality I think it was America Online I should have been saying bad things about. I couldn't get online to type anything and I wanted to get a Bulletin out.

Saturday - 11 AM in Poynette at the High School. First-Ever Fastpitch Chronicle pitching clinic for coaches. This clinic is not a sit on your tails and listen clinic. Nope. It's one where you will have to bring a glove, some sneakers, a notebook, a pen or pencil and a sense of humor. It will involve you actually going through our process and actually learning the process.

Want to be able to throw better live batting practice to your players or are you satisfied with those soft toss drill using whiffle balls or even real balls before your games at home and on the road? Want to be able to throw live hitting practice in game-type practice sessions?

This clinic is probably for you!

Want to learn how to make a ball go down sharply, up quickly, move from left to right or right to left or how about a change up.

If the answer is yes - this clinic is definitely for you.

Bring a catcher or better yet, bring another coach so you can pitch to each other and catch each other.

I'll have a video camera set up and a TV. You'll be able to watch yourself.

I'll have some great helpers there to assist you. We have a pretty big stable of pitchers who come to Poynette every Wednesday night for Free Pitching Clinics. Some of them will be there to help you out.

E-mail back to me if you plan on attending - I'll need to have an idea of how many will be there.

Plan on a couple of hours.

I might even toss in some tips on hitting and bunting for you.

There will be a fee as I have to pay to use the facility.

OK - enough on that! Three days into the season and I'm tired of indoor practices -- but at least we've had school and could practice. Tomorrow is in question down here though.

Get those WFSCA dues paid up. Get those team previews sent in to The Fastpitch Chronicle so I can get them posted on the website.

Watch your inbox for future Bulletins.

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #16 - March 16, 2006

It's a "seeing-eye" single!

Hello again fastpitch fans - Coaches in the Wisconsin State Journal coverage area should have received an e-mail with two attachments from Rob Hernandez, Preps Chief at the WSJ today. Make sure you fill out the form and return it to Rob and his staff. He and my good friend Dennis Semrau of the Capital times tell me year in and year out that spring coaches are notorious for not sending in those surveys or questionaires but that they are also quick to criticize the type of coverage a given school or conference gets. It's a two-way track folks - we need to do our part.

It comes back to publicity again. That responsibility lies with the head coach. If you don't have time to promote your program or the game, simply assign that task to an assistant or somebody closely tied to the program.

The pitching clinic for coaches scheduled for this Saturday in Poynette will be held no matter how many people show up. It starts at 11 am at the high school.

We got snow again in this area today but not as much as they were predicting. That's a good thing! Some teams are scheduled to open their season the last week of March. I hope the weather warms up enough for you to do that. I'll be taking in a scrimmage (if they have it) a week from Saturday as I have a couple of Wednesday night Free Pitching clinic kids that will be showing their stuff and I want to watch them.

Rankers should note that you need to get your first ones in by the end of next week. The first rankings will be sent to the statewide media and posted on The Fastpitch Chronicle website a week from Sunday night.

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #17 for March 21, 2006

Back, Back, Back, Back, Back, it could be, it could be, it is - A Home Run!

Hello Again fastpitch softball folks,

I have a few announcements to make.

1) This Fastpitch Chronicle website is not directly affiliated or connected to the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association in any way other than the fact that I am a member of the association. I like to think I have a pretty good working relationship with the people who run the organization. Of course I have a link to wfsca.org and they have one to my site. The Fastpitch Chronicle statewide rankings are done by people whose help in ranking I enlist. I then total their votes and send out the rankings and publish them on my website.

2) With that in mind everyone needs to understand that things like my Coaches Honor Roll page are simply my pages. I think it's important to list coaches and their accomplishments. To that end the Honor Roll Page is available. I add information to it when I receive it from the readers. The Coaches association does not forward coaching awards to me. That's your job if you want your name on the page.

3) Bob LeCaptain's name has been boosted up to the 400 win level as he reached that milestone last season and I missed that. He joins Phil Adam, Darrell Laschen, Russ Schaub and Steve Schmikla in the 400 win category. He has also won three conference titles at Green Bay West since leaving Denmark and that gives him 18 conference titles in all. I have updated all that information on the coaches honor roll page. Congratulations Bob!

4) I have also updated several other bits of information on that page so take a close look and if you have reached one of the mileposts listed on the page or if you know a coach who has, just e-mail em and I'll update the same day.

Are you looking for drills to do indoors or even outdoors? Here are a couple great sources for drills you can use.

Roger Schliewe of Horicon and World Series Training center has added a huge list of defensive and offensive drills to his website at worldseriestc.com. I just checked that out today. He handed out those drills at his great presentation at the WFSCA coaching clinic in 2005. If you missed that great presentation and didn't get the drills, just go to his website, print them off and send him an e-mail letting him know that your appreciate his help to your program and the game in this state.

Another source is Jugs. They have lots of drills posted on their website.

I e-mailed to them today (for the second year in a row) to tell them about the flaw in the manufacturing process for their Lite Flite softballs. Hit them just a few days and many of them prove to have injection flaws whereby little and even huge hollow pockets are inside the balls. They break apart after just a few days of getting hit and then they are worthless. Every dealer I have gotten them from replaces them but it's a pain to make the trip back to the dealer to get replacements (if they even have them in stock). I told Jugs to just keep making the baseball sized balls but make them in the bright optic green color because the yellow baseball sized ones get dirty and are tough to see. We've only had one baseball sized Lite Flite ball fall apart in the years since they came out. The other thing that happens to the Lite Flite softballs is the smooth outer layer gets peeled off by the Lite Flite machines very quickly and then they fly differently. I personally prefer using Lite Flite balls indoors over hard pitching machine balls. I don't need a batting cage or cages and I can use all 8-9 pitching machines I have at my disposal if I choose to. That's a lot of swings and a lot of individual instruction available.

Take a look at the 2006 team and conference preview page on The Fastpitch Chronicle website at http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/2006previews.html and see if your team or any teams from your conference have previews. Some coaches from many of the the conferences have taken the time to put together some great reading. Other conferences have absolutely nothing. I continue to chuckle at the fact that there are actually coaches out there who think they can hide from others and sneak up on people when it comes tournament time. The game of "Hide and Seek" in Wisconsin high school fastpitch ended with the berth of the information highway and quite honestly with The Fastpitch Chronicle website. Our network of coaches throughout and across Wiscionsin keeps us all informed. Even if we don't have a single preview about the Bay Conference on the website, we know about all of you and we'll continue to know more and more. So, join the information generation and do your players a huge service and start sending scores and articles in for others to read. You can't hide your team from the state. If someone wants to watch your team play, they can go to http://www.highschoolsports.net and look up your school and your schedule as many of the state athletic directors are members of the information highway. They post your schedules there. If we can't find it at that site they'll just look for your school district website and find your softball schedule there. If you think you can still hide they'll simply do it the old fashioned way and call the secretary at your school and ask that person for your schedule.

Our network of reporting coaches and rankers has grown since last year and we have every part of the state covered. The games will be starting very soon (some are probably playing in Florida already). I have scheduled a visit to Sun Prairie for this Saturday to watch a couple of our Wednesday night Free Pitching Clinic kids throw. I hope the weather is warm enough for that event to go off. There are games scheduled around the state for next week. We'll have some people out and around watching and listening.

Have a great day - Let's play Two!
Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #18 for March 22, 2006
It's a hump-back liner that falls in for a single!

Hello again fastpitch world.

It irks me when I have some important news to share in these bulletins and I forget to include it. That happened last night and I was reminded of it tonight when I checked my American Online e-mail. A message from Marcy Thurwachter at the WIAA office was waiting to be read. I will include her message with tonight's bulletin but --- I want to let you know that I recently read in a Wisconsin sports magazine (I think it is Inside Wisconsin Sports) that Marcy recently received a prestigious award from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois for her work and involvement in girls' athletics. I'm sorry to say that the magazine is on my desk at school so I will tell you the name of the award tomorrow night. At any rate -- Congratulations Marcy!

Before I start rambling about some obscure area of fastpitch softball, here is what Marcy sent me today. I think you better read it all too.

CLARIFICATION ON OBSTRUCTION
Rule Book Correction: 8-4-3b; delete the phrase "...or not about to receive a thrown ball."
Definition of Obstruction: Rule 2-36; "Obstruction is the act of the defensive team member that....impedes the progress of a runner or batter-runner who is legally running bases, unless the fielder is in POSSESSION of the ball..."

*Defensive player cannot block a runner's access to a base or base path without being in possession of the ball.

*The runner must be hindered or impeded. This does not require physical contact.
*Fielder blocking the base without the ball BUT runner has not yet been impeded (not slowed down or had path altered)----no obstruction.

QUESTION 1 Can a pitcher wear a gold turtleneck under her uniform while pitching? This question was with regards to the optic yellow ball. The other girls on the team will also be wearing gold turtlenecks.

ANSWER Legal. Rule 3-2-7; "Exposed undergarments, if worn, are considered part of the official uniform. All exposed undergarments shall be in either school colors or colors of black, white or gray." Rule 3-2-7b; "A pitcher's exposed upper-body undergarments may be white or gray if she is the only team member wearing an upper-body undergarment or if other team members are wearing the same color."

QUESTION 2 What happens if the batting helmet facemask does not have the NOCSAE seal?
ANSWER Allow the game to be played provided, in the umpire's judgement, the facemask is otherwise acceptable. Contact the WIAA office the next morning to report the school. A small number of schools have been wearing the facemask for the past few years. These masks will not have the NOCSAE seal. Those schools have been advised to contact the manufacturer for a letter indicating the masks do meet current NOCSAE standards. This letter, along with WIAA approval, would take the place of the NOCSAE seal.

QUESTION 3 If a player goes in to coach is she required to wear the batting helmet with the facemask?

ANSWER Yes, Rule 1-6.

QUESTION 4 Any non-adult warming up a pitcher at any location within the confines of the field shall wear an approved catcher's helmet and mask combination. Does this pertain to the bullpens if they are located outside the confines of the field?
ANSWER Yes. If in the event that bullpens are located outside the actual field the catcher's helmet and mask would still be required.

QUESTION 5 Does a defensive player's face/head protection need NOCSAE approval?
ANSWER Rule 1-8-4. No, not at this time.

QUESTION 6 What is the base award for obstruction?
ANSWER Rule 8-4-3b penalty a "....the base which would have been reached, in the umpire's judgement, had there not been obstruction."

QUESTION 7 I was wondering if it was legal to use the Pyroflite microwaveable bat warmer?
ANSWER Illegal. Rule 1-5-5.

QUESTION 8 Does the facemask piece for batting helmets have to be from the same manufacturer?
ANSWER The NFHS has determined that the facemask and batting helmets do not need
to be from the same manufacturer. But both pieces of equipment must have the
NOCSAE seal.

QUESTION 9 Are stocking hats legal to wear under batting helmets during cold weather?
ANSWER Umpires should use their own judgement. If the stocking cap alters the fit of the helmet do not allow the athlete to wear the cap.

QUESTION 10 Are chin straps on batting helmets allowed? Are there specifications?
ANSWER The rules do not prohibit chin straps on helmets. The NFHS currently does not
regulate chin straps.

QUESTION 11 As the softball game progresses and the lines for the batter's box are worn away should the umpire use a bat to re-draw the box or do you continue the game without the complete lines?

ANSWER Game is completed without the lines.

QUESTION 12 Can a batter who receives ball four have the right to round first base or does she have to stop at first?

ANSWER Rule 8-7-1, 8-7-2, and 8-7-3a; "A batter-runner who rounds first base toward second base may stop, but then must immediately, without stopping, return to first or attempt to advance to second base."

QUESTION 13 Two outs, runner at third, batter hits fly ball and before it is caught coach assists runner at third. Ball is caught for third out. Does the fly ball make the third out and thus the first batter in the next inning is the batter who follows the player who hit the fly ball or does assisting the runner cause the batter who hit the fly ball to bat first the next inning?

ANSWER In the situation you described the coach assisted the runner before the ball was caught. That would be the third out and the batter would lead off the team's next turn at bat. If the ball had been caught prior to the coach assisting the player the batter would have recorded the out and would not be eligible to bat again.

QUESTION 14 At a recent rules meeting it was suggested that engraving a bat would make it illegal. Would this apply to an indentification mark on the end of the knob?
ANSWER No. This would not jeopardize the bat. The reference was made to engraving on the barrell of the bat that was added by someone other than the manufacturer.

QUESTION 15 Are players, including pitchers, allowed to wear jackets during cold weather?
ANSWER Yes, although Rule 3-2-2 requires that a number be visible on the back of the
players' uniform, in Wisconsin we do allow jackets, sweatshirts, etc. to be worn.
Umpires should request players to show their uniform number when substituting
for another player.

QUESTION 16 What happens if the head coach does not show up for the game? Rule 3-5-1
requires that a head coach attend the pre-game conference.
ANSWER Umpires should wait until the actual game time for the head coach to arrive. If
this does not occur and there is a actual member of the coaching staff present
(not just a parent) that coach now assumes the duties of the head coach. If
the umpires feel that the coach was trying to circumvent the rule, contact the
WIAA office the next day.

QUESTION 17 Any non-adult must wear the approved catcher's helmet and mask combination
and throat protection when warming up a pitcher. Must they also wear the body
protector and shin guards?
ANSWER No. Rule 1-7-3; "...approved cathcer's helmet/mask combination and throat
protector."

QUESTION 18 Does the non-glare requirement for defensive players only apply to the pitcher?
ANSWER No. Rule 2-8-4; "...protection worn by defenders shall have a non-glare outer surface." This refers to ALL defensive players.

-------------------------------------------

That's it from Marcy and its' some pretty good reading.

Hey John Peterson and Marcy - here is some stuff to think about

I was thinking about bat warmers the other day and wondering about a few things such as

1) is it legal to put a bat in front of a heater such as a Coleman heater that burns bottled propane? Does it have to be an enclosed bat warmer? Does a coat or jacket fall under bat warmers or do they have to be plugged in or have another source of heat? I know I'm not the only one wondering. Sure as heck I'll be coaching again this spring, somewhere on a day when it's colder than it was today, and I'll have those Coleman heaters in our bench area. I'd never thought about putting bats in front of them to "light em up" until they put this bat warmer rule in, but I and others have been wondering.

2) Since catcher's helmets must have NOCSAE stamps, I'm assuming a batter could wear a catcher's mask to bat and runners can also use a catcher's mask to run bases. Our school colors include black and I'm just trying to get more of a Darth Vader look to our program. I'm also figuring that a non-adult coach at first or third base could wear a catcher's helmet and for that matter every one of my fielders can wear a catcher's helmet or a typical batter's helmet with attached mask.

3) I'm thinking my pitcher, who can throw the high hard one as well as anyone and better than many is going to look, and be very intimidating out there in the circle with a black hockey style catcher's helmet and mask on. I'm thinking about black catcher's chest protectors on all my infielder's too. We'd look pretty tough all dressed up in that stuff and we ought to be fearless fielders in all that safety gear. Long, black EZ sliders on our legs, black Under Armor long sleeved shirts with mock turtle necks and we're on our way to that dark side look.

This is my 27th year coaching girls' high school softball and I've seen a lot of rule changes in that time. New rules such as helmets with face masks, helmets with chin straps (that will be the next one), helmets with masks on base coaches, helmets on all kids warming up pitchers in or out of play, helmets on any kid that runs out of the dugout out area to retrieve a bat and get it out of play, players that take their helmets off while in the field of play, players who touch the wrong colored base at first base, double first bases, bats that were perfectly fine one year but not the next just because they don't have a stamp on them, wooden bats that suddenly became illegal and are now legal again (after some common sense came into play and a few people questioned it), substitutes that can go into the game, come out of the game and still go back into the game.

Honest folks, when I first started coaching this sport the rulebook was half the size it is now. It's times like this that I really begin to realize just how much of a fossil I am getting to be. But truly, most the above mentioned rules really just make me shake my head.

I've chosen to stick around long enough to see the one rule change that has been needed since I started coaching softball - allowing high school girls to wear metal cleats. We had four girls slip on our home plate today and take very hard tumbles. Two more slipped on one of the other three bases when we were doing base running drills at practice. Today, none got hurt but I've said it many times, that plastic and rubber cleats on hard rubber bases and home plates is a recipe for serious injury. In my conversations with many of you I have learned that our school is not the only one to have had such injuries. I think we need an injury reporting system whereby people making all the new rules have some data. That's how the baseball players were allowed to once again start wearing metal cleats after having had a few years where they were illegal. Somebody presented concrete evidence that proved that there are more injuries to kids wearing rubber and plastic cleats than there are kids getting cleated by players wearing metal cleats. That's the long and the short of that!

If my memory serves me correctly, the question surrounding metal cleats was one of the survey questions at the clinic in February.

I've had some of you tell me that you think metal cleats would be a bad thing. I'm thinking that you have never had the knee injuries I've seen in our program (27 years) and in other people's programs where I've been watching those games. A drizzly, rainy day = a wet, hard rubber base and a wet home plate. It has the same effect as ice when those hard rubber and plastic cleats hit them. Hyperextended knees = serious injury! Baseball people were able to prove that there were more serious knee injuries to outfielders with rubber and plastic cleats than there were with metal cleats. They had hard data and the rule was changed again a long time ago. I was a high school baseball coach before I took over the leadership role with the softball program. When I started coaching baseball in 1973 the kids could wear metal, then they became illegal, then they became legal again, and still are. The baseball players play on the same kind of home plates, the same kind of hard rubber bases and the same kind of grass the softball players do - say what you want - if we kept accurate data on the types of injuries our kids suffer, I'd be willing to bet that it wouldn't be long before metal became legal.

I'm sure some of you who have been reading these diatribes the past few years have been wondering when I'd type again about metal cleats. Tonight was the night! I know exactly what it will take to get the rule changed in a hurry. I hope it doesn't take that!

We got outside today and it was the kind of day where Ernie Banks would have said, "Let's play two!" I'm looking forward to our next day on the diamond.

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!

Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #19 for March 23, 2006

It's a can of corn! A piece of cake!
Hello Again Everyone.

Today, I found that article in the Inside Wisconsin Sports magazine, April issue about the WIAA's Marcy Thurwachter getting an award from North Central College in Naperville, IL.

Marcy's award is the first-ever Cleo Tanner Award. She received it on February 1st in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The award is bestowed upon people in recognition of extraordinary effort and service given to the development and direction of women's athletics and was named after Cleo Tanner, a pioneer in women's athletics during her 40-plus-year career at North Central College in Naperville. Once again - Congratulations Marcy!

Marcy got back to me today concerning my question in last night's bulletin about the Coleman heaters and using them to warm up bats in the dugouts or bench areas. Her interpretation of the rule is that it is against the rules to put the bats in front of the heaters. Putting them inside jackets would not be however.

Here is an interesting message from one of The Fastpitch Chronicle Pioneers. It is the exact same thing I was thinking when I first read the rule on assisting a runner prior to a flyball being caught.

Here is the point from our Pioneer -
Bob,

So, if I have a runner on 3rd base with two outs, my slugger hits a high, lazy fly ball to an outfielder, and I want her to get another swing, all I have to do is pick up my runner and carry her toward home before the fielder catches the ball and, assuming an umpire sees what I have done, my slugger will get another at bat? That's a great deal!

I won't tell you what Pioneer sent the situation to me as it doesn't matter.

Replies in response to my diatribe about metal spikes also ran heavy today. Here's an example from a regular reader.

Good Morning Bob,

Just a big “ Amen” to the “let’s get steel cleats back in the game”. We had a girl last summer in an early morning game at a very prestigious tournament hit the damp home plate with her plastic spikes, slip and both feet went out from under her. She proceeded to come down on her wrist wrong breaking it and ending her softball and her golf season. A classic example of steel spikes would have prevented this accident.

Some people actually figured out that another part of last night's Bulletin was typed somewhat with tongue in cheek. The Darth Vader portion was a satirical view of the rules that have made their way into the game yet at the same time - it seems as though a hockey style catcher's helmet would meet the batting and baserunning helmet rules. You just might see Poynette kids wearing those things. If we step in the batter's box wearing one of our black, hockey style catcher's masks and your pitcher cracks up laughing and can't get past the humor - you might give up an big inning.

If I can figure out a way to get our bats to give off various colors of light when we swing them we'll be even closer to the Jedi Knights. For what bats cost nowadays, you'd think they'd glow in the dark anyway.

Another change in the rules I forgot to type about last night is -- optic yellow softballs with red seams in high school softball! For a purist like me, that was a tough one to swallow. I still prefer my softballs to be white but - yellow works too! At least they don't leave marks on the gymnasium floors when we have to practice our outdoor sport indoors!

I have been watching The American Inventor on ABC. When I think of all the things we've invented at Poynette in our 27 years of coaching softball, I ask this question - "Where was this show when I or we had those ideas?" EZ Sliders is a great example but I already have the patent and the licensing agreement and have been making money on them for several years so the show won't take that. Tomlinson's Ultimate Fungo is another one we came up with years ago that has made our job much, much easier here. If you've seen us take infield and outfield at the state tournament or at any game where we play then you know what Tomlinson's Ultimate Fungo is. We were using 1/2" wooden dowels and miniature marshmallows for batting practice well before others started using golf ball sized plastic balls for BP. We asked for nerf type pitching machine balls long before Jugs Lite Flites hit the market, our coaches made our own EZ Sliders 10 years before we altered it enough to get the patent and the licensing agreement. Our Fastpitch Chronicle X-Celerators are another example but The American Inventor wouldn't have given us three votes because our market is not large enough. The liner I use to put the chalk on the diamonds in Poynette is another example and there are enough of the readers who know what I am talking about with this one. You've seen me use it at the Jamboree or other games in Poynette. My buddy Howie perfected an indoor pitcher's plate and system long, long before they were being made commercially and selling for over $100. Those are just a few examples. I'm pretty sure most of you also have great ideas that might get you on The American Inventor. Don't tell me about them unless you want someone else to pilfer your technology.

Oh, by the way, it appears as though Poynette High School is looking for one varsity softball game yet and we can schedule some lower level games yet too. Send me an e-mail if you are interested and I'll pass the word on to my athletic director, Dana Breed.

I've started working on the Poynette Jamboree matrix (that's what my AD calls it - new world terminology - remember, I'm pretty old). Anyway, I'll be putting stuff on the Jamboree page of the website very soon to make sure we have it all correct as soon as possible.

Check out the latest team previews. There is one from Appleton North of the Fox Valley Association, one from Madison East of the Big East. There is a great one from the entire Packerland Conference, DeForest of the Badger North and a few other new ones.

Here is a list of the conferences that have no information sent in yet - Central Lakeshore, Central Wisconsin Small, Dairyland, Greater Metro, Lakeland East, Lakeland Central, Lakeland West, Lakeshore, Marinette and Oconto, Midwest Classic Midwest Division,Milwaukee City other than Bay View, Mississippi Valley, North Shore, Northern Lakes other than Crandon, Olympian, Ridge & Valley, some schools in the Rock Valley, Scenic Bluffs, some schools in our own South Central, Southwest Wisconsin, SWAL, Trailways North other than Randolph, Valley Eight, Little Ten,

Several of our rankers have lamented to me about the lack of information and cooperation. Somebody from each of those conferences gets these bulletins and most schools in them get a copy of the bulletins.

I've posted the first game score I received - It's on the week one results page - Milwaukee Lutheran beat Racine Lutheran 9-1 on Tuesday.

As for reporting scores to me for publication on The Fastpitch Chronicle website - take a look at the fictitious game I have posted on Monday, March 20th between Bug Tussle and Hooterville. It explains the best way to type the game reports. Of course I'll take it anyway you can get it to me. I just cut and paste.

Future bulletin topics -- Fastpitch Chronicle Pioneer Club; Fastpitch Chronicle Gold Medal Coaches Group - playing by all the rules - punchin' Judy and humpback liners.

That's about it for tonight - Keep sending in your thoughts and ideas for Bulletin ideas and once we get going send in your crazy plays that occur and scoring questions.

Before I get to bed I need to polish up all our hockey style batting helmets! I wonder where i put the polish?

May the Force be with You!
Keep it Rising!
Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #20 - for March 24, 2006

Put me in Coach - I'm ready today - Look at me, I can play -- Centerfield!

Ah yes, the great song by John Fogerty - Centerfield.

Nobody will be playing centerfield tomorrow in Marshall when the Cardinals, Sun Prairie, Portage and DeForest were supposed to scrimmage. It's called off due to cold weather.

Messages from across the Badger State all lament about the weather. One thing is for sure, I can't control it. I'll just keeping looking forward to warmer stuff coming in.

Our spring break started at the end of the school day today. No less than 11 of our 34 person roster took off with the music department for New York City. Add to that list a lot of other kids that are heading out to warmer climates with their families and our numbers have been decimated until a week from Wednesday the way it looks. I had no idea until a couple of days ago that so many were taking off. I haven't had a spring break trip in 28 years. I should have taken one this year, closed up the entire program for a week and went to warmer places and watched softball. We'll have no more than 8 people at any one practice next week. Our break is not over until the 4th.

Oh well, it's just the way it is!

I was about to start polishing all of our hockey style catcher's masks when I received an e-mail from my good friend Sue Reese in Columbus. She must have gotten a chuckle out of my diatribe but she also sent along a great "Hint from Heloise" kind of deal. "We'll call it "Reese's Pieces" because that simply sounds so good.

First, I'll give you Sue's first "Reese's Pieces" tip and then I'll ask all of you to send your tips in to me and we'll start running a regular "Reese's Pieces" section in these bulletins and on the website. A fitting tribute to a fantastic fastpitch person.

Here is Sue's e-mail to me.
Dear Bob - Speaking of polish ... after all these years of waxing, plastic polish, every thing I could think of (besides sending them in to be refurbished) I finally found something that brings back the "luster" to plastic batting helmets, catchers shinnies, etc. And for $4.50 a bottle it can't be beat! I used "Tire Wet" ... a little smelly, but made my old shin-quards actually look semi-new once again and brought back the shine to the helmets! Anyone else have any tried and true "refurbishers" that work?

Sue Reese

Thanks Sue - So there you have it - Tire Wet and only $4.50 a bottle. Now all I have to do is figure out where to go to buy the stuff. I'll probably just tell me catcher's to have their dads buy some and have them keep things polished.

My Kiwi friends (New Zealanders) refer to shin guards as boards.

Portage is looking for a team to play two games at their Invitational on April 22nd or even two teams that each want to play one game. Contact Athletic Director Jim Langkamp at Portage High School to get more information. His e-mail is langkampj@portage.k12.wi.us so give him a shout there. Jim also happens to be the father of my grandson and granddaughter Graham and Anne Elise. I just thought I'd toss that in as well.

Quite a few people have e-mailed in and commented about some of the stories I've told in these bulletins over the past three or four years. When a person is as old as I am and have been to as many games, ballyards and beer tents as I have - there should be plenty of stories. A couple of years ago it seems like I typed one up every night so I got thin on the real good ones. I've been jotting down some notes about crazy things I've witnessed, caused or had happen to me. I'll include a few of them in the bulletins from time to time.

Here is one.
Playing Caroms
In 1990 I was in Victoria, BC watching the ISC Men's world tournament. It was a great show there, and there were some incredible games with a lot of incredible teams and players involved. It wasn't like it is in 2006 - dying and dying fast. The Farm Tavern was playing SeaFirst Bank of Seattle. It was 0-0 in extra innings and SeaFirst finally got a runner to second base against the Farm and its pitcher, a great Kiwi. There were two outs. The batter got a liner up the middle that had a chance of scoring the winning run but the Farm centerfielder got to it quickly and made a perfect one hop throw to the plate. However, The Farm's catcher had torn off his mask and tossed it aside but aside was out in front of home plate about six feet. The throw was perfect but the mask was in the perfect place to have the perfect throw hit it and caused the ball to carom away from the plate. The SeaFirst runner scored and the Seattle team went on to win the world title. The Farm seemed jinxed again.

After I saw that play, I never let my catcher take her mask off again for a play at the plate for fear that the same thing would happen to us. I started figuring that if my catcher can see a pitched ball well enough to catch it no matter where the pitcher throws it she ought go be able to handle a ball thrown to her for a play at the plate. Then they came out with hockey style catcher's masks that are intended to be left on at all times and really solved that one for me.

The next Bulletin crazy softball story will be entitled "The Craziest Intentional Walk I've ever witnessed."

Oh before I type tonight's salutation -- any ideas on who that great Kiwi pitcher for The Farm Tavern was?

Have a great weekend folks!
May the force be with you always!
Keep it Rising!
Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #21 - March 26, 2006

I'm just out here in rightfield just watching the dandelions grow!

Hello Everyone!

The 2006 Pre-season rankings are about completed and will be announced no later than today or tonight. It was not easy doing them for any of the rankers because so many coaches in the state fail to submit any information about their teams and there are too many conferences with no information at all.

There are few things in regards to the rankings that I'd like to point out. Several schools have moved up or down a division number for 2006. Lancaster is a Division 3 school in 2006 instead of Division 2. Brodhead has moved to Division 2 from Division 3. Royall has moved to Division 4 from Division 3.

When you look at the rankings you might scratch your head a little but keep in mind that I try to keep on top of as many things as possible and get that information to the rankers. Things like key injuries, transfers or excellent freshman that enter strong programs affect the rankers and their thinking. The rankers are pooled with the idea of getting regional representation into the mix yet keep everyone thinking on a statewide basis. There are 10 rankers in each division of play. Seven separate ones in each division and three people who really are good enough to keep track of all four divisions. Those three rank all four divisions of play.

We'll miss a school here or there early on due to coaches failing to communicate enough information about their clubs. I'll keep digging around and finding more information and once we get started with games it will be much easier. Each year sees us get better and better.

There are 110 Division 2 schools this year, 112 Division 2 schools, 119 Division 3 schools and 100 Division 4 schools.

The strength in Division 1 really is spread around the state. There is no one area or one conference that is clearly the state's best. On issue that really creates so much subjectivity for everyone are conferences that have so many teams in them that few non-conference games are available. The Fox Valley Association is one such conference. They only get 2 non-conference games. Rankers are forced to look at those teams and sort out just how strong the conference is top to bottom. Many of the non-conference games are even played at less than full-strength using #2 or #3 pitchers.

In Division 2 the same holds true while in Division 3 there seems to be more overall strength in the Northwest and the Southeast.

Division 4, due to it's uniqueness seems to have most of the strength in the Central and North Central part of the state in 2006.

Here is a list of some schools in the various divisions that I think might nip a few teams and garner some votes as the season progresses.
Waunakee in Division 1. A new head coach to adjust to but they will be tough to score upon as great pitching will help the club make that adjustment. They were superb in the Capitol Area Fall League in 2005. Most of their schedule is played against Division 2 schools but year in and year out the state's top D-2 schools can play day in and day out with the state's best D-1 schools. There are some awfully good pitchers that do not play in Division 1.
Sun Prairie in Division 1 - This team graduated an excellent pitcher but they have two unknown hurlers who will quickly make people snap their heads and take notice. If they can score some runs for those two - they'll be in the thick of the Big 8 race. Watch for Melissa Chesemore and Heather Statz to lead the Cardinals near the top of the Big 8 and in tournament play.
Madison Memorial – I warned teams about this club last year and the next day they nipped a state ranked team. I think that win went to the heads of the Memorial girls, they played pretty well the rest of the season but didn’t quite make the impact I thought they would. This year is a different deal. The Spartans were excellent in the Capitol Area Fall League and have a young pitcher with a good repertoire of pitches that will hold them in games. Their third baseman is a hitting machine so teams won’t have it easy when they play this club.
Janesville Craig – I think the Cougars are on the precipice of taking another step up as well. I look for Coach Dan Bayreuther’s nine to contend for the top echelon of the Big 8 as well.
Highland in Division 4 - Laci Pustina, remember that name. She's a sophomore and an excellent pitcher and hitter. Her rise ball will be pretty tough to handle for teams in Division 4.
Northwestern in Division 2 - I saw their players a couple of times at my clinics since last year's state tournament. They will be a force to be watched in the Northwest corner of the state.
Superior - Amy Zembo's club is stuck as far northwest as a school can get without being in Minnesota. They could play a factor in that sectional.
Mineral Point – This is what I hear constantly, “basketball rules the southwestern part of the state.” However, I think there are some excellent teams and players in that area and I think Mineral Point is about ready to make a break for it. I like their young pitcher and the chances she gives them. They have good athletes and if they can turn them into softball players they will make huge strides.
Bonduel – Some of you may be thinking “Why would he mention them in a column such as this when everyone knows they always field a strong team?” I just want to make sure that everyone remembers that very point. Although they graduated fine hurler and softball player, the Bears have great coaching and have softball players. I think they’ll quickly prove that and start garnering more votes in the D-3 poll.
Rosholt – This program has taken a different direction and it’s in a positive direction. I like the way coach Tom Fields approaches things and I like his search for more ideas and knowledge. They have an excellent pitcher in Anna Zdroik. If Tom fills in some question marks I look for them to make a statement.
Winneconne – This is another team that sits right on the precipice. It things go the right way for them they will challenge all teams and will be a formidable opponent.
Park Falls – I like the way things go up there. There is commitment and there is work being done all the time. I like their pitching staff as well. Keep your eyes glued to the reports from the Lumberjack conference and watch for this name – Kelsey Walasek.
LaCrosse Aquinas – I haven’t heard anything from this team or much about them but know them to be very competitive.
Medford – Coach Virgil Berndt’s club can never be taken lightly. I look for them to improve steadily once the snow disappears and games begin.
Luxemburg-Casco – Although not in the initial rankings, this program is top-notch. They’ve added a pitching coach that will step up their staff. A tireless worker, Coach Tom Giachino wll have the Spartans ready to compete.
Ripon – I think this program is a sleeper that teams need to watch out for. Their coaching staff demonstrates what it takes to keep competing. I like their attitude and their approach to the game. They are a good hitting club that just needs to step up what happens in the circle.
Brodhead – OK, OK so this might not be a no-brainer but Steve Krupke’s Cardinals have moved to Division 2 from Division 3. He has arranged a very tough regular season schedule that will get them ready for the post season. He plays the game, he knows the game and he’s another one of those coaches who just keeps watching, noting, observing and learning. He’s a state championship coach as well – that should be enough said right there.
Baraboo – This club has several pitchers to choose from and all are very good. They have a great catcher who hits the ball very well and they have a seasoned coaching staff. They did well in the Capitol Area Fall League in 2005. I think they will once again challenge for the top spot in the Badger North and will be force in that D-1 regional with LaCrosse Central, LaCrosse Logan, Madison Memorial, Madison West, Tomah and Waunakee.

That’s just a short list of teams that I pulled from the front of mind. There are quite a few more that will cause some head jerking during the season.

I’ve started posting some things on The Fastpitch Chronicle message boards where you can join in the dialogue on a regular basis. The message boards are a forum of Wisconsin fastpitch people to stay in touch and let their feelings be known. I’ll check them all the time and will keep things on the up and up. There is a separate area just for Wisconsin High School Fastpitch thoughts and ideas/Topics. You can get to the message board by clicking on the message board line on the home page of The Fastpitch Chronicle website at http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com so get there.

Games get underway this week. Make sure to e-mail your scores in or have somebody from within or right on the outside of your program report them. I’m apt to start writing some pointed commentaries directed at people who fail to do that kind of stuff. We can’t take this game to higher levels of notoriety without game scores and summaries getting reported. Here’s why I say that.

I had a chat with Rob Hernandez of the Wisconsin State Journal last week and I learned some more disturbing news. There is apt to be less and less room in that paper and all papers for news and information about sports like ours. Advertising inches control column inches of news and even with increased income the people in the high places of those media sources do not see where reporting in depth about things like high school fastpitch softball is worth the inches dedicagted. There’s not much people like Rob can do except fight the battles within their corporations. There are lots of things you can do including typing up detailed game summaries and reports and clicking on the send button right after you have typed faspich1@aol.com in the To: box of your e-mail screen. Advertising does not affect the amount of news I run. There isn’t any advertising! There are only two things that affect what I publish – the amount of news I receive and the amount of time I can find to live inside this little box and load it up and get it out there. The second part of that scenario has always proven that I find the time – I’d like to be faced with the situation where I say to myself – “Whew, how am I going to get this all done and still get all the other things in my life done?” That hasn’t happened yet.

The turnover in the number of high school fastpitch softball coaches each year leads toward not getting the news. New coaches don’t know about the coach’s association, they don’t know about The Fastpitch Chronicle, and those people who do know about us fail to tell the new people that we are here to serve them. Take a look at the numbers – there are 441 WIAA softball schools and as of March 21st only 231 were paid members in the WFSCA. That’s a percentage of 52%.

To use a phrase from a famous president – the question should be – for those of us who are members “Ask not what the WFSCA can do for you – ask what you can do for the WFSCA?” The same could be said for your players, your school, your community, and for that matter for The Fastpitch Chronicle.

Get on the phone or e-mail and urge the other coaches in your conference to join. I hate getting to the all district selection committee meetings only to learn that a great player is not eligible for all-district or all state recognition because their coach didn’t join the WFSCA on time or at all. That’s a shame!

I’ve typed enough for this bulletin. Start firing messages to the forum boards. Start communicating the importance of working together for the betterment of the game. Start reporting all your games even when you are the visitor. Chances are, the coaches who don’t join the WFSCA probably fail to report scores too. It’s not the home team’s job to e-mail me your score, it’s your job to make sure I get it.

If nothing else, how long does it take you to type this? Winners Score 3, Loser’s score 2 and hit the send button? 5 seconds? 10 seconds?

Quite honestly folks, I stopped buying the “I just don’t have time” line a long, long time ago.

Keep it Rising!
Bob
Check out sportsdiamond.com equipment

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #22 for March 28, 2006
Check out sportsdiamond.com equipment

And the umpire yelled - "Play Ball!"

Hello Again Everyone.

A few people got the answer to my pitcher query the other night in the story about the 1990 mens’ game in Victoria, BC. The Farm pitcher that night was Graeme Robertson who is now the pitching coach at UW-Oshkosh. I first saw Graeme throw when he was playing for Pay n’ Pak out of Seattle in the mid 80s. Graeme was very, very tough.

Just a reminder to coaches who want to put your team stats in a place where your players and their parents etc. can readily view them. Check out Stats and Go at statsandgo.com where it is a free service. Keep your eyes glued to their site as Al Miller has been telling me that they will have a handheld software program soon for those who enjoy that kind of scorekeeping.

Also, don’t forget about Sportsdiamond and the great equipment they sell for way under regular retail costs. Check them out by clicking on their website link from the homepage of the Fastpitch Chronicle website. In the very near future I’ll have a link to Sportsdiamond and Close Out Athletics on every page of the website.

The games have begun. I have posted games this week to the Week 2 page of the website. If you get too far ahead of me in week’s though I won’t have deleted last year’s games from those weeks. Bear with me, I often have other things to do beside bang away on the keys to this little box I have been accused of living within at night. I have all games from Weeks 1-4 deleted from last year now. I’ll stay ahead of you on this one.

The first rankings appear on the Rankings page – check those out and send your complaints to me or type about them on the forum page of the website.

Keep in mind that the message boards are really a forum for the readers.

Greendale is off to a 2-0 start already. Waterloo beat Pardeeville today while Parkview picked up a win over Albany. Seymour beat Oconto up in that neck of the woods while Union Grove beat St. Joseph and Mayville beat Campbellsport. If there are other games played today, I have not received them by the time I am writing this.

Our diamonds in Poynette are in great shape this week but we have very few players in Poynette due to Spring Break. We had three varsity players at practice on Monday and three there again today. Anybody need a diamond to play on?

I spent a couple of hours today attaching facemasks to old batting helmets. It’s not a hard job but it required some time to get it done. I did notice that there is one aspect of the helmets that I can use to help my hitters work on their Smooth Pursuit Eye Movement. I think those masks just might better hitters out of my weak ones and even better hitters out of my good ones. Now, if I could just get my hitters back from Cancun, Florida, New York, Arizona and other parts of the world we could show them what I’m talking about.

Word out of Milwaukee via Dave DeGrace is that Dan Pollard passed away while working at the Rebel Spring games in Florida. Anyone who had anything to do with summer girls’ fastpitch softball knew Dan Pollard. If he died at the ballyard, my thoughts are, if you are going to go, the ballyard would be a great place to do so. My father-in-law passed away on June 1, 1999 sitting in a lawn chair at the end of the Poynette bench area in Waunakee during the 4th inning of the sectional championship game. Now there’s a way to steal a show!

I always tell people that I’d just as soon get hit in the head with a line shot down the third baseline. If that happens just drag me off to the side, cover me up with the infield tarp or any tarp and finish the game! Then party!

A friend heard me say that recently and said, “If you don’t stop coaching pretty soon, you’ll be so old that’s bound to happen because you won’t be fast enough to move.”

Speaking of old – I bet there aren’t many high school coaches out there that can say that they are now on their second high school player whose mother was a star for your team when she was in high school. I have a sophomore and now a freshman whose mom’s were both excellent players for me in Poynette. I keep telling the current players that I don’t think they are as good as their mothers were – now, there is a way to get some hustle and hard work out of them. Both mothers were all conference players, so the kids have some work to do. Heck, the entire program owes a debt of gratitude to the newest daughter’s mother. She was the class President her senior year. Poynette’s school board continually (1981 through 1985) cut my request for a pitching machine for the program. The baseball team had a pitching machine when Butch Paulson started his company in the 70s (Jugs) but the Poynette school board thought it was just great that Bob could throw batting practice all day long like he did (and still does). Anyway, when the Class of 1985 graduated they had a lot of money left over in their treasury and the officers had one day to decide what to do with it or it would go into the Memorial Fund. At least three of them were softball players so they said, “Buy the softball program a pitching machine.” I’ve replaced the speed control panel three times on it. I personally rewound the electrical motor once and we still use it. It throws pitches faster than any of the newer ones. I still remember the letter to the editor in the Poynette paper though, that raked me over the coals for getting that pitching machine. I wonder how many total kids would have checked out those books compared to the total number of kids that have faced that pitching machine in the 20 years in the spring and all summer long. I think it was money well spent! Year in and year out -- Pitch for pitch it was a great gift! That machine really is the Class of 1985’s legacy to the community.

Hey, it’s getting late again tonight and when I type these things my phone line is tied up (dial up way out here in the country).

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob
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The Fastpitch Bulletin #23 - March 30, 2006

And now a word from our sponsors!

Hello Everyone,

Head Coach Dan Bayreuther of Janesville Craig High School reached the 200 win mile-post in his coaching career on Tuesday when his Cougars invaded Waunakee and came away with a 5-2 win over the Warriors. The game created an interesting scenario as far as the head coaches went. While Bayreuthter was looking to notch his 200th career win, Waunakee Head Coach Tammy Rademacher was hoping to get her first-ever varsity win. The game was her first-ever varsity game.

I’ve added Dan name to The Fastpitch Chronicle Honor Roll page under the 200 win mile post and deleted his name from the list of coaches who have won between 100 and 200.

There are more games posted on the Week 2 report on the website. Be sure to check them all out and if you are a ranker be absolutely sure to check it out where possible look at the winning and losing pitchers for all games in the divisions you rank.

Here is a note from the Official Scorekeeper’s office. In one of the games reported this week we got a report from the home team coach and a note from the visiting team coach. That’s a great thing because we make sure we get the game score and report on the website for everyone to see. Here’s the kicker though. In one report the home team had 10 hits while the other report had the home team with 6 hits. There was a one-error discrepancy in the total number of errors charged to the visitors but that doesn’t make up for the other three situations where one team ruled hits where, perhaps something else happened that would not make the play a safe hit.

Safe hit! That’s a key term to keep in mind for your scorekeepers or you if you are keeping score.

Infield fly – remember an outfielder can catch a ball that has been called an infield fly by the umpire and it remains an infield fly. Also remember that an infield fly does not have to be caught to retire the batter-runner. Once called, the batter-runner is out! A dropped foul fly ball or pop up, which in the judgement of the umpire, could be caught with a reasonable effort by an infielder is not an infield fly once dropped. The batter is not out on a dropped foul ball that was initially called an infield fly. “Infield fly if fair” is the correct call.

I wonder how many umpires you’ll see using a bat to draw batter’s box lines in the dirt after the chalk lines are obliterated. According to the message from Marcy Thurwachter, no umpire, and I think no matter his or her name, rank, official’s number or whether they have umpired in a state tournament, national tournament etc, has the authority to draw lines like that. Here is why I say that: from Marcy’s message: QUESTION 11: As the softball game progresses and the lines for the batter's box are worn away should the umpire use a bat to re-draw the box or do you continue the game without the complete lines?

ANSWER Game is completed without the lines.

Also, no umpire ever has the authority to enforce rules that are not in the rulebook or to set aside any rule that is in the book. However, I can assure you that there is one rule that will be set aside time in and time out by great umpires, good umpires and weak umpires.

Any guesses as to which rule I am referring (it’s not a pitching rule).?

Answer will be in an upcoming bulletin.

There are some great messages on the forum pages of The Fastpitch Chronicle. Go to the messageboards and check those out. Tim Husted, leader of the Claire Danes, oops, I mean Eau Claire Danes or is it just The Danes? has a great one so check that out.

Have a great day!

Keep it Rising!

Bob
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The Fastpitch Bulletin #24 for March 31, 2006

Tonight we'll play a little chin music!

Hello Everyone!

It's Friday night and I'm on this computer trying to figure out what kind of diatribe to start my fingers out on tonight. I think I'll attack scoring issues some more.

After a great meal at Famous Dave's in Wisconsin Dells and some great conversation with my mother and father (whom I had not seen since Christmas) I am about to get going on this Bulletin.

My assistant coach of 24 years delivered what I am willing to bet is the most comprehensive high school softball record book in the state of Wisconsin or perhaps in the United States. I have every scorebook and scoresheet of every game a Poynette High School varsity softball team has every played. I started putting together career statistics the very first year I took the lead role in our school district's young program. I'd been running a huge winter slowpitch tournament here in Poynette for a couple of years before I took over the high school program. I'd kept all the scoresheets from that winter tournament so as to keep an up to date record book for that. Afterall, I'd named the tournament The Poynette World Winter Invitational Slowpitch Championships. A world tournament needs a record book. It was just a natural thing for me to start keeping game, season and career records for all my players and to get a school record book going. When Mary came aboard she was interested in the same thing and has been working on the project for a long, long time. Today she handed me a huge packet of papers and told me to proof it and get it all correct before we print off the stuff for the public to see.
An amazing stat at Poynette is that in the first year of the program (1979) there were no errors by any teams in any of the games. Not one error in the entire season. There were also no plays recorded that were scored a fielder's choice. And there were no sacrifice bunts or sacrifice fly balls. I was the home plate umpire for every home game that season and I know I saw lots of errors and lots of plays that should have been recorded as a fielder's choice.

Actually, now that I think about it - I think the person keeping that scorebook for Poynette's first year of fastpitch has been teaching other scorekeepers around the state how to keep the book for years and years. I look in the reports from the newspapers and I see games where there are more hits recorded than there were actual safe hits. I see errors charged to people when a safe hit should have been charged. I see singles awarded to batters where a sacrifice bunt and an error on a fielder should be recorded and I see singles recorded when a fielder's choice is the correct scoring choice.

Our official record book is as close to official as we can get based upon the atrocious scorekeeping that took place in 1979 and even in some later games where the scorekeeper failed to note where a pitching change took place or failed to mark how a batter had reached base.

It's a tainted record book for sure - but it's not as tainted as Major League Baseball's record book!

Tainted scorebooks really cause issues at season's end when coaches start trying to figure out how they are going to vote for post season award winners. Inflated batting averages and extra base hits are the norm year in and year out.

When is a run earned and when is it not? Those are questions and situations that every scorekeeper must know how to answer. When is a pitcher awarded a win, a save or an appearance? The answers are in the rulebook. All we have to do is refer to it.

Here is a play for you to score -- runner on second base with no outs. Batter bunts the ball down the third baseline. The third sacker fields the ball, pivots to check the runner at two who might be trying to make it to third base (she's not) and then throws late to first in an attempt to retire the batter runner. Safe at first is the call! Runner at second stayed at second base.

Score that simple play! -- Score it a fielder's Choice on the batter

Here is another easy but far too often incorrectly scored play.

Runner at second base and one out. Batter hits a fly ball to rightfield. Runner at two, tags and safely makes it to third base.

Score it! It's not a sacrifice fly. It's simply an F-9 on the batter and the runner advanced.

Another simple play for you to score.

Runners on first and second base and less than two outs. Batter bunts and it is fielded by the pitcher who throws to third base but not in time to retire the runner there.

Score that one. - Sacrifice bunt for the batter

Score one more.

Runner on first, one out. Batter slap bunts the ball to the first baseman who fires to second base but not in time to retire the runner. Score it a sacrifice for the batter on the slap bunt and a fielder's choice

OK - you are now in the scoring groove so I 'll give you a few more.

Runner at first, batter slap bunts a chopper between the pitcher and third sacker. Either fielder fields the ball and without even looking to second base, fires to first but too late to retire the batter runner. score this one a single

Two outs - nobody on base and no runs scored yet in the inning. Fly ball to rightfield that is dropped and batter runner is safe at first. Next batter hits a double, followed by another double and then a home run. Next batter strikes out.

How many earned runs were scored in that inning. no earned runs scored in the inning

Runner at first on a single with two outs. No runs have scored in the half inning. Next batter hits grounder to short but the ball is booted and both runners are safe. Next batter triples followed by a ground out 4-3 to end the inning. How many earned runs are charged to the pitcher in that inning. no earned runs charged to the pitcher

Bases are loaded with no outs. Batter hits the ball to short who tosses to second (out there) and the relay to first is in time to get the batter runner. It's a double play. How many RBI does the batter get? no RBI are awarded when a batter hits into a double play

Does a passed ball get charged as an error on the catcher? Not charged as an error but it might not be an earned run either

What five plate appearances do not get scored as official at bats?
1) Base on balls
2) hit by a pitch
3) Sacrifice bunt
4) Sacrifice fly
5) Catcher interference

Who gets credit for the putout when a batter strikes out? the catcher gets the put out

In a full seven inning game where the visiting team wins - how many total putouts should have been recorded for each team? (tough math question here) 21 putouts per team

Two outs, nobody aboard. Batter hits ball to third base who throws it way down along the rightfield sideline fence. Batter goes to third base. Next pitch goes back to the screen and the runner scores. The pitch is ruled a wild pitch. Is that an earned run or an unearned run? It's an unearned run

Here is the toughest scoring situation for you of the night. I'll give it to you two different ways.

Nobody on base. Batter hits foul pop up in front of first base bench area but in play. First sacker gets under it but drops it. Inning should have been over. On the next pitch the batter strikes out. Score those last two pitches. there is no scoring on the dropped pop up because she was retired on the next pitch and no damage was done. It is a delayed scoring situation. After the dropped pop up you wait till the at bat is over. If she reaches base you go back and record an error on the fielder that dropped the ball.

Nobody on base. Batter hits foul pop up in front of first base bench area but in play. First sacker gets under it but drops it. Inning should have been over. On the next pitch the batter singles. Score the last two pitches. you now go back and record the error on the first sacker.

I have added many more team previews to that page of the website so check them out. Several conferences, for the first time ever, have some information listed therein. The Dairyland has one team's preview now.

Several ranked teams were beaten this week. Check that out in the Week 2 scores by comparing those scores to the rankings. Rankers should really be noteworthy of that.

Have a great weekend!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #25 for April 2, 2006

Infield Fly! Infield Fly if Fair!

Hello Fastpitch Folks

The list of people getting the bulletins mailed directly to them has now topped 2400. That's a lot of people paying attention to some fastpitch inside stuff.

At two games on Saturday umpires automatically sent batters to first base via intentional walks without the pitcher having to throw them a pitch. Folks, that's the wrong way to administer a fastpitch softball game.

I think more umpires should get these bulletins and read them.

I've had several coaches request my explanation of how the DP/Flex rule works again. I've decided to just reprint what I typed a year ago. For those coaches who need it, just print it out and stick it in your scorebook.

The DP/Flex Rule

Rule 3, Section 3, Article 6

Art. 6 . . . (F.P.) A team may use the DP/FLEX option provided it is made known prior to the start of the game.

a. The DP’s name is indicated on the lineup as one of the nine hitters in the batting order.

b. The name of the player for whom the DP is batting (FLEX) will be placed in the 10th position in the lineup.

c. The DP must remain in the same position in the batting order for the entire game. A starter and any substitute for a starter may not be in the game at the same time.

d. The DP may be substituted for at any time by a legal substitute or the FLEX may play offense for the DP. In either case, the DP will leave the game. If replaced by a substitute, the DP position remains in the lineup. A starting DP may re-enter one time, provided the DP returns to the original position in the batting order.

1. If replaced by the FLEX, this reduces the number of players from ten (10) to nine (9). The game may legally end with nine (9) players.

2. If the DP re-enters or a substitute enters as the DP and the FLEX was batting in the DP’s spot, the FLEX can: a) return to the number 10 position and play defense, or b) leave the game if the DP plays defense for the FLEX.

e. The DP may play defense at any position. Should the DP play defense for a player other than the FLEX, that player will continue to bat but not play defense, and is not considered to have left the game. The DP may go play defense for the FLEX and the FLEX is considered to have left the game, reducing the number of players from ten to nine.

f. The FLEX may be substituted for at any time by a legal substitute or the DP may play defense for the FLEX. In either case, the FLEX will leave the game. If replaced by a substitute, the FLEX position remains in the lineup. The FLEX may re-enter the game one time provided she returns to the tenth position in the lineup.

1. If replaced by the DP, this reduces the number of players from ten (10) to nine (9) players.

2. If the FLEX re-enters or a substitute enters as the FLEX and the DP was playing defense in the FLEX player’s spot, the DP can return to batting only, play defense for another player or leave the game if the FLEX plays offense for the DP.

g. Placing the FLEX into one of the first nine positions for someone other than the DP’s position is considered an illegal substitution. The illegal substitute shall be removed from the game and restricted to the dugout/bench. See Rule 2-57-2 for additional penalties.

OK you say, what’s that all mean? Here is an explanation using some names from our Hooterville vs Bug Tussle game on the website.

Hooterville chooses to use the DP/FLEX rule in today’s game against Bug Tussle. The Hooterville manager, Sam Drucker, chooses to use Bobbi Jo as the FLEX player because she is not a very good hitter but is the greatest shortstop this side of Green Acres. He uses Billi Jo as the DP and bats her fourth because she can hit. Billi Jo’s name appears in the number 4 spot on the lineup card and Bobbi Jo’s name appears in the 10th spot on the lineup card.

In the third inning, Sam Drucker decides to get his other pitcher warmed up during their defensive half of the inning. His other pitcher is Betti Jo and she has been playing first base during the first two innings. Sam sends the DP, Billi Jo out to play first base and has Betti Jo begin warming up behind the dugout. The FLEX player, Bobbi Jo remains in the game at shortstop. This is not a substitution because the original 10 players are still in the game.

In the defensive half of the fourth inning, Sam Drucker puts Betti Jo back out on first base and brings the DP, Billi Jo back to the dugout. There still has not been a lineup change.

Later in the game Sam Drucker chooses to have the FLEX player, Bobbi Jo bat for the DP, Billi Jo. Now a lineup change has occurred because a new batter is involved. The FLEX player position has just been terminated unless a re-entry involving those two players takes place.

If all the Billi Jo, Bobbi Jo and Betty Jo stuff didn’t confuse you more, then you have the idea.

Here is another situation that gets people’s blood pressure to rise.

Number 25 was batting in the leadoff spot but Number 12 is found to be batting in that spot in the batting order. The coach of the team on defense appeals to the umpire that Number 25 should be the batter and not Number 12. That coach wants #12 declared out for failing to report or be reported.

Rule 3,6,12 covers that situation. Actually Rule 3, 6, 1 thru 12, all get one team warning before a penalty is involved. In the case I described above, #12 is considered to be an unreported substitute and is therefore not out. The next unreported substitute, however, is ejected from the game and restricted to the dugout/bench area for the remainder of the game. The coach is allowed to screw up one time per game when it comes to not reporting substitutes.

And just one more common occurrence that I can help clear up tonight.

Rule 3, Section 3, Article 1 … A player, who is not listed as an eligible substitute on the lineup card, shall not be prohibited from playing.

Knowledge of the rulebook by the coach is fundamental to being the coach. Not knowing the rulebook might put you in a situation where a mistake in administering the rules causes you to lose a game. Your kids deserve better than that.

Know the rules and teach them to your players. Don’t expect your players to know them just because they’ve been playing ball since their t-ball days. Players who know the rules can make some interesting plays for you. Players who don't know the rules will more often than not create some interesting plays as well.

The rankings have been updated. There are scores published in Week 2 of the website but there are games that were played that have not been reported. What a shame!

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #26 for April 5, 2006

High and tight!

I just deleted about 15 minutes of work on tonight's bulletin. I had typed some stuff about not reporting scores etc. but you've all heard plenty about that so I highlighted the stuff and hit the delete key. It's gone!

I get lots of e-mails and comments about the time I spend putting this website together and getting stuff included. There are very few things I miss. As a matter of fact, last night I came home after taking my wife out for dinner (following our game) and started working on a lot of reports in my "inbox." I was about to save about an hour's worth of work when something happened and suddenly my computer no longer had my Dreamweaver software open. I'd lost all that work. Some people may have just said "Oh, Well." Not me, if you take the time to send me the information, I've always promised to get it on the site. It was simply a matter of starting over. For me, there was no other choice. I went back to my recently deleted e-mail box and re-posted all those games so the thousands who check in on the site can see who won, who lost, who pitched, who hit home runs etc. The rankers need all that information and quite honestly, so do your players.

As Larry the Cable Guy would say - C'mon folks - git er done!

Before I move on I want each of you to know this fact - I read every article that is sent in and I look at every line score and box score as I post them. I check to be sure things look right, and quite honestly I enjoy reading about all of your players. I enjoy knowing about your clubs and how you are doing. I just wish more coaches would send in reports or put somebody else in charge of getting that done. My promise has always been - send it in and I'll get it in! That's a solemn promise from me. If I miss one, just re-send it to me and I'll get it right the second time (missing one doesn't happen very often, my batting average is pretty darn high).

Today I received an interesting article from Tom Drohner at SPASH. I read it twice and after the second time I tried to figure out where to put it. It wasn't a game report and it was too long for the 2006 Preview page. I chose to fire up a new page on the website just for feature articles. So the new page is a new feature within The Fastpitch Chronicle website and it's calledfrom my home page or go to http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/features/htm and take a look at the article about SPASH softball.

If you have a feature story about your team or want to write one - just do so and send it to me via e-mail. I just cut and paste and proof and edit and for me that's easy.

Last week a reader saw me and asked, "How fast do you type?"

The answer is "At warp speed." So send in your stuff.

Teams entered in the Poynette Jamboree should take note that I have started working on the schedule. I'm getting a pretty good feel for the competitiveness of all 38 teams entered right now so I can being pitting teams against one another. We'll be playing at least 15 games on Friday and 28 more or so on Saturday. I'll have a separate page on this website just for the event.

It appears that SportsDiamond will have a trailer set up on the grounds at the high school during the Jamboree. That will be a great addition to the festivities at the Jamboree.

I've chosen to start highlighting some of the fine pitchers and their performances around the state. Tuesday performances like the one turned in by junior pitcher Chelsea Held of Horicon last night when she twirled a one-hitter, walked none and fanned 16 as her club beat Winnebago Lutheran 2-1. Her opponent, Jenny Boelk may have gotten the headlines with her one-hitter with nine strikeouts had WLA not botched a rundown that allowed the second run to score. Another performance was by Candyce Karcher of Crandon who tossed a no-hitter at Wausaukee and fanned 15 or Union Grove's Kristyn Hansen who tossed a one-hitter at St. Catherine's and fanned 16. Erin Rostad of LaCrosse Central tossed a two-hitter with nine Ks against Onalaska. Ricki Mack of Lodi tossed a no-hitter at Nekoosa and fanned five. Annie Kotz of Fort Atkinson tossed her second straight one-hitter and fanned 15. Those are just a few.

Those are just a few of the pitching performances I gleaned from posting scores from Tuesday's games. I'll also begin highlighting some hitting performances as well. I'll be looking for hitters who get big hits or multiple hits off the state's top pitchers. Don't expect me to highlight a 5x5 night for somebody when they got those five hits off less than stellar pitching.

The question on hitters (from me anyway) is: how do they do against the elite hurlers?

And the question on pitchers is about the same. Did she toss that no-hitter or one hitter and fan a bundle against a good hitting team, a winning team or did it come against a team that doesn't hit and doesn't win?

Spread the word about the website and the bulletins. How many people visit the site? Just check the numbers. There have been more than 100,000 hits on The Fastpitch Chronicle in the last three weeks - 100,000 hits in three weeks! In my humble opinion the site is doing just what it has always been intended to do - create some interest and serve the game!

Have a great day!
Stay in touch!
Send in your scores and urge the coaches in your towns to do so.
As Always,
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #27 for April 6, 2006

It's a "hump-back liner" to left and the runner scores!

Hello Everyone - It's earlier, way earlier in the day from when I most frequently write these diatribes but, I'm heading for the NCAA Frozen Four in Milwaukee to see the Badgers play for a spot in the national championship hockey game. I'll not be posting scores tonight but send them in anyway as I will get at them early in the morning.

Here are a couple more highlights from this week. Kate Earleywine of Brodhead, a senior pitcher threw a five-inning "el perfecto" on Monday of this week. An "el perfecto" of course is where the pitcher strikes out every batter she faces. Earleywine beat Black Hawk and fanned all 15 batters. Kelsey Squires of Poynette hit the first pitch see was thrown this season over the fence in a home game. She was batting in the #6 spot and hit it in the first inning. It's the junior's third automatic HR in the past two years. On an afternoon when Stacy Bahr of Racine Park was exceptional, Kate Ricchio of Racine Case was just a little bit better. Ricchio pitched a three-hitter and struck out nine and also drove in the only run of the game to lead the Case High School softball team to a 1-0 Southeast Conference victory over Park at the Park Bowl.

If you have a player who has a great performance, just forward me the information for the highlights section. Otherwise, I'll just keep scrolling back through games to try to find some highlights. I do not have time to write down notes as the scores come in and I am posting them.

Feature articles can be forwarded too but perhaps you ought to get permission from the newspaper first or else just send me the link to that paper's site and the readers can click to get there.

Here is an interesting play from a game played this week. I want to share it with you.
Hi Bob - Dan Truttschel in Williams Bay here ... We had an interesting situation the other night in Rio that I thought I would pass along to get yours and others' opinions about. With one Rio runner on third, our pitcher threw a ball that got past our catcher and went to the fence; nothing unusual there, except that it became "hidden" in a bunch of leaves that had gathered at the base of the fence. By the time our catcher played hide and seek with the ball, the runner had scored. At first, it appeared the ball
was wedged in, which would have been a dead ball, and the kid from third would have been granted home. When I talked to the field umpire in between innings, he said he and his partner were unsure what to do in that situation. He did say they felt the runner would have been given home regardless if it was wedged or hidden ... so I told him I was going to gather as many leaves as I could find and put them behind our home plate (kidding of course)! What's your take?

Thanks again for this great site. I can't wait to read the bulletins, scores, commentary and other things every single day.

My take is that the umpires should have cleaned the leaves away or had the home team do that before the game started. Once it started they are in play just as tall grass is in the outfield or anywhere else. It reminds me of the second-ever Poynette World Winter Invitational Slow Pitch Championships I ran in 1979 when more than 2 feet of snow covered the outfield. The balls would fall into between the five outfielders and they would dig and dig like looking in sugar for those balls as the runners circled the bricks -- unless the cagy outfielders were decoying the runner.

Keep sending in your crazy plays and be sure to tell your junior high, freshman, JV Reserve and JV coaches to send in their crazy plays because those are the games where those crazy softball test questions come from. If you have ever coached or watched games at that level then you know what I am talking about.

The other day one of the readers told me that she wished I'd type the bulletins earlier in the night so she didn't have to stay up so long to read them. That's just one of the many examples that just keeps me updating the website and writing the bulletins. It's about promotion!

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #28 for April 8, 2006

It's shot and a goal!

Oops! Wrong sport! It was a great game and great night for Badger fans Thursday night though. My seat was perfect - Row A, Section 434 just to the left of, and right above the goal which the Badgers defended twice and with my 3-year-old grandson Graham on my lap throughout, my daughter Kari and along with my four-month-old granddaughter Anne Elise in her lap.

Badgers 2, Boston College 1 -- National Champions!! On Wisconsin! When you say Wisconsin -- you've said it all!

I have all the scores that were e-mailed to me from Thursday and Friday and Saturday posted now. The only scores from that state that are not on the site are the ones you didn't send to me.

I've changed the look of the scores a bit to make it easier for people like me who need reading glasses to see the stuff. I've started using larger font sizes. I've also started highlighting ranked teams that lose in blue. That should help the rankers out a bit more.

Here are just a few highlights from Thursday's action - Athens' Sam Kraft threw a no hitter against Prentice with 6 strikeouts; Denmark's Lauren Roberts shutout Sturgeon Bay and fanned 11 in doing so; Alex Behnke struck out 11 Marinette batters en route to a hurling a no-hitter;Denise Heuser threw a three-hit shutout and Erin Ruatti had a grand slam and five RBIs as Pulaski defeated Bay Port 6-0; Lauren Aldrich of Burlington Catholic Central fanned seven and tossed a one-hitter and beat Greendale Martin Luther;Black River Falls' Jenny Janke tossed a three-hitter to beat highly ranked D-3 Arcadia;Andi Pigeon of Sheboygan South one-hit Kewaskum with 6 strikeouts;Emily Deitz fanned 8 as Williams Bay staked themselves to consideration in the D-4 rankings as they beat highly regarded Johnson Creek; Luther beat Viroqua tonight 7-5 WITHOUT A HIT! Horicon's Chelsea Held tossed another gem with a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts as Horicon nipped Lomira.

Those are just a few of the outstanding performances from Thursday action.

Here are a couple of highlights from Friday action - a day that was not meant to play fastpitch softball on. Ashwaubenon's Kayla Kastenmier came one error away from pitching a perfect game as the Jaguars shut out Seymour 3-0 in a Bay Conference softball game on Friday. Kastenmier struck out nine and didn't walk a batter en route to a no-hitter. The lone base runner got there when Kastenmier herself had an error on the first batter of the game. Southern Door's Courtney Wautier tossed a one-hitter at Brillion; Bonduel's Ashley Berger pitched a one-hitter with eight strikeouts in a win over Peshtigo; Union Grove's Kristyn Hansen tossed a five-inning no-hitter against Racine Horlick; Carly Gueldenzoph of Burlington beat Burlington Catholic Central on a one hitter with 12 whiffs. Danette Oberle of Gilman tossed a three-hitter at Cadott and fanned 10.

There are also a couple of new feature stories on that page of the website. Go there to read those.

Here is a play for the umpires who read this Bulletin (I don't think there are many who do and those that do? I'd like to have them working my games).

One out and runners at second and third. Batter hits a fly ball down rightfield line close to the out of play line. Rightfielder makes a running catch in play but runs out of play after catching it. The runner at third base did not tag up before heading for home. It's like the chicken or the egg conundrum. The defensive team appealed the failure to tag up rule by the way.

Rule on that play! John Peterson, send me your interpretation. I'm interested in seeing if my interpretation is correct. The umpire who sent me this situation knows my interpretation.

I have 38 teams on my list for the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree May 5-6th. Here is the list. If you think you should be on the list, get in touch with me as my AD has contracts from these 38 teams.

Friday Teams: Adams-Friendship; Beaver Dam; Bonduel; Columubs; Dodgeland, Johnson Creek; Luxemburg-Casco; Madison East; Montello; New Glarus; Orangeville (IL), Pardeeville; Poynette; Prescott; Randolph; Sussex Hamilton; Thomas More; Union Grove; Weyauwega-Fremont; Waterloo;

Saturday Team: Baraboo; Black River Falls; Denmark; Edgewood; G-E-T; Lodi; Luxemburg-Casco; Madison East; Mineral Point; Marshall; Orangeville (IL); Pacelli; Pardeeville; Pecatonica-Argyle; Portage; Poynette; Prescott; Rice Lake; Ripon; Sevastopol; Stoughton; Sussex Hamilton; Thomas More; Waterloo; Wausaukee; Westfield; Winneconne.

I have a good start on the schedule and actually only have to move one or two teams around to complete the Friday slate. A few more days with games will give me a better idea of the competitive level of the field and then I can pit teams against each other a bit better.

This will be the first time in many years that Waukesha North will not be playing in the Jamboree. I'll miss that club.

Every time I type the name of a school who has two or more towns in the name I always wonder how that school's towns are separated in the typing; Teams like Blair and Taylor, Wittenberg and Birnamwood; Luxemburg and Casco; Peacatonica and Argyle; Weyauwega and Fremont etc. They all seem to do it differently. I always chuckle when I get a report where one team is listed with a hyphen in between the towns and the other team they are player is separated by a slash like - Blair-Taylor vs Weyauwega/Fremont. And of course there is always the case of Galesville, Ettrick and Trempeleau or G-E-T or is it GET? I never know for sure. The only thing I know for sure about that one is that I have a lot of great friends in those three towns.

New rankings will be posted late tomorrow night. I think I'm going to go to the Kohl Center and revel with the National Champions. Parking is free and admission to the rally is free. That just doesn't happen very often around there very often.

Have a great Sunday!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #29 April 11, 2006

Waddaya mean, she batted out of order?

Hello Everyone - It's always easy to tell that we are starting to get more games played because I get more and more e-mails that involve crazy situations that quite honestly are generally administered wrong by the umpiring crew.

Here are two tonight that both involve batting out of order.

Poynette at Lodi - Numbers are recorded wrong on the official lineup card. In the second inning a girl appears at the plate and is retired but she has the a different number on.

Ruling? Change the numbers on the scoresheet and the lineup cards - easy!

Here's the next one :

Hey Bob - help me out here.
With two outs, B-8 was due up, but B-9 batted in her position. B-9grounded out for the third out. After the third out, we brought it to theattention of our opponent and they agreed. When our opponent came up to bat in the bottom of the next inning, we fully expected to see B-9 batting again in the proper order. Our opponent told the umpires that they batted out of order and the umpires insisted that B-1 should be the next batter, not B-9. I of course disagreed, showed them the rule book and the case book, but to no avail. The umpires kept insisting that B-9 can't bat twice in a row, which I again disagreed. We finally went on with the game with our opponents only batting 8 players the first time through.

I hope I gave you enough information. I believe the umpires administered the batting out of order procedure incorrectly. Do you agree or did I miss something?

Here is another great one. Today during lunch at school my cousin Davy (he's the head baseball coach at Poynette) was reading softball questions and situations from the WIAA Bulletin. He read the one that is in there about a kid hitting an automatic home run and not touching home but her teammate picks her up and sets her on home plate. I'm positive that every coach and every umpire in the state has read that play in the bulletin so I won't go on about that correct ruling.

Anyway - about five minutes late I checked my e-mail during my free block and low and behold there was an e-mail in there from Grantsburg with a question for me on how to administer an automatic home run where the batter fails to touch home plate but has not left the field of play. Here it is:
Bob, Here's a play that happened in our game last night that may be of interest. Our player hit a homerun over the fence and missed home and the ump supposedly seen. She takes about four steps toward the dugout before her teammates screams for her to go back and touch, which she does. The plate ump turns away and is confronted by the opposing coach. They find a ball somewhere and make the appeal and she is called out. My argument to him was that since he saw her miss the plate he had a responsibility to remain focused on the play until it was completed. I realised our player should have stayed on the plate until the ump seen her. But it was a girl who just parked one so there was a little exitement. Of course the base ump was napping and didn't see a thing.Was there some factor I missed or did the ump blow the call?If it's a whorthy to share with others go ahead. If I missed something obvious lets just keep my stupidity between you and I.If had a situation like that happen against me and I saw the whole play I would have a hard time taking something like that away from even an opposing player.

There are just a couple examples that prove that the season is well underway now.

Here's another crazy play that occurred during our game at Lodi tonight. Keep in mind here folks, there may somebody who reads these bulletins who has played in more, umpired more, watched more fastpitch softball games than I have and if there is those are people I want to meet. I have never seen a play like the one that happened today in Lodi and it was hilarious.

Poynette was batting and our #4 hitter had just drew a base on balls with one out in the fifth inning with us leading 5-1. I inserted a freshman player who had never suited up for a JV game much less a varsity game. I chose to stick her into the game to pinch run because she works really hard and will be a player for us down the road. With her at first base, our #5 hitter laces a towering shot toward the fence in dead center field. I'm screaming at the freshman kid to get moving toward second base. She does. The centerfielder, on the dead run makes an over the head catch at the fence just as my freshman kid touched second base and headed for third. I'm screaming at the freshman kid to get back but touch second base on her way. She stops, turns around and slides back into second base as the throw comes into the shortstop and then to the second sacker. My kid is lying on the takes place again and the Lodi kid tags her again. By now I'm laughing my head off and the Lodi people are screaming at their player to throw the ball to first base. They do - my kid is finally out! But, had that throw gone awry and perhaps even over a low sideline fence, my kid would have ended up at second base anyway. In all fairness to the Lodi player, they had no clue that my girl had not tagged up because they, like everyone else in the park at the time was watching the ball and the centerfielder running it down.

One more call for you to think about - slap hitter at the plate. Runs up in the box and slaps a roller to the right of the pitcher and beats it out easily. Just before she gets to first the home plate umpire screams "the batter is out, she was out of the box when she hit the ball." I just looked at him. When the inning was over he made the mistake of trying to explain his call to me. He said she was out because her toe was outside the white chalk line and even showed me her mark. He was right, the toe of her front foot was indeed just outside the chalk line but the rest of her footprint was clearly on and inside the chalk. Folks, to be out her entire foot has to be outside the chalk line. It took a base hit away from our leadoff batter.

OK - so keep sending in your crazy plays and mis-interpreted calls.

Tomorrow night I'll go through some player highlights - It's late here right now and I've had four instant messages from readers who tell me they are waiting up to read the bulletin because they know one is coming out because I missed a night.

Hey
Let's Play two and
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #30 for April 12, 2006

Be careful who you call a “punchin’ Judy”!

Hello Everyone!

It’s a Wednesday night and those are always slow nights in terms of game scores and results to post on the website so I have more time to bang away on these keys and put out a larger Bulletin.

I’ve had a plethora of situations sent in today so I will be including some of them in tonight’s bulletin. I also will include an e-mail from my great friend John Peterson, my Fastpitch Chronicle rules interpreter and also the WIAA interpreter (at least I think he is). He responded to a couple of last night’s situations. You’ll find his response later in this bulletin.

I also have some announcements to pass along as well as some other fastpitch softball tidbits and information.

Here are some highlights from around the state from the past few days. These are not the only highlights however so keep that in mind.

Sophomore Ashley Meinen of McDonell tossed a three-hit shutout at Altoona on Monday; Sam Kraft of Athens tossed a one-hitter at Edgar and went 2x3 at the plate; Junior Stephanie Schmikla threw a perfect game as McFarland defeated Evansville 6-0 in a non-conference game in McFarland and went 3x4 at the plate; Sarah Koltis of Thorp went 4x4 in a 16-4 win over Owen-Withee; Alison Wright of Pewaukee is off to a .588 start in 2006; Lindsay Lubeck had a great night with two home runs and 4 RBI's while Elle Heeg was 3x3 and Tiffany Primeau and Abby Brundidge were 2x3 as Assumption beat Spencer 10-0; Ashley Paulus of Monona Grove tossed a one-hitter at Jefferson; Neillsville’s Jodi Glaze had a one-hitter against Stanley-Boyd; Anna Zdroik of Rosholt twirled a no-hitter at Tri-County with 12 K's and went 2x3; Emily Deitz threw her second no-hiiter of the season as Williams Bay defeated Hustisford 13-0; Stacey Epping of Waunakee recorded a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts against River Valley and then had a one-hitter against Sauk Prairie; Lauren Higgins struck out 14 and was 4-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles, leading De Pere past Pulaski; Bay Port 1, Ashwaubenon 0; Algoma 8, Katie Sawyer threw a one-hit shutout for Gibraltar, striking out seven in a win over NEW Lutheran; Paige Surprise (that’s a great sports name if I ever heard one – a name that makes for great headlines) pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts for Oconto Falls (3-0, 2-0); Kristin Zimmer of Laona/Wabeno fired a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts against White Lake; Katie Sutter of Barneveld hurled a perfect game with 7 Ks against Juda; Greenfield 2 ,Oak Creek 0; Miranda kammeyer and Katie Kooiker each launched homeruns over the left field fence as Grantsburg beat Unity; sophomore Elyse Rylander of Poynette went 3x4 in a win over Lodi; Tiffany Stanek of Baraboo tossed a no-hitter against Reedsburg; Freshman Kelsey Walasek fired a one-hitter and fanned eight as Park Falls beat Ashland; Greenwood 12, Neillsville 1; Arcadia 11, G-E-T 10, Greendale 3, Greenfield 1 (9 innings); Brynn Larsen was 7-for-8 with a pair of solo inside-the-park home runs and four RBIs as the Panthers (5-0, 4-0) swept Appleton Xavier; Chelsie Held tossed a perfect game with 10 strikeouts in a five-inning game against St. Mary Springs;

Those are just some of the highlights from across the state. There are certainly many more highlights that are just as worthy and I’ll keep noting some as I go along with the Bulletins. However, it’s a shame that in many cases all we get are the scores because coaches don’t send in summaries and we can’t expect the few people who take the time to at least type the score from the papers to do more than that. With only a score, great performance get lost.

If you haven’t read Air and Space by Steve Rushin in the current issue of Sports Illustrated you should get a copy and read it – it, like most of his columns is a great one this week worth reading. He’s married to Rebecca Lobo you know (former UCONN basketball great).

And more proof from Sports Illustrated that those of us who love fastpitch here are living in the wrong state – form Faces in the Crowd this week – “Emily Humpal of Corpus Christi, Texas Flour Bluff High School pitched 14 innings, striking out 36 and hit a game-winning triple in a 1-0 victory. She has thrown 12 shutouts and has an ERA of 0.56 and 335 strikeouts in 163 1/3 innings. I wonder how many games she has had snowed out and how many practices she and her team have had to endure indoors? I’d have been in fastpitch glory to have been able to watch that game. A 0-0 game going to the bottom of the 14th inning is a fastpitch purist’s idea of a great game. If you like to see lots of runs, go watch picnic ball!

OK – now for the stuff that really interests you.

Dear Bob, Hi there, I have two questions for you. I can't seem to find a clear explanation on 'tagging up'. Someone is insisting that the runner may leave as soon as the ball touches the fielder’s glove...and someone else is saying that control must be established before a runner may advance. (this is assuming that the runner is on the base at the time of the contact and/or catch).

Bob’s take – runners can leave on first touching – John Peterson will follow up with his take.

The other question is this...there are runners on 1st and 2nd and the batter hits the ball to the shortstop going to her left to field it and the runner on second interferes. In the dead ball table it says that the consequence is the runner is out and the other people return to the base occupied at the time of the interference. But, then Rule 8-5 Article 5 says in an interference case the runners must return to the last occupied base except when they are forced to go because the batter became a batter-runner. Last night the umpires told me that the runner on first had to return and the batter had to go back and she had a strike. I argued and told me they had to show me in the rule book before I would agree and they gave in....Can you help me?

Bob’s take – Whew, it’s hard for me to believe the batter gets another whack at hitting a home run. John?

Hey Bob,

How do you interpret rule 6.1.b? Can the pitcher take her sign from the catcher off the mound?

Bob’s Take - That's a great question and I've seen dozens of pitchers do that and I even saw a high school JV baseball player do it last night.

In softball, she can stand behind the pitcher's plate or anywhere for that matter and take sign language messages from anyone including her catcher. However, when she steps on the pitcher's plate she must have her hands separated and simulate taking a sign or pause like she is doing that or it's not legal.

Theoretically, they could take a sign before stepping on, step on and retake the same sign or change signs or pitches to be thrown.

That's the way it was explained to me a couple of years ago by the WIAA head umpire and I trust that he's correct.

I'll include your query in tonight's bulletin as there are few scores to post and the bulletin tonight will be lengthy.

John?

Bob - Okay, I've got one for you, maybe not so crazy, but worthy, I think. In a JV game, runner on second and first with one out, the batter hits one straight up in the infield and the runners try to advance. The umpire calls infield fly and the pitcher catches it. The field umpire is watching the play at third and calls the runner 'Out!" on a tag from the third baseman. Then there is a question about whether or not the runners should advance or not. When all is said and done, the batter is out and the runner at third is safe? I question the officials about the ruling and ask why I don't have two outs. The field umpire then tells me that the girl at third was actually safe on the tag attempt.

Bob’s Take – hey, he if he says she was actually safe, I guess she was actually safe but I wonder why she was called out?

Here is the Fastpitch Chronicle Umpire in Chief or our Official rule interpreter on last night’s batting out of order situation, foot on chalk line when contact is made and missing home plate. Thanks to John Peterson for answering them.

Bob, interesting plays.

On batting out of order. Description doesn't have enough information to be conclusive but according to rule 7-2 Penalty 3 page 56 the umpires were correct IF the batting out of order was not appealed or brought to their attention until after "all infielders have left the diamond if a half-inning has ended." In that case the improper batter becomes proper batter and next batter is leadoff hitter and batter #8 misses time at bat.

Missing home plate. Umpire should remain focused until runner who missed home either returns to touch home, defense appeals. Appeal can be made up until the next pitch, legal or illegal. However, runner who enters dugout cannot return to field to touch home.

You are correct on batter hitting the ball with part of foot on batter's box line. Legal not an out. Actually that call is a rule interpretation and not judgment call.

Wisconsin does not have protest procedure that could be used to correct mistakes in rule interpretation.

Here is one that happened recently and had a great on the players. Runner at second, batter hits liner to third, ball glances off glove, shortstop throws ball into first base dugout. Dead ball. For some unexplained reason the umpire thought runner started at first and awarded runners second and third. Coach asks why runner doesn't get two bases and the reply was that runner hadn't reached second. Plate umpire is also pointing to third. Ump doesn’t have any information that runner started at second. Coach talks to home plate umpire who concurs with award to third. Coach backs off and game resumes. At end of half inning umpire overhears assistant coach telling head coach runner started at second and should have been awarded third. At that point umpires realized theirr error, but since game resumed before error was corrected they couldn't correct it. Since there is no protest, team was out of luck and wound up losing 2-1 in 8 innings.

I want all coaches in similar situations to know that they should get both umpires together and make their opinion of the call known and ask for clarification. Had that happened in the game described above I would have checked scorebook to confirm runner started on second and corrected the mistake.

This applies only to rule interpretations and not judgment. This can get tricky since some plays involve both. For example if in our situation above, the runner had started at first and in their judgment the runner had not touched second at the time of the shortstop’s throw, the award would have been third. A coach that would insist award is home would not have been able to protest, since it was a two base award that involved judgment on what base runner had touched at time of throw.

John Peterson

So there you have it from John. Great answers and a great explanation of how to handle such situations.

Hey, it’s getting late now and you’ve had plenty to read in this diatribe. Thanks to all of you for all the support and kind words. This project is a great time for me and I’ve been able to meet so many of you great people. I look forward to seeing you all soon and meeting the ones I have not had the chance to meet.

Keep it Rising folks

Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #31 for April 13, 2006

Hey - Let's play ball!

Hello Again Everyone.

First of all an announcement from the desk of the Director of Operations for the Poynette Fastpitch Softball Jamboree! (that would be my desk). We have more teams entered in this year's Jamboree than ever before. There are 38 teams in all but we still have room for several more games that could get played. Most teams are playing two games while a few are playing just one and only a few are playing three games. Fewer teams playing three games has opened up one time slot on Friday and three time slots on Saturday. That means I can take two teams for Friday afternoon. Saturday presents a different scenario. I'd be willing to take two teams that each want two games and two teams that want one game. That would make the scheduling the easiest but I could also take six teams that want one game each or two teams that want three games each. I can't mix and match very well with only three time slots open. I have one excellent team ready to take one of the Saturday slots and my guess is for two games. They were rained out of an earlier invitational that apparently will not be rescheduled this year.

Here are John Peterson's replies to last night's play situations.

Responses to situations:
Tag up on fly balls. When fly ball first contacts defender glove or body. (Page 67 Rule 8-6-6) Control deals with whether it is a catch.
Runners on 1st and 2nd and the batter hits the ball to the shortstop going to her left to field it and the runner on second interferes. Ruling: Dead ball, runner on second is called out for the interference. (Case Book 8.5.3 Situation, page 57). Batter is awarded first, runner on first is awarded second UNLESS umpire rules interference was obvious attempt to prevent double play in which case runner on second and batter are declared out. Runner on first is returned to first if third out is not recorded OR could be awarded second if that runner touched second before interference.
Can the pitcher take her sign from the catcher off the pitcher's plate? Ruling, if umpire detects pitcher taking sign while off the pitcher's plate it is an illegal pitch (page 49 Rule 6-1-Penalty). Rule 6-1b says pitcher "shall take (or simulate taking) a signal from the catcher." So answer to question is no. However, as Bob stated I am sure that pitchers have taken signal from coaches and then stepped on pitchers plate. Also, as long as pitcher simulates taking a sign from catcher she is legal under 6-1.
Infield fly rule. In a JV game, runner on second and first with one out, the batter hits one straight up in the infield and the runners try to advance. The umpire calls infield fly and the pitcher catches it. The field umpire is watching the play at third and calls the runner 'Out!" on a tag from the third baseman. Then there is a question about whether or not the runners should advance or not. When all is said and done, the batter is out and the runner at third is safe? I question the officials about the ruling and ask why I don't have two outs. The field umpire then tells me that the girl at third was actually safe on the tag attempt.
Ruling: From the description it isn't clear if runners at first and second left their bases legally after fly is first touched by pitcher. If they left early they could be called out on appeal even if standing on second and third. If that happened there are three outs - inning is over. If they left first and second after pitcher touched infield fly they can legally advance to second and third. Since batter is out, there is no force and those runners must be tagged. If tagged before touching second or third they would be out.
Here is one of today's questions

Can a flex player be used as a Courtesy Runner for the Pitcher or Catcher? Since she is not in the batting order she should be available as a substitute or is it because she is listed on the line-up card that means she is playing and can not be considered for a courtesy runner.
My shortstop is fast, but can not hit a lick, so I have a DP for her. My catcher gets on base, can I use the flex player as a courtesy runner?

Bob's Take - No

Here is a request from of the Chippewa Herald's David Bossick: I need to know what the record is for combined runs in a seven-inning game as soon as you can get the information to me. I have a deadline of 9 p.m. Good Friday so e-mail me, or please call 1-800-236-5515. I would prefer an e-mail response. Bloomer defeated Stanley-Boyd, 25-24, Thursday.
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
David Bossick, Sports Editor -The Chippewa Herald

If any of you have a total score record that tops today's 49 between Bloomer and Stanley Boyd give David an e-mail at Chippewa.Sports@chippewa.com

A big upset of sorts in the Big 8 today where Madison Memorial beat Madison LaFollette 12-0 in five innings and beat last year's Big 8 Player of the Year in Jessie Flood.

That's about a wrap for tonight's bulletin - have a great day!

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #32 for April 19, 2006

Whaddaya mean she missed the tag? It was a force play!

Hello Everyone - Ya, Ya I know, it's been a few nights since the last Bulletin and you can bet your last home run I've been hearing about it from quite a few of the people who depend on The Bulletin for their daily fastpitch softball fix.

It's been sort of busy around here. We played on Friday and I went out for dinner following the game, watched a movie at home with my wife and son and went to bed - thus, no bulletin. On Saturday and Saturday evening I was working diligently to get the in-ground sprinkling system going correctly in my wiffle ball stadium here in my backyard. For those of you new to the Bulletins, I have been working on a wiffle ball stadium project for about five years. I have had a couple of major setbacks such as a huge, huge oak tree blowing over and smashing my plywood outfield fence which was 12 feet high. I'm still rebuilding that part. The tree was so huge that I had no way of really cutting it up and couldn't find anyone to do it for nothing until I got a new neighbor who has a Bobcat and some chain saws and he burns wood in his new house. So, the grass had died under the tree and in leftfield as well. I purchased an expensive load of pulverized black dirt last fall, spread it out by hand and seeded it down. Then I dug part of it up to dig the trenches for the in-ground sprinkler heads (four of them). I seeded it too late in September and the grass didn't take root very well before the ground temp got too cold. So, last week, I raked up all the straw and leaves, reseeded the outfield, got the sprinkler heads going and have been watering away all week. It's working too so we should be having some great battles (my 3+ year old grandson Graham and I) before the summer is over. He calls the stadium "my field!" He's right, it is his field.)

The Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree features 38 schools as of tonight. Actually 39 with Green Bay West but I'm looking for one team that would like to play two games on Saturday May 6th or two teams that would like to play one game each. I can't get Bob LeCaptain's West team in without that combination. That doesn't mean that a new team would play two games against West. As a matter of fact, you might not play them at all.

The tentative schedule for the Jamboree is now posted at http://www/fastpitchchronicle.com/jamboree.htm so go there and take a look at the schedule. If you are one of the schools entered and you see a glitch, for heaven's sake get in touch with me right away. It can still be fixed.

Here are a few highlights from this week's action -- Holmen’s Emily Pierce had a no-hitter against Onalaska in a 7-1 win; Brittany Erdmann of Clintonville tossed a three hitter against Freedom; Brynn Larsen of Oconto Falls hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the fourth inning as the Panthers beat Little Chute 9-3; Ashwaubenon nipped Pulaski 2-1; Appleton North snuck by Kimberly 1-0 as Biz Sitzmann hurled a one-hitter; Monroe beat highly ranked McFarland 8-1; Breah Kleven of Cambridge tossed a one-hitter with 10 Ks and beat Lakeside Lutheran 3-1; Amanda LeBard of Superior fanned 19 and allowed one hit as her club beat Duluth Denfield; Cherise Waltz of Oakfield fanned 8 and scattered four hits as the Oaks beat Horicon 4-0; Amber Zwoniarkiewicz of Horicon had three of those four hits off Waltz; Zwoniarkiewicz of Horicon is not the only Zwoniarkiewicz playing high school softball in the state of Wisconsin; Middleton collected 14 hits and beat previously unbeaten and recently ranked Madison Memorial 6-2 in 10 innings; Katie Sutter of Barneveld tossed a no-hitter and fanned 15 in a 3-0 win over Monticello; Southern Door continued to roll by beating Denmark 1-0;

The play of the night - you make the call! Batter laces a line shot right at the third sacker who can't get her glove up in time to stop the ball. The optic yellow sphere hits her right on top of the head and rebounds high into the air and goes over the sideline fence on the third base side before it hits the ground. By you making the call, I don't mean call 911 to get help for the third sacker. She'll have a headache but is doing well. What do you give the batter?

Marcy sent out a myriad of plays and rulings the other day. Rather than take up the space in this Bulletin I've placed her stuff on the website in the umpire section so click on the blue icon on the left side of the home page of my website and it will take you there or click on this link http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/umpirepage.htm and you can look at them there.

Tonight, I had the pleasure of doing a 20 minute phone conversation on ESPN Radio 1070 in Madison as my good friend Dennis Semrau of the Capital Times newspaper was on there. We talked about fastpitch softball in Wisconsin. I'd do that with any chance I get. The more publicity we can get this sport the farther and farther away from the recreational fields we take it.

Earlier today I had a voice message on my school phone from another Madison prep sports writer and good friend Rob Hernandez. He's had a couple of scoring questions and situations for me lately that are interesting. I really enjoy reading both Rob and Dennis' columns in their respective newspapers. I also enjoy the writing of Tom Kahl of the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen and that of Nate Frandsen of the Portage Daily Register. There are more and more newspaper people I am sending the bulletins to. It would do you well to send me any e-mail addresses of the newspaper sports writers or the TV and radio people who cover your school. They'd read this diatribe and the sport would get more and more publicity. The only way that is going to happen is if you jump in and help us promote it. The Pioneers of high school fastpitch softball in Wisconsin is a tremendous group of people who have worked long and hard to bring more and more notoriety to the sport. We still need to keep plugging away.

Here is another important announcement aimed at coaches who have won state championships but did so before the coaches association started purchasing the state championship rings for the winners. I can put you in touch with the right person at Jostens and for $200 you can get the same ring as the new state champions get. The rings would have your school name, your name, etc. on it. Let me know if you are interested. I will spearhead this operation. I know there are at least three coaches out there who have talked to me about a ring for themselves. Former WISAA coaches can get in on the deal as well (I think).

Hey - you don't have much time left to join the association and you don't have much time left to get your seniors nominated for the all star game either. Those are due to Tammy Rademacher at Waunakee High School by the 26th. That's a week from today folks, one week from today. You can get there and get the form by going to the Wisconsin High School Girls' news page on my website and click on the link to the form or go to wfsca.org and click around until you find the form, print it out, fill it out and send it in to Tammy. Don't wait, there is no grace period my friends. Nope, the deadline is the deadline.

I could type on and on but for the sake of those slow readers out there I'll finish up for tonight.

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob Tomlinson - The Fastpitch Chronicle

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #33, April 20, 2006

It's up, it's up, going, going, it's caught at the warning track!

Hello everyone,

Here is a short bulletin for you tonight in order to give me a chance to make a few announcements I was remiss in not making sooner.

Julie Detjen, now coaching at Minnesota Valley Lutheran in New Ulm, and former head coach at Fox Valley Lutheran (she must like those schools with the name Valley in them) won her 100th high school varsity softball game the other night. I've added her name to the 100 win list because 1) I really like Julie 2) she won most of those at Fox Valley Lutheran 3) She deserves the recognition.

Both of those coaches are now updated on my Honor Roll Page of the website.

Highlight - here's one I forgot to include the other night --
Karen Kasinski Jr. pitcher for Saint Catherine's High school Racine threw a no-hitter Saturday while striking out 15 against Burlington Catholic Central She was a dropped third strike on the first batter of the game from throwing a perfect game. She had 2 home runs and 4 RBI. A half hour later she beat Racine Horlick 2-1 giving up 2 hits and striking out 18. She hit 2 doubles in the game.

It's late -
Have a great day
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #34 - April 24, 2006

Back, back, back, back, back - off the fence!

Hello Everyone - I had planned on getting all the rankings done last night and sending out a bulletin but I learned all to soon that the scores I had spent more than two hours posting on Saturday that covered Friday and Saturday games hadn't been saved on my website. I had to go back through all my deleted messages and retrieve all those scores and post them last night.

The failure to have the scores there meant the rankers were without some valuable and important information.

I have things pretty well caught up now.

Here are a few highlights from late Week 5 games played across the Badger State -- Sara Flury of Arcadia hit three inside-the-park home runs last week and had 12 RBI; there were some really large score differentials statewide last week with scores like I was accustomed to back in the early 80s; Freshman Brianna Blume of Cumberland pitched a no-hitter against Bloomer;

Hey, Wednesday is the final day to get all star nomination forms postmarked and off to Tammy Rademacher in Waunakee. Better get at it today.

Poynette will be the site of a youth fastpitch jamboree the weekend after the regular Poynette Jamboree. The event is a scrimmage-like event for 12 unders and 14 unders. If interested contact Howie Wiese at harmokee52@yahoo.com and ask for information.

The schedule for the Poynette Jamboree is now on the Fastpitch Chronicle website and is up to date and as far as I can tell - "official." Check it out if you have team entered.

Poynette, due to a scheduling guffaw, is short one game on our schedule. If interested in playing a non-conference game prior to the start of the tournament series just e-mail back to me. We have arms and might travel!

Here are a couple of crazy plays - at the Portage tournament on Saturday, Menomonee ( I never know which way to spell that with those teams from three or four different Menomonees out there) had runners on 1 and 1 and less than 2 outs. They bunted and it was a pop up out in front of the plate and higher than most bunts go - the plate umpire yelled "Infield fly" and both defenders missed the ball while diving for it (not a routine effort). Both runners advanced but when the dust had settled and a long, long conference concluded, they had for me, what I had never seen before - a do-over. They brought the batter back and sent the runners back and started that at bat over. That's a true story folks!

Have a great day
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #35 for April 25, 2006

Take me out to the Ball Game - Take me out to the Park - Buy me some of those boxes of candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and prize!

Hello Everyone!

Here are a few highlights I gleaned while posting scores. If I miss a great highlight here and there is sure isn't because I intended to. Nikki Beyer of Medford, one of the kids that attends our Fastpitch Chronicle clinic there every year tossed a no-hitter at the Marshfield tournament recently and posted a one-hitter and in the last two days fanned a total of 26 batters as Medford won both games; Katie Maultra of SPASH, went 4x4 with two HR, a double, a single, with 7RBI's in a 19-0 win over Rhinelander; Katie Betry of Wittenberg-Birnamwood twirled a no-hitter against Weyauwega-Fremont today in a game between two of those schools with multiple town names attached to them;Kyrah Beaulieu of Elk Mound tossed a one-hitter at St. Croix Central today; Crandon's Candyce Karcher fanned 9 in a three-inning game today and then fanned 11 in a 7 inning game against Pembine-Goodman; Lindsey Grahn of Plymouth recorded her 8th shutout of season in a win over Kewaskum; Jessica Goetz for Greendale Martin Luther continued to dominate opposing hitters today striking out 13 batters in a 6-inning game against Shoreland Lutheran; Molly Brown as she struck out 15 in 6 innings of pitching only giving up one hit as Bruce beat New Auburn; Lauren Aldrich of Burlington Catholic Central tossed a no-hitter at Racine Lutheran today; Elyse Rylander of Poynette went 3x3 with a double and a triple against Wisconsin Dells today, the sophomore has emerged as Poynette's leading hitter after 9 games; Denmark's Kayla Krueger tossed a no-hitter with 10 ks against NEW Lutheran yesterday; Jodi Buresh of Luxemburg-Casco fanned just two but all 19 other outs were recorded by her or her infielders as all but the two singles by Algoma never made it out of the infield; Courtney Wautier of Southern Door tossed no-hitter with 12 strikeouts against Gibraltar; Lyssa Palubicki hit a game-winning, inside-the-park home run to left field with one out in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Seymour softball team to a thrilling 5-4 Bay Conference upset over Ashwaubenon on Monday; Athens 22, Rib Lake 20 on Monday;

Is there even such a thing as a three-inning game?

Mary Rykken of Black River Falls notched her 200th career win on Saturday at the Wisconsin Dells tournament. Jeff Stenroos of Prescott recently won his 100th game as did Steve Krupke of Brodhead. Congratulations to all three of those fine coaches.

Tomorrow night's bulletin will have a bunch of crazy plays for you to decipher and the answers will be included.

Oh by the way, you can't have a safe hit and sacrifice hit on the same at bat. If a kid bunts and beats the throw and there was no fielder's choice by looking to retire a lead runner etc. then score it a safe hit. If they looked to retire a lead runner and then threw late to get the batter-runner, record it as a sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice.

The number of hits on the website is phenomenal but I'm still trying my best to get more and more. I'd match the daily hits on it to any fastpitch softball site out there. We have topped the 350,000 number and are more than 150,000 since February.

Sports Diamond will be set up at the Poynette Jamboree next weekend. Stop in and watch some softball and get some great deals to boot.

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #36 - April 26, 2006

It's a "hump-back liner" and it's falling in!

Hello Everyone,

Dale Buvid of Monroe notched his 300th career coaching victory in a 3-0 win over Madison West last weekend. Congratulations Dale! That's a great milestone for one of the game's great Pioneers.

Here is a crazy play for your reading pleasure sent in from Shoreland Lutheran.

No outs with bases loaded. Ground ball to 2B and she throws home for a force-out at the plate. The pitcher gets the ball and casually walks back but not yet in the circle. The catcher goes to the fence in front of their dugout when her assistant coach calls her over to retrieve a ball that went out of play. I send the runner now at 3rd home to score. The catcher takes the ball that was out of play and tags the runner out. The plate umpire calls the runner out. I say it is the wrong ball and the pitcher has the ball that is in play. The umpire realizes that it was the wrong ball. After a discussion they rule that time was out when the 2nd ball came on the field and take the run off the board and put runners back on 1st, 2nd, & 3rd. I contend the run should have counted and we should have runners at 2nd & 3rd. I'm not sure if there should have also been a penalty assessed to them for playing with an illegal 2nd ball. If you could let me know I sure would appreciate it.

Now that's a crazy play! My guess is that if the umpires claim they had time called before that errant second ball arrived in front of the bench area then the coach of the team at bat doesn't have much of an argument.

Here is a note from Danes coach Tim Husted.

.
Bob,

The Danes are in the process of completing their roster for the 2006 summer season. In years past we have focused much of our recruiting based on players who are getting strong stats and results as I find on the Fastpitch Chronicle. We are also somewhat changing our focus from a 50/50 split between WI and the Twin Cities to focusing on Wisconsin and Southern Minnesota players (Rochester, Winona, etc) although we certainly still have a few twin cities players and explore a few others based on feedback from our players/scouts.

I was hoping you could help to get some publicity to our roster needs for 2006 to the Wisconsin players. I realize that many high school coaches in Wisconsin still don't see value in summer ball, which is a major disservice for players who want to play college ball and need better competition and more diverse experiences than the short Wisconsin high school spring season. I am hoping that by getting this info out there, we get a few strong players to at least show interest and learn more about the opportunities we offer players.

Our team name has been changes a few years ago so we are known now as "The Danes" and we would talk with any player in the state of Wisconsin however our focus is on serious softball players who have the goal of playing college softball and have proven the ability to be a strong (all conference) player in high school ball.

We have the following roster needs:

Note 16U is born 89, 90, 91, 18U is 87, 88

18-and-Under: Elite Speed Player who can play all 3 OF positions
16-and-Under: Elite Speed Player who can play all 3 OF positions
16-and-Under: Middle Infielder (must be able to play 2B and SS)
16-and-Under: Catcher who can play corner infield as well as OF
16-and-Under: Varsity Experienced Pitcher (FB over 56 mph, Change, Another pitch, good control)

Any interested players should send some basics like name, age, date of birth, high school and some background on their softball experiences/honors to danesfastpitch@hotmail.com. We will respond with a lot more information about our season schedule, costs, current roster etc

Bob -- anything you can do is appreciated.

Highlights for tonight -- Grantsburg's Mollie Bjelland went 3-for-4 with two home runs and tossed a shutout at Luck in a 10-0 win for the unbeaten Pirates; Jenny Boelk of Wisconsin Lutheran Academy tossed a two-hit shutout at Horicon on Tuesday and won 5-0; Madeline Dugolenski of Poynette had not one, not two but three sacrifice flyballs vs Wisconsin Dells on Tuesday night -- that doesn't happen very often; Abby Brundage of Assumption went 3x4 with a home run and 3 RBI on Tuesday night;

If you have a player that has a great game - drop me and e-mail so I an make a mental note to include the performance in the highlights - publicity and promotion - keep it rising!

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #37 for April 27, 2006

What a bruhaha that turned out to be!

Hello Everyone - There are couple new features added to that page (Feature Page) of my website thanks to our great friend and promoter Tom Giachino of Luxemburg-Casco. He forwarded them to me. One covers the #1 ranked Division 1 team in the state -- Appleton North while the other one is a player profile on Stockbridge's Jill Schroeder. Take a look at those on the website.

I was in Adams-Friendship this afternoon and by golly we saw Marcy Thurwachter there checking things out. I like the fact that she works as hard as she does.

Here is John Peterson' reply to last night's crazy play.

Dear Bob,

Crazy play. I can't find any rule book reference to cover it. However, it seems to me that nothing caused a dead ball nor did umpires declare dead ball, so run should be allowed (assuming runner touched home). Otherwise you penalize offense for defensive team lapse, that is bringing a second ball onto field before time had been called.

On the other hand, umpire could be held responsible for allowing second ball on field by not calling time when it occurred so putting runner back on third puts teams no worse off than before ball came onto field.
John

Public Service Announcement for tonight!
Oakfield is looking for a team to compete in its varsity tournament (2games) on May 13. Interested schools should contact Athletic Director Dave Cohen.

Highlights I gleaned from the scores sent in: Kate Earleywine of Brodhead tossed a one-hitter at Palmyra-Eagle with 14 strikeouts; Brookwood's Geena Dougherty tossed a two-hitter at Cashton while fanning 8; McFarland's Stephanie Schmikla fanned 17 batters in a game against Monona Grove; Arcadia played 10 games in 10 days and won them all; Kenosha Bradford's Roberts spun a one-hitter at Muskego and beat them;Amanda LeBard and Superior shutout Hermantown, Minnesota, the league leader tonight in the far north; Top ranked Lancaster got a three-hitter from Katie Schroeder against Prairie du Chien; Megan Spees of Poynette remained hot at the plate with a 3x4 night and a double off the deep fence in Adams-Friendship; and last and certainly not least for tonight - Park Falls freshman Kelsey Walasek had a great night as she got a win in relief of Amy Pechacek over Ashland and hit two homers to boot as well as executing a safety squeeze just the way the Cardinals practice it while Amy Pechacek was 4-for-4 for Park Falls in that game; Bay Port nipped Little Chute tonight 2-0

The deadline came and and is gone for anyone to nominate their seniors for the all star games. The deadline has also come and gone for coaches to join the WFSCA and have their players eligible for WFSCA post season honors.

I haven't heard back from any of the Jamboree teams as to whether there are any glitches in the schedule so I'm ready to move forward another day in the planning stage for that. The weekend will be spent getting things ready like putting up temporary outfield fences on three of the fields. We'll get that done on the final field on Thursday night or Friday of the event. There are a record 39 teams entered in the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree this year and a record 44 games will be played in all.

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #38 for April 29, 2006

Ya gotta know how to catch, ya gotta know how to throw!

Hello Everyone - It's Saturday night and it's pouring here. Our diamonds need a little wetting down though and it didn't start raining here until mid-afternoon. There aren't many scores in from today so I'm thinking that it's prom day at many high schools around the state. My wife and I drove to Wisconsin Dells (my fifth trip to WD this week by the way) for an evening meal. The restaurant we chose (Neighborhood Bar and Grill) had quite a few teenagers in tuxedos and formal attire -- a pretty indication that it's prom night somewhere.

My cousin Davy Tomlinson and I conducted a player clinic today in Poynette and our fifth annual such player clinic in nearby Arlington. It is always a hoot doing those free clinics for all our local kids. They range in age from 6 to about 14-15. My lead-in line for tonight was one I sang to them today as they were working on throwing and catching - it's a line from the song "Rightfield" that Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary wrote and they recorded many years ago. I'm sure you've all heard the song but I was truly reminded of it today when I looked around and our T-ball clinic kids were digging holes in our varsity diamond infield due to boredom and when they started picking dandelions when out in the outfield. I started singing (what I thought was singing anyway) the song and was amazed at the number of parents in attendance who had never heard that song.

Here are a few highlights from across the Great State of Wisconsin from the past couple of days - Laci Pustina of Highland tossed a perfect game vs Shullsburg on Thursday and followed it up with a another shutout in the nightcap; Altoona nipped Chippewa Falls McDonell as pitcher Sarah Gilman of Altoona scattered six hits and fanned just one to get the win. Losing pitcher Ashley Meinen only allowed on hit but that runner scored in the first inning and the final was 1-0; Poynette's Carrie Franson twirled a one-hitter and fanned 15 as Poynette beat Lodi 7-1; Megan Spees, an all state outfielder from Poynette continues to swing a big bat as she hit a three-run homer over the fence in rightcenter (225'); Emily Deitz of Williams Bay tossed a two-hitter, fanned nine and went 2x3 with a double as her club upset Burlington Catholic Central 1-0; Carli Gurholt of Amherst pitched a no-hitter and Stephanie Pederson (Coach Tim Pederson's daughter) went 4x4 with 5 RBI as they beat Nekoosa; Lauren Cornell of Gilman twirled a one-hitter while Janel Gallick went 3x3 with 2 doubles and 3 rbi in a 1-0 win over Augusta; Kaitlyn Herbst of Winneconne recorded a no-hitter with 8 Ks vs Omro; Katie Maulta went 2x4 witha her 4th HR and 4 RBI's and Rachel Roth extended her hitting streak to 31 games, as SPASH knocked off a young talented team from Wausau West. Lindsay Miller had 4 hits for the Wausau West; Stephanie Schmikla of McFarland scattered 3 hits and struck-out 15 in a win over Columbus, she is the daughter of long-time head coach with 400+ wins Steve Schmikla; Neillsville batters Sara Larsen went 3x3, LeAnn Karl went 2x4 with a double, Kristin Perkl went 3x3 with a double, and Lacie Strobush went 2x2 in a win over Stanley Boyd; Jesse Flood of Madison LaFollette scattered 3 hits and struck out 7 as the Lancers beat Monona Grove; Brooke Glenzer threw a two-hit shutout, striking out 10 as Green Bay West defeated Sturgeon Bay 4-0; Sophomore Dani Burke of Waterford threw a two-hit shutout and Ashley Engler doubled and drove in a run as the Wolverines stopped the Jaguars in the quarterfinals of the Ashwaubenon Spring Classic; Freshman Kelsey Walasek fof Park Falls fanned 14 against Flambeau and was 2-for-2 with a double and triple and 2 runs batted in; More highlights in the next bulletin.

Here is a note from Marcy Thurwachter of the WIAA and some situations too.

The WIAA has received reports that in areas of the state umpires are not asking for the coach's ASA Approved Bat List. Umpires should ask for the list. If the coach does not have the list remind the coach that they are required to carry the list. The umpires should then use their own list to check that all bats the team uses are on the ASA Approved Bat List. Simply checking for the ASA Approved Mark on the bat is not acceptable. The ASA has rescinded approval for some bats. The ASA List always takes precedence over the ASA Mark.

QUESTION 1 Runner at first with one out. Batter swings at strike three and gets in front of the catcher as the runner steals second. What is the call?

ANSWER The information you have provided is somewhat limited but if the umpire determines that this is interference Rule 8-2-6 would be in effect. The batter is out and the runner at second must return to first.

QUESTION 2 My friend has a daughter who plays softball on the high school team. I would like to know if there is a rule regarding how many consecutive games or innings she is allowed to pitch. She is the only pitcher on her freshman team. She pitched last night (Tuesday) and pitched all seven innings. She has a game Friday and a tournament on Saturday.

ANSWER The NFHS (governing rules body) and the WIAA do not have restrictions on the number of days or innings that a pitcher may pitch. Current medical research shows that if a pitcher has correct technique the number of injuries are minimal. I would comment that a coach would be helping his/her program by developing another pitcher in case of illness, injury, or an emergency situation arises.

QUESTION 3 In our game yesterday, we were losing 22 to 0 and the umpire called the game, citing the 15 run rule after 3 innings. This rule has not been applied when we have been on either side of lopsided games in the past, only the 10 run after 5 inning rule has been sued. Is this a WIAA rule that is to be applied in all games?

ANSWER No. You will need to check on your conference rules. Conferences are allowed to end a game after three innings if a team is 15 or more runs behind and has completed its turn at bat. This information is on page 29 of the Softball Season Regulations.

QUESTION 4 If a softball bat is on the approved list but does not have the appropriate laser printing on it, is it legal?

ANSWER The ASA approved bat list always takes precedence over the approved mark on the bat. If the bat does not have a marking but is on the current approved list it is legal.

QUESTION 5 Runner is on third base with no outs and a 2 and 2 count on the batter. The batter swings at strike three and misses. The ball rolls to the backstop. The runner from third breaks for home and the pitcher moves to cover home. The batter is running towards first base on the inside of the baseline. The pitcher and the batter-runner collide approximately 4 to 5 feet inside the baseline. Runner from third is safe at home and the catcher throws out the runner at first. Should this be obstruction by the pitcher which would send the runner back to third base and allow the batter-runner to reach first base?

ANSWER Rule 8-4-3b. Batter-runner is awarded first base. Run scores.

QUESTION 6 Batter hit the ball to the third baseman. The third baseman threw the ball low to the first baseman and it got past her. The first baseman turned to run after the ball, which was a few feet away, and made slight contact with the runner. Obstruction was called on the first baseman and the runner was awarded second base. Is that the correct call?

ANSWER Correct call if in your judgement she would have reached second base if there had not been obstruction. Rule 8-4-3b; PENALTYc: "When a runner, while advancing...is obstructed by a fielder who neither has the ball nor is attempting to field a batted ball...the obstructed runner, will be awarded the base or bases which would have been reached, in the umpire's judgement, had there been no obstruction."

QUESTION 7 Runner on first. Batter receives a walk and hustles to first base. Coach directs the catcher to throw to first. The batter-runner overruns first by one step and turns to the left back onto first where she is tagged by the first baseman. Is the batter-runner out?

ANSWER No. Rule 8-8-9; "A batter-runner overruns first base after touching it and returns directly to the base."

QUESTION 8 2 outs. Runner on second. Ball is hit to third, third baseman fields the ball and makes a throw to first to put out the batter-runner. Simultaneously, the runner on second has collided with the shortstop. Umpire calls obstruction but since this had nothing to do with the third out play is it obstruction or the third out and end of the inning?

ANSWER Inning ends. The third out takes precedence over the obstruction in this situation.

So Say Hey Willie, Tell Ty Cobb and Joe Dimaggio - to
Keep it Rising!

Bob
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The Fastpitch Bulletin #39, May 2, 2006

That's why I'm out here in rightfield just watching the Dandelions Grow!

Hello Everyone - What a great day for fastpitch! We all should have been playing two!

I've posted two more features on the feature page of The Fastpitch Chronicle website so check those out. I urge you to submit some feature stories on your program or kids in it. There are more and more collegiate coaches checking the website all the time and getting your kids some exposure from them happens on The Fastpitch Chronicle site.

Why should you be submitting results to the website? For many reasons including: 1) It's not a regional game, it's a statewide deal and people statewide are thirsting for information about your programs and your players 2) it's the greatest way to get your program and your kids statewide notoriety 3) it doesn't take that much time to submit stuff 4) it creates more interest in the game 5) it makes it easier to rank teams if rankers see scores and read summaries 6) I read every single one that comes across my computer screen and I glean highlights and post them on these bulletins and on the commentary page of the site where thousands and thousands of people read them so why wouldn't you sumbit more than just a score so people can read about your kids' highlights? and many, many more reasons.

Speaking of highlights - for heaven's sakes don't just depend on me to glean them from the line scores. If you submit a line score with only last names I probably won't use them because I hate the impersonality of last names only and if a team like Waunakee has more than one kid with the same last name, I want to be sure to get the correct one. I don't want to give Stacey Epping credit for her sister Alex's hitting prowess and I don't want to give Alex credit for Stacey's pitching success. If you have a kid with an effort that you consider a highlight do what other coaches are doing -- send me a separate e-mail about that highlight. It's bound to make the highlights because I'll put it in there for fear that you will never send me another report. That's the same reason why I try valiantly to get every score on the site even when they are weeks late - I fear that you'll get upset and say to heck with Bob, he failed me one time so I won't send anymore stuff to him. I need to get it all on there or the kids lose, you lose, I lose and the game itself loses.

So, here are some highlights -- Stacey Epping fans 17 in a 2-1 victory in 10 innings over Portage, there were 34 total strikeouts in the game; Stephanie Schmikla tossed yet another shutout, her ninth of the season as McFarland wins again; Courtney Schaefer of Mayville tossed a nifty three-hitter as the Cardinals hand Oakfield it's first loss of the season; Neenah pulls off a 6-0 upset over Division 1 #1 ranked Appleton North, Chippewa Falls Sophomore Rachel Hartman drove in the game winning run in the 7th has her team beat Hudson 3-2 and in the second game Freshman Mikayla Hogan and Sophomore Carly Peterson both hit their first career home runs over the fence to help the Cardinals to the win 6-1,Jodi Glaze of Neillsville fanned 11 and scattered five hits in a key win over Greenwood; Amanda LeBard picked up the win and went 3x4 as Superior beat Procgtor, Minnesota; Park Falls' freshman Kelsey Walasek continued her RBI tear with two, giving her 13 in the last four games; Rosholt's Anna Zdroik pitched a 4 hit shutout against Wittenberg-Birnamwood with 12K's, 1BB's, to help her cause she was 3x3 with 3 doubles 2 runs scored and 2 RBI; Laona/Eabeno beat Crandon 9-0 and snapped Crandon's 42 game Northern Lakes Conference winning streak; Waupun's Holly Visser threw a one-hitter as her team beat Berlin; Milwaukee Bay View's Junior Melissa Mueller hit her 3rd home run in 4 games as Bay View rallied for an 11-10 victory over Tech; Cameron Niven of Big Foot struck out 17 and walked 2 on her way to throwing a no hitter against Clinton; Sara Gilman pitched a two-hit shutout to lead the Altoona Railroaders to a 1-0 win over the Gilman Pirates and the win was the 299th of Altoona Coach Jim Turner's career;

Hey, I have room for one team looking for two games yet or two teams looking for one game on Saturday during the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree. Due to extenuating circumstances a team was forced to withdraw on Monday - contact me right away if intereste. No entry fee will be charged to take their place.

I'll have another bulletin tomorrow night after the seeding meeting.

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #40 Special Edition for May 4, 2006

She's caught in a rundown between third and home!

Hello Everyone -

Jim Turner of Altoona chalked up the 300th win of his coaching career today. Congratulations to Jim as he joins Tim Pederson of Amherst and Dale Buvid of Monroe to get to that milepost in the 2006 season. Three Hundred wins is a lot of them.

Here are some highlights: Kathryn Harkins of Portage went 4x4 with a double and an automatic grand slam home run today; Nicole Graeve of Poynette nailed an automatic home run over the Poynette outfield fence tonight; Kayla Coffey of Pecatonica-Argyle tossed a shutout today in a win over New Glarus; Jessica Goetz of Greendale Martin Luther twirled a one-hitter with 11 ks in a win over Burlington Catholic Central; Ashley Draeger of Iola-Scandinavia whirled a three-hitter to beat Shicoton; Kim Lewan of Thorp scattered four hits as her club beat Greenwood today; The 4-3 Ripon win over Winneconne ended with a tag out at the plate on a would-be three-run game-tying home run; Three Poynette pitchers who had never pitched an inning until this year combined on a one-hitter today vs Nekoosa; Kate Earleywine of Brodhead fanned 14 and went 2x4 at the plate as her club upset highly touted Fort Atkinson today; Belmont swept a twinbill from Potosi on Tuesday which is a key occurrence in the Division 4 rankings; Highland's Laci Pustina fanned 21 batters and went 4x8 in a twinbill sweep of River Ridge this week; Division 1 rankers need to keep a close on the Polar Bears of Hortonville - they are unbeaten; Erika Wolf of Elmwood tossed a no-hitter and hit two homers in a win over Plum City today;

OK - This happened in the Brewer game the other night -- bases loaded and two outs. Ball hit to third baseman who then tags out the runner heading to third base but not before the runner at third base crossed home plate. The run counts because he wasn't out due to the force out but instead was tagged out. All the third baseman would have had to have done was touch third base or throw to first base to get the inning over.

I'll see at the Poynette Jamboree, some of you anyway!

Have a great day and weekend
Keep it Rising!

Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #41, May 7, 2006

I'll call it whiplash Sunday!

Hello Everyone - today was an interesting day. First I found a huge tom turkey flopping around a little bit after a head on collision with what I think must have been a county squad car. That wasn't the only collision of the day in my life though. After doing some around the house stuff such as mowing the lawn and mowing the outfield grass in the wiffleball stadium, my wife and I drove to Baraboo to get some mulch etc. On the way back the second collision took place and this one involved a young girl who cut across our lane of traffic to get onto the on ramp for I-39-90-94 but she should have waited for me to go by first because she didn't make it as I couldn't get my truck stopped before I hit her on the passenger side. My wife is pretty bruised up from the seat belt trauma and my 1990 Ranger didn't have airbags. I broke the windshield with my middle and ring finger knuckles on my left hand and took the full brunt of the collision with my chest taking on the steering column. The kids in the other truck were shaken up but have been discharged so that's a good thing.

I'm not really in my normal, daily fastpitch mode but I'm part way there and that's farther than many ever get I think so here is The 41st edition of this year's diatribes known as The Fastpitch Bulletin.

The Jamboree went well. It was really cold on Friday and Friday night under the lights but the weather was perfect on Saturday. There were some good games in the batch and teams were pretty evenly matched up for the most part.

Here are some highlights from the past few days for your reading pleasure: Coach Sue Stoltenberg of Wausaukee won her 100th game in a win over Coleman on Friday; Laci Pustina of Highland, one of the state's top sophomore pitchers twirled a no-hitter at River Valley on Saturday; Racine Saint Catherine's pitcher Karen Kasinski had a perfect week winning 4 games in a row. She beat Racine Case 4 -2 in 12 innings, 15k's and 3 hits, beat Kenosha St. Joseph 4-0, 19 k's and no hits, beat Racine Lutheran 4-0 18 k's and 1 hit , and beat Racine Horlick 4-0 , 11k's and 1 hit. She also went 10 for 18 batting with 2 hr and 2 doubles; Now that's a pretty good week; Brodhead's Kate Earleywine throws a one hitter with 11 strikeouts in game one and comes back and throws a no hitter and strikes out 15 in game two against Clinton; "I think this is one of the best teams they've (SPASH) had and they've had some very good teams," Rapids coach Karen Scarseth said after the Panthers took a twinbill from Wisconsin Rapids; Kelsey Squires of Poynette and Abby Brundige of Assumption both hit three automatic home runs in one game during the past week;

Here is a neat message I'd like to share with you and I'm sure the writer doesn't mind.
Hello Bob,

Love the bulletins, I am the assistant coach at Pepin, this is my third year coaching. I have been following Pepin softball for 13 years. My wife was the pitcher on the 1995 team. The 2 state championships in 1995 and 1998 were a couple of the best days is Pepin high school history. I feel like tonight was another memorable night. We played Spring valley tonight and won 4-1 in a tough conference game. The big deal happened before the game, we had a very special tribute to the man that put Pepin softball on the map. We rolled out all the trophies from Jims 20 years of coaching, wich include 12 conference championships, 8 regional titles, 5 sectional titles, the 1998 ASA 18- under title the1999 and the 2005 state runner up trophies, the 1998 and the 1995 state chapionships, and the 2005 stars of tommorow title. He also turned 17 good softball players into all state players over the last 14 seasons. He piled up 300+ victories in his fantastic career here. So with the help of two seniors tonight, we dropped the tarp on the new sign that hangs over our scorboard, that reads welcome to HAINES FIELD. A fitting tribute to a most deserving man.
Thanks for the great website !
Matt Bellerive Pepin softball
Champions don't have high hopes, they have expectations !

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin Number 41 May 9, 2006

It was whiplash Sunday, today it's been sore ribs Tuesday! Tomorrow it's expected to be stiff neck Wednesday. That is what the medical experts are predicting for us.

Hello Everyone - Hey if you can avoid having another driver cut in front of you and then ramming your vehicle right into the side of theirs and getting your own vehicle spun about 50 degrees, then avoid it. It's not a great deal! As a matter of fact, it makes you feel like you are about 100 years old when trying to get out of bed, up off a chair or out of your car. I'm doing much, much better than my wife. She's really discolored all over. She got whipped around pretty fast in that 50 degree deal as I had a steering wheel to hang onto.

Does anyone have a nice, used small pickup, with four wheel drive and airbags for sale. I'm in the hunt for one.

I received a great e-mail from a longtime fastpitch friend - Priscilla Mulry of Kimberly. Priscilla and Bird Mulry and I go back quite a few years. Their children were all great fastpitch players. They produced four pitchers and a great hitting position player. Ken and Tim were tremendous fastpitch softball pitchers while brother Dave could hit world class pitching as well as anyone in the world. As a matter of fact Dave twice hit two home runs in one ISC world tournament game (1984 and 1989). Bird and Priscilla also produced Kerri and Nancy who were both great Wisconsin pitchers. They have also produced dozens of great pitchers in their back yard and that backyard is what inspired me to do something similar in mine. The Mulrys just recently learnd about the high school news on my website. They subscrived to my now-dead Fastpitch Chronicle newspaper from it's inception to it's burial. They were great supporters of the paper and I appreciated their support and cherish their friendship.

Priscilla was browsing around on the site and found the coaches honor roll page and sent me this letter. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it because it's really a tribute to a great Wisconsin High School fastpitch coach, who for 12 years was known for excellence - John Malin of Kimberly High School. Here is Priscilla's letter to me.

Hi Bob, I'm new at your website and am following the Kimberly girls softball on your state rankings. I thought I would check on your Wisconsin Coaches Honor Roll and found some mistakes.

John Malin of Kimberly won the State Championship 4 times, not 3. It was 1980,1981,1988,1989. I know, cause I was there for all of them, plus I made all the banners hanging in the Kimberly gym.

John also made 9 state appearances, 1977,1979,1980,1981,1983.1984,1986,1988,1989. I think it was only listed at 3?

John and the Kimberly team also won 9 FVA conferences, 1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1987,1988,1989. I was also there for all of them and also made the conference banners at the high school.

John retired after the 1989 season, with a lot of wins. I don't know how many, but my daughter, Nancy Mulry had a record of 60 wins and 5 losses in her 4 years on the varsity, from 1978-1981. John coached for 13 years at Kimberly starting in 1977 and retiring after the 1989 state championship.

I am enjoying your website , Your friend in softball, Priscilla Mulry

As far as mistakes on my website go - keep in mind that I only publish what gets sent to me. I don't research data for the honor roll page etc. So, if there are mistakes that need fixing, do what Priscilla and others have done, e-mail me with the corrections or additions. The site is really everyone's and is just a melting pot site where we can all get together and share information, records and ideas.

That doesn't mean that I don't screw up from time to time or even more often than time to time. I do, that's for certain but they are honest mistakes normally made in haste as I try to get as much done in the little time I have to produce the information. For the most part I am a cut and paste guy and then I try to edit, spell check, change on the mound to in the circle etc.

Sue Stoltenberg of Wausaukee has now had her name added to the 100 wins list on the coaches honor roll page and I have updated all the John Malin information that Priscilla sent to me.

I'd like to publish final conference standings and all conference teams which include the year in school for every player in every conference on those teams. I can't get it done without your help and input though.

Laci Pustina of Highland was named the Wisconsin State Journal's Player of the Week after posting a great week.

Hey - It's late so
As Always,
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin, May 11, 2006

It's Bruised Sternum Thursday and that's a fact!

Hello Everyone - I got some grass seed planted in my wiffleball stadium the other night and just in time for the May monsoons that have hit this part of the state today. I guess it must not be cold, wet and miserable in Superior or Duluth though, as Amy from Superior forwarded her teams' win over Duluth Marshall to me just a few minutes ago. Superior beat Marshall as Amanda LeBard scattered six Marshall hits and fanned 13. That appears to be your highlight statewide from today's games.

Here are a few I gleaned from Wednesday games that were submitted: Sam Schmeltzer of Merrill pitched a perfect game in a 1-0 win over highly regarded D.C. Everest; SPASH moved to 15-0 on the season with a win over Wausau East and Rachel Roth belted a 3 run HR in the process; Sussex Hamilton outlasted Brookfield East 8-7; Madison LaFollette's Jesse Flood fanned 11 in an 8-inning 1-0 win over Madison Memorial; Number 2 ranked Appleton North beat #4 ranked Kimberly on Tuesday 10-2; Oconto Falls' Brynn Larsen hit another home run as the Panthers moved to 16-0 on the season and eye a twinbill showdown on Saturday (weather permitting) with unbeaten Hortonville; Manitowoc kept pace with Green Bay West in the Fox River Valley Conference as both have one conference loss, Manty beat Green Bay East on Tuesday; Stacey Vincent pitched a two-hitter, and the Spartans pushed across a run in the sixth inning as Luxemburg-Casco beat Wrightstown 1-0 in a non-conference prep softball game on Tuesday; Hudson split with ranked Menomonie on Tuesday; Kim Lewan of Thorp tossed a one-hitter at Neillsville on Tuesday while Neillsville's Jodi Glaze left the circle with an injury; Plymouth captured the EWC title on Tuesday.

Here is an appropriate announcement from Marcy Thurwachter of the WIAA - it was in my school e-mail and my aol e-mail today:
For your information: As per the Softball Season Regulations, page 28; "No game may be scheduled (but a game may be rescheduled if postponed) after either of the schools involved has begun WIAA tournament series competition."

What does this mean? If your game scheduled for today (or Friday, Saturday, etc.) is postponed due to inclement weather you may reschedule the game after the WIAA tournament has started. No new games may be scheduled unless you are below the 20 game limit and have a bye in the first round of the WIAA tournament.

What about scrimmages? If you have not used your scrimmage you may do so at any time provided you follow the criteria listed on pages 27-28.

OK - so Bruce and New Auburn played today too and Doug Schmitz says it was raining sideways. We couldn't have played in Poynette as the whitecaps on top of the waves rolling across the diamonds here were way to wild to attempt to even canoe on much less play fastpitch softball.

Here is an announcement I promised to make:

Hey Bob
I enjoy reading your emails and was wondering if youcould add a little note in your next Bulletin. Kaukauna is looking for a few teams for our summer tournament June 30 - July 2. One U12 team, One U14 Team, and 3 U10 teams. If interested please contact me at Kaukaunasoftball@yahoo.com
Thanks for all you do for the game of softball and all you do for the kids,
Tim Roehrig -- Kaukauna Varsity Softball Coach

Perhaps I need to start a separate page on the website just for summer girls' fastpitch news, views and events and a tournament directory.

The dates for the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree in 2007 are May 4th and 5th. There have been several schools not entered before contact me about getting in. We'll be sending out contracts in within the next week or so. There will be new enclosed and covered bench areas on the JV diamond next year.

By golly I got one e-mail about a pickup for sale. It doesn't fit my needs but if you're looking for a 2000 Dodge Ram I can give you the e-mail where you can start negotiating. I'm looking for a small pickup, 4 WD with air bags this time.

I have added four or five feature articles to the features page of the website so make sure to check those out. One is written by Bobbi Snethen, the former great pitcher for Marshall. It's a well-written piece. There is also one there on the Hortonville girls, Racine Case and Nicole Graeve of Poynette. Check those out and send me features on your team, girls etc.

Thanks for all the e-mails wishing my wife and I the best of luck recovering from the aches and pains of the collision we endured on Sunday.

Hey, we have two fields with lights here - anybody want to get together and play a game or two during the week next week?

Have a great day and as always
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #44 for May 15, 2006

We're caught in a rut. Can't get out. The rain is too much baby!

Hello Everyone - My neighbor called me this evening and asked how I am. I told him I'm water-logged. It's the truth too.

We went to Westfield today only to have it pour twice before we could get a pitch thrown. We drove home without even getting started. The only thing worse than that is that they umpires had driven all the way there from Madison.

There were some games played today so check the Week #9 results on the website to catch those. SPASH and DC Everest had a great game with SPASH winning 2-1 in 11 innings when Sarah Petersen knocked in Brittany Lang with two outs in the 11th with a single and a close play at the the plate. Weyauwega-Fremont upset Rosholt with single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.Katie Schroeder of Lancaster boosted her season record to 18-0 with a win over River Valley and the Flying Arrows, ranked #1 in Division 3 moved to 18-0 on the year; McFarland's Stephanie Schmikla notched her 17th win of the season with a 2-1 gem over Clinton.

I forgot to mention that the SPASH win earned them a 7th straight Wisconsin Valley Conference title.

I have posted several features lately on the features page so always check that page for great fastpitch reading on the website. There is a story about Elk Mound and about Waunakee that I posted last week.

It looks like many teams will not get their 20 games played this season. Rain, Rain and more rain. We're caught in the loop of that jet stream and can't get out.

Marcy Thurwachter sent out another batch of questions about situations and rules. Those are always great reading.

From Marcy:

TOURNAMENT REMINDERS

From the Softball Season Regulations (page 32):
*The highest seeded team in all regional games will also be designated as the HOME team.
*A coin flip determines the home team for sectional tournament games.
*Schools are prohibited during the regular season and the WIAA tournament series from practicing for regional, sectional, and State Tournament preparation at sites and facilities hosting WIAA tournaments. This does not apply to a school's home field.

*Except for the four State Championship games, a game will end when after five innings a team is ten or more runs behind and has completed its turn at bat.

*The maximum number of participants for each tournament game is 18. Each participating school will be allowed a maximum of 18 players in uniform for each tournament game. Rosters may change from one game to the next.

*Sectional hosts should have received 1 dozen softballs for use in the Sectional semi and final games.
*The regional championship plaque will be sent to the #1 seeded team. If your team fails to advance to the championship game it is your responsibility to send the plaque to the Regional Champion team.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION 1 Pitcher receives ball from catcher. Pitcher keeps ball in glove as she walks back to the mound. As pitcher stands on mound, she takes sign from catcher. Her hands are apart and the ball is still in her glove. Her hands come together when she starts back into her wind-up. Umpires have said she needs to hold the ball in her throwing hand and show the ball (presentation). Legal or not?

ANSWER There is no such thing as "presentation". Rule 6-1-1 has a step-by-step description of the pitcher's actions. The pitch, as you have described it, is legal.

QUESTION 2 Being an umpire and being behind the plate I wear all of the gear; chest protector, shin guards, etc. I notice that a lot of umps don't wear this equipment and I was wondering what the WIAA stance is on this?

ANSWER From Joan Gralla, WIAA Official's Department, "Equipment for the plate umpire should offer the best in protection, mobility, and comfort. A mask with a throat protector is required in fast pitch and recommended in slow pitch. The inside-style chest protector and leg guards are strongly recommended in both fast pitch and slow pitch." (Source: Umpire's Manual)

QUESTION 3 Hard hit grounder to the 1st baseperson, hit her glove and went into foul ball territory. She recovered the ball from foul ball area and to avoid a collision stepped on the orange base. To get to the white base she would have either had to pass in front of the batter/runner or stick her leg out to get the white bag. Either way, I think she did the right thing to avoid the collision and I awarded an out. The argument is over the rule only mentioning a "thrown" ball not a hit ball.

ANSWER You are correct that Rule 8-10-2 applies only to a thrown ball. While it seems like common sense that the defensive player should use the orange base in this situation, the rule does not provide for that.
Bob's Note: We had this very play occur in a game this season and I pointed out to the umpire that my runner didn't have time to react to that and that the rule doesn't provide for the first sacker to touch the orange on that play. I was correct.

QUESTION 4 I had a comment from an umpire last night about our pitcher. Our pitcher still has fake (short) fingernails on from prom a couple of weeks ago and they have whitish clean tips. The umpire said that her "fingernails" would be illegal during the WIAA play-offs. I am well aware of the fact that pitchers cannot have anything "white" on them that would be distracting, but fingernails? Even if they weren't fake, some pitcher out there might have nails that are just as nice naturally. Is this really a WIAA rules issue?
Bob's Note: Over-umpiring!

ANSWER Not true! I have never heard of any correlation between the color of a players fingernails and Rule 6-2-2.

QUESTION 5 How many pitches do you allow at the start of the game for each team?
ANSWER 5. Rule 6-2-5.

QUESTION 6 Runner at first...batter has two strikes and three balls. One out. The pitch is thrown and hits the ground in front of the plate. The batter then swings and misses. a) can the batter run? b) can the batter run if the catcher catches the ball clean? c) can the batter run if the catcher misses the ball? d) can the batter hit the ball? e) what if there are two outs in situations a, b, and c?

ANSWER In a, b, and c the batter is out (Rule 8-1). In d the runner may hit the ball (Rule 7-2-1b). If there are two outs the runner may attempt to advance to first (Rule 8-1-1)

QUESTION 7 Can the flex player be a courtesy runner?
ANSWER No. Rule 8-9-3.

QUESTION 8 Runner on first base. Batter hits ball to right field, right fielder catches the ball and throws to first baseman who is standing on orange base before runner gets back. Is she out? Does she have to touch the white base?

ANSWER Runner is safe. Rule 9-10-1; "When a play is being made on the batter-runner, she shall use the orange portion and the defense the white portion of the base."
Bob's Note: Here is another play that happened in a game we were playing this year. The umpire in our game got it wrong but vehemently insisted he was correct.

QUESTION 9 Score is 28-2 after the third inning and the visiting coach felt the game was over. The home team coach said the mercy run rule only applied if the conference had voted on this set-up of 15 runs after the third inning. The Wis. Adaptations was the only place that stated that this would be used in the game if the conferences had set this up. Can the two head coaches and the home plate umpire discuss this before the game starts and agree to it?

ANSWER The Softball Season Regulations (page 29) state that "By conference agreement, a game may end after three innings if a team is 15 or more runs behind and has completed its turn at bat". Coaches do not have the authority to agree to this at the start of the game. Only conferences may determine the use of this rule.
Bob's Note: Remember the night I wrote about there not being any three-inning games unless conferences have that rule?

QUESTION 10 Home team is up 3-1 at the top of the 7th. Visitors have bases loaded with 2 outs. Visitor's batter hits ball deep into left center field and ends up on third. On an appeal that the runner on second missed third base, the runner from second was called out for missing the base causing the third out. Does the runner from third score? How is this scored? It appears from Rule 2-2-11 that no runs would score. "If an appeal is honored at a base to which a runner was forced to advance, no runs would score if it was the third out."

ANSWER You are correct. No run scores. Fielder's choice. Also reference Rule 9-1-1, exception 4; "...when a third out is declared on an appeal play resulting in a force out." Case book references; 9-1-1-, sit. H, I, J, and K.

So thjere you have some great reading if you hadn't already gotten it earlier today from your athletic director or directly from Marcy.

Have a dry day!
Keep it Rising and occasionally dropping!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #45, May 16, 2006

Hello Everyone - Here's a story that a cohort of mine sent me today. I chose to send it out to all of you because at our game tonight, I didn't think our kids were really ready to compete when the game started. I called a time out in the top of the first inning and reminded them that I'd been to a fastpitch game or two in my life and that I had always felt I have a pretty good feel for whether Poynette girls are ready to compete when the umpire first says "Play Ball!"

The Old Poodle

A wealthy lady decided to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful old poodle along for the company.
One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch. The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep now!"

Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat.

Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.

"Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!" Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says:

"Where's that darn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"

Moral of this story?

Don't mess with old farts. Age and cunning will always overcome youth and skill! Wisdom and brilliance only come with age and experience!

Here are some highlights from recent games, many played in soggy conditions while others were played in conditions far beyond soggy:Luther’s Carol Niemi became the program’s all-time hits leader in last night’s doubleheader split with Onalaska. Niemi passed 2005 grad Bethany Dobrunz, who is now an assistant in the program; Brodhead won another Rock Valley title and moved to 17-1 on the season; Assumption wrapped up it's seventh consecutive conference title as did SPASH; Poynette claimed it's sixth such title and its 11th in the past 12 years; Poynette's Kelsey Squires hit her fifth automatic home run of the season in a 9-2 win over A-F while Madeline Dugolenski cracked her third such hit; Lancaster claimed the Southwest Conference title and is 18-0 on the year as is pitcher Katie Schroder; Oakfield clinched the conference title in their final year in the conference, they move to the Trailways North next year;

Two weeks ago in Sports Illustrated Rick Reilly, the weekly columnist from Life of Reilly fame wrote a great article about the United Nations Nothing but Net project. In a nutshell, you send at least a twenty dollar donation to the project and it buys two mosquito nets in malaria stricken areas of Africa. The end result is, the people sleep protected from the infestation and live. For twenty bucks you save two lives. I was moved by the article and donated but I also recommended that our high school varsity club put one in the net and donate some cash. They did to the tune of $300. I wrote and e-mail to Rick Reilly letting him now that we'd done that. Here is his reply.

Dear Bob,
i just wanted to write and thank you for helping with the Nothing But Net project. You are a very cool person. Thanks to you and others, we've already saved over 325,000 lives, or almost five stadiums full of kids.That's a net result I like.
best,
rick reilly

WIAA action begins in two days around the state. Be sure to e-mail your summaries to me. The WIAA only takes scores but be sure to report there as well.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #46 -- May 17, 2006

It's a seeing eye single through the hole!

Hello Everyone - There aren't many scores coming in tonight so I thought I'd get started a bit earlier on a Bulletin for tonight.

Here are a couple of situations that occurred in the past two days that were forwarded to me.
1) Pitcher throws a change up that bounces about 2 feet in front of the batter who lifts her front leg to get out of the way and the ball hits her back leg. Umpires refuses to award first base and says the batter made no attempt to get out of the way. Coach points out that the batter did move but had no clue as to where the ball was going to bounce to begin with. Umpire says he saw the move but it wasn't enough for his liking. Coach asks, "How high or how far does she have to jump?"

2) Umpire tells coach that it is against the rules for the pitcher to take signals from the coach at any time. Rule 6 states that the pitcher must take a sign or simulate taking a sign from the catcher once she has stepped onto the pitcher's plate with her hands separated and before she starts her delivery. There is nothing in Rule 6 or any Rule that forbids a coach from giving a sign. Besides, how would an umpire know if signs were being given anyway. They might be verbal cues instead of visible ones.

3) Batter swings and hits ball and heads for first base. Ball is just inside the foul lines but fair and then strikes the bat which the batter unintentionally left in fair territory. Tonight, in a Big 8 game the umpire ruled fair ball!

Here is a crazy play that happened the other day in Poynette's baseball game against Westfield. Ya, ya I know it was in a baseball game but the play is too great not to mention and it could happen in a fastpitch game as well. Bases loaded and no outs. Westfield turned a triple play against Poynette but a run scored too. Figure that one out. do any of you have recollection of someone scoring a run when a triple play was turned?

Here is how it took place. -- Bases were loaded with no outs of course. Poynette's batter hit a sharp-one hop "comebacker" to the pitcher who threw to plate (1-2 for out #1), the catcher then threw to the first baseman at first to retire the batter-runner (2-3 for out #2). The runner from second base never stopped and just beat the throw the plate to score the run but the runner the from first tried to make it to third where he was thrown out by the catcher to the third baseman (2-5 to register out #3). I've heard of lots of triple plays and so has my cousin Davy, Poynette's baseball coach, but neither of us can recall ever hearing that somebody had scored a run in the process.

Tomorrow starts the beginning of the end for us. I always look at the start of the regional action in softball as a day of mourning for us. Lose and it's done for another season.
Have a great day !

Oh, by the way, my wife and I are rehabilitating pretty well. She was in much worse shape than I but my bruised sternum is still very, very sore, and for a guy with spring time allergies, a bruised sternum is not a treat - sneeze and shout ouch! Sneeze and shout ouch! Sneeze and shout ouch. It's really is painful.

Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin for May 21, 2006

Just off the outside corner - ball one!

Hello Everyone - It's Sunday night and things have slowed down in terms of the number of games that will get played but things are really heating up at the same time in Wisconsin High School fastpitch softball. The Regional Semi-Finals are set for Tuesday and most of the teams in the state that have not lost will be playing on that day. The only ones that will not be are the Division 1 number one seeds and maybe a few number twos. By week's end, the field will be down to 16 teams in D-2, D-3 and D-4 and 32 teams in D-1.

In a way I hate this time of the year. Too many teams are putting away their high school stuff for another season. It goes so quickly in this part of the world. The season is just too short for most of us.

I had an interesting phone call from Gale Mowry in Ashland, Ohio the other day. It just happens that one of my very best fastpitch friends, Nick McCurry, lives in Ashland, Ohio and I've been there to visit him and I've been to Brookside Park in Ashland, It's a legendary ball yard. It's also where the Wendy's Classic is played every April when 32 teams from across the nation converge on Ashland for what may be the most competitive high school event of it's kind in the country.

Gale represents an entity that I had never heard of until his phone call - Student Sports Softball magazine which is an online magazine that you can access at http://www.studentsportssoftball.com and read about high school softball across the country. I checked out the site after a long conversation with Gale and then I called the softball editor, Brentt Eads out in California and learned more about the site and how they operate. Gale, you see, is the Midwest guy for the online magazine and he was calling me, after getting my name and phone number from Marcy Thurwachter, to get an idea of what schools might be ranked the highest if Wisconsin were to rank teams. He was pleased to have found the very person who coordinates the rankings in Wisconsin and I'll be very surprised if there aren't at least a couple of Wisconsin teams ranked in the Midwest Top 20 when that comes out very soon.

There is a monthly fee that has to be paid to get an account with the website. That, of course is entirely up to you. I'm not doing anything other than encouraging you to check out the site and choose for yourself. There is no financial gain for me in this what-so-ever. I'll be including a link to the online magazine site on most of the pages of my website but only to make it easier for people to get there.

When I think about it, I think the value you get from The Fastpitch Chronicle website is priceless. You pay nothing to get the scores that people send in, the summaries, the features, the special pages like the Honor Roll Page, the preview and season summaries, the conference standings and the all conference teams that get forwarded to me. It's a bargain to say the least.

Now - for a special tribute! It's a tribute to Jared Faherty of Chippewa Falls, Tom Giachino of Luxemburg, Greg Lampe of Oak Creek and to Jim Eastman of Kimberly. If it were not for those people, many of your scores would never appear on the website. Jared sends scores from Northwest Wisconsin when he can find them, Tom sends me all the stuff from the Green Bay Press Gazette and from the Appleton Post Crescent and the Manitowoc Herald and more. If you ever wonder how I get that information - it's Tom! In Milwaukee's metropolitan area Greg Lampe sends me the scores from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel while Jim Eastman also sends scores from the Post Crescent. I cut and paste their e-mails to the website and then highlight the headers, take the spaces out of the stuff they send me and edit just a little bit.

To not forget anyone, this is a tribute to all the coaches who do send in their own scores with their own summaries and write-ups. I read them all and enjoy those the best. You know who you are, if you've been sending in your stuff - this tribute is to you. There are far, far too many of you to list individually. The readers can tell who you are because your scores and linescores and summaries are always on the website.

The final tribute is to all the non-coaches who take the time to make sure that the girls from your school get the publicity and recognition that they deserve. This one's for all of you!

Jared Faherty, of course, not only sends scores but looks at every one of them on the site then updates the season record by school on his records list. That's a monumental job in itself. It's too monumental for me to tackle and that's why I was tickled when he chose to do it a couple of years ago. Check out his list as he has added a neat color scheme to it now.

There have been a couple of triple plays in the past week. I'm waiting for descriptions of them to be e-mailed in to me and then I will post those on the bulletin this week.

Somebody from each conference should make sure to send me the final standings in the conference you play in and the all conference team. I don't want to come off as sounding picky but there is a best method for sending me all conference teams. The best way is for somebody to type up the list and include the player's name, year in school, what school she plays for and what position she made it at if your conference does it that way. Please separate first and second team and Honorable Mention lists so it is easier for me to post them. I'll be posting them by conference in alphabetical order.

I also have some new things I'm in the process of completing and will be announcing those in the next few bulletins. Here is the first one - If your team pulls of a triple play - e-mail me the names of each player who participated in the play. Each of those players will receive a Triple Play Certificate from The Fastpitch Chronicle - no charge. I'll need an address to mail the certificates to. Greendale had one and so did DC Everest in the past week.

There will be more Fastpitch Chronicle awards that will be announced this week. Keep in mind that in order to get one of the awards from me, you'll have to notify me. I'm pretty good but not good enough to pick out everything.

Here are just a few highlights from the past couple of days from across the state: Taylor VanDamme for Superior had an outstanding day, she was 7x9 (3 triples, HR, and 5 RBI's) in a twinbill sweep of Eau Claire Memorial; Lindsey Grahn of Plymouth tossed her 13th shutout of the season; http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/sports/index.php?ntid=84582&ntpid=-1 ; Wausaukee's Carrie Hartz pitched a three-hitter to give the Rangers the M&O Conference title; Rosholt claimed the title in the Central Wisconsin Large; Chelsie Held of Horicon tossed a two-hitter and fanned 18 in a 1-0 win over West Bend East on Friday, she then beat Arrowhead 3-1 in the first game of a twinbill on Saturday; Waterloo topped Cambridge 5-3 in eight innings to assure themselves at of at least a share of the Capitol Conference title; Milwaukee Bay View claimed its 20th conference title in 26 years of existence; New London secures Bay title; Kelsey Squires, Poynette third sacker hit her sixth home run (all automatic) on Thursday while teammate Madeline Dugolenski hit her fifth such home run of the season in that same game.

That's it for tonight - the last out has been recorded!
Total up the book and --- as always
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #48 - May 22, 2006

Knee high on the inside corner - Strike One!

Hello Again Everyone - Not many games tonight. Check out the Week 10 scores where you will see that Horicon bested Mayville 1-0 in a pitcher's duel. Waterloo beat Lakeside Lutheran 10-6 and secured sole possession of the title in the Capitol Conference. Williams Bay secure the Trailways South crown tonight with a shutout win over Hustisford. Assumption put the wraps on an 18-1 year with a win over Northern Lutheran and won the Marawood South Conference title.

I talked to Nathan Giachino tonight on the phone. He's eight years old today. He was just a week old when his dad's team and our Poynette team squared off in the Division 2 state semi-final in Waukesha. I hope you had a great birthday Nathan. I think your dad should pack you and some buddies along with your older brother Jordan in a van and come down to Poynette for a day of Wiffleball at Legends Field at Thompson yard. It's shaping up superbly with the inground sprinklers dumping water on the outfield every day, the astro-turf infield is all cut around the bases, the pennants and flags are unfurled in the wind every day and the bats and balls are always in the dugouts waiting for someone to use them.

WIAA regional semi-finals are tomorrow around the state in all divisions of play. It will be a great day to play softball in Wisconsin. Have a good one all of you!

Here is a little story that several people have fowarded to me. I have edited it just a little so it is not offensive. Thanks to all of you who have sent it to me.

During a ball game, the coach called one of his 9-year-old players aside and asked, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?"

The little girl nodded in the affirmative.

"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win or lose together as a team?"

The little girl again nodded yes.

"And you know this is just a game and not a life or death situation?"

The little girl continued to nod yes.

"And," the coach continued, "I'm sure you know, when an out is called, you shouldn't argue, curse, attack the umpire, or call him a very bad name. Do you understand all that?"

Again the little girl nodded.

The coach continued, "And when I take you out of the game so another girl
gets a chance to play, it's not good sportsmanship to call your coach a bad name?"

Again the little girl nodded.

"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain all that to your grandmother."

The higher seed is the home team in all WIAA regional tournament games. There is not a coin toss. Coaches and umpires should all be aware of that. Marcy even had an announcement out about it recently.

All WIAA Tournament games are at least five innings (as I understand it) unless there is a 10-run differential after the team with the lower score has completed its turn at bat in the fifth inning. Marcy might correct me on this one but based upon her answer to a three-inning game question last week - I'm very confident that it is the case. The 10-run differential rule is waived only during the state championship games.

The season is really narrowing down and tomorrow will pare things to 50% of what they are today.

In one way it's a bummer but it also means that the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness adventure is only a few weeks away and the fish in the Wisconsin River in my area are about to get hooked and released a bunch of times and that I will be spending a tremendous amount of time with my grandson and new granddaughter.

I learned of more triple plays that have been turned this season after last night's bulletin. If your club turned one and you want certificates (They are free) for your kids, just send me the date of the game, the opponent, the final score and the names of the players involved in the play. I'll take care of it from this end.

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #49, May 29, 2006

Step right Up!

Hello Everyone - The Sectional tournaments are tomorrow. There are some teams that will be playing that probably weren't expecting to be when the season started and there are probably some teams that aren't that were expecting to be. It goes that way every year.

Last week Jeff Hodgson of Belmont picked up his 200th career victory in a win over his alma mater, Blackhawk. The Braves are in the sectional tomorrow as well. Congratulations Jeff.In 12 seasons, Hodgson currently has a 201-72 overall record.

Poynette's win over Cambridge in the regional final was the 400th win for the Poynette softball program which started in 1979.

I learned this weekend that long-time Hamilton Head Coach Louie Lawinger has chosen to retire from the softball coaching aspect of his life. Louie has had a great career with more than 300 wins at that school and quite a few state tournament qualifiers. Hamilton's loss to Arrowhead last week was a rain-shortened, one-run game where the Arrowhead outfielder made a terrific catch on a diving, sliding play to keep Hamilton from picking up the tying run. Lou, we will miss you and we will especially miss you at the Poynette Jamboree.

I am working diligently on the Fastpitch Chronicle Triple Play Awards. If you don't get them within the next week then you need to contact me via e-mail again and get me that stuff. I think I have them all but just to be sure, contact me if you don't get them. I'll send them to the coaches and you can distribute them to the players on your team.

I am also working on some other Fastpitch Chronicle awards that I will be announcing and sending out soon.

Make sure you have sent in your all-district, all-state nomination information on your players. Don't rely on your conference rep to contact you - get it in.

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #50 -- June 1, 2006

Buy me some peanuts and Crackerjack --

Hello Everyone – The slate of teams still practicing has now been narrowed down to eight teams in Division 1, while four teams remain in Divisions 2-3 and 4. From the original 112, 110, 119 and 100 schools in those divisions respectively we are down to those state tournament numbers.

A couple of years ago I wrote a bulletin about tournament time and writing names on the lineup card while wondering if the card I in my hand will be the last one that I ever write the names of seniors on. I’ll not re-write that bulletin b ut that thought still comes to the forefront this time of the year.

Our Poynette team played Oakfield yesterday and to be honest with you, one of the hardest things there is for me to do after a win is shake hands with great people coaching the other teams after great games and intense competition. Yesterday was no exception when Doug Mock and I shook hands. Sometimes I think it’s easier to say “Good luck down the road” than it is to say – “great game, you had a great season or I truly enjoy going to battle with you.”

I think that last statement fits the bill the best for me – I simply like going into battle against great programs headed by great coaches – people who passionately try to learn more and more about the game and the little things that make a difference when two great teams go head to head. People who try to figure out what I'm about to do and at the same time try to slip something in against us. I really enjoy that aspect of my position. It has to be like two military leaders plotting out an attack or counterattack – one trying to surprise the other or just trying to all-out run rough-shod right over the other. In our cases in might be with supreme pitching or stellar hitting or perhaps a combination of both. Perhaps it's a perfectly times pitch-out to nail a runner of maybe it's pitching out but the runner isn't going. Cat and mouse games are what keeps me going!

In Doug’s case my respect for him is generated because he’s so genuine, works diligently in one of the state’s smallest yet most competitive Division 3 schools. He gets the most and more out of the talent that shows up to play in the Mighty Oaks program. The Oaks compete in a conference that is very strong year in and year out and yet they, the smallest team in the conference, goes out competes at the top of it. Most people probably never think about the difference between the divisions. It’s not in the pitching! There are great pitchers in all four divisions of play. The difference lies in the number six through number nine spots in the batting order. A school with 500 kids playing against a school with 230 kids means the larger school simply has about 135 more females in the school. It’s easier to find bigger, faster, stronger six through nine hitters among those extra 135 students (unless the school is filled with school choice students or students who choose a private school to attend).

That difference even shows up in the Division 1 schools. The larger the school, the greater chance there is to produce better six through nine hitters. There is also a greater chance to insert bigger, faster, stronger athletes in the field.

So, for me, some wins are really satisfying while others are bittersweet. Losses in great games to great people hurt, but I can still feel good for the greatness of the coach and program that just beat us. That's called respect and there is a real genuineness to it.

Another part of being around the sport for as long as many of us have been is meeting new people who get into the game and either, maintain or build on and improve competitive programs. That happened to me on Wednesday when Racine St. Catherine’s battled with us in Horicon. I’d been getting e-mails from Coach Kasinski of St. Catherine’s all spring but the chance to meet her and compete against her fine athletes was a treat. Her kids were really great! The pitcher, her daughter, Karen, was superb, and the attitude of the rest of the team was tremendous. They complimented each other on good and great plays and they complimented our kids during the game the same way. It was refreshing for me to hear kids from both teams telling each other they’d just made a great play or had a great at bat. Their second sacker had a great effort on a ball in the hole to her left, she dove and came up with it. She was too late to get an out but the effort and play were superb so I cheered for her from the third base coaches box but their shortstop gave her the biggest compliment of all when she said, “That was an awesome effort.”

I’ve updated the Coaches Honor Roll Page. Gale Grahn of Plymouth reached the 200 win milepost with the win in the sectional semi-final and will lead his team into the Division 2 state tournament against McFarland in round one.

I’ve updated the other areas of that page with corrected numbers as well.

I’d like to congratulate my longtime adversary, friend and confidant, Steve Schmikla of McFarland for coaching the Spartans to the state tournament for the first time in that program’s storied history. Over 400 wins there, and to get what he called “over the hump” was a great interview on the Madison TV stations. I’m looking forward to breakfast with Steve on Saturday morning in Waunakee. It would probably be great to be a little mouse and be able to listen in on our conversation filled with stories from years gone by and the current season as well. We’ll chat quietly but laugh loudly!

Hey, it’s late, you’ve been great!
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising Everyone!
Bob

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #51 - June 14, 2006

Turn out the lights, the party is over!

Hello Everyone - The 2006 Wisconsin High School fastpitch season is now history. The WFSCA all star games were played in Stevens Point yesterday where 130+ girls showed their stuff to a pretty good crowd of family members and coaches there to watch plus a few collegiate coaches who were interested in the games.

The 2006 WFSCA All State Teams have been announced and can be viewed on the WFSCA website. You can get there by clicking here http://www.wfsca.org/allstate/allstate06/home06.htm or you can go to The Fastpitch Chronicle website and click to it from the home page for Wisconsin High School news.

A special thanks goes out to the executive board who has the tough job of selecting the teams a list of excellent players from each of the eight districts in the state. It is not an easy task when it comes to comparing competitive levels etc.

The Tri-State Challenge will be the next thing on the WFSCA docket where a group of graduates will travel to Minnesota to take on kids from the Gopher State and the Hawkeye State.

The state tournament was a great event. I was told that the Friday crowds set a record for attendance.

I enjoyed seeing everyone there. It's always a treat to be with Tom Giachino of Luxemburg-Casco and his kids Jordan and Andrea. It was the first time that we had met his daughter. Dale Gray of Wisconsin Dells and I go way, way back to our younger days when we played baseball together for the Briggsville Braves. He's a genuine as they get and was there with his daughter and two grand-daughters for every game.

I was not!

Congratulations are certainly in order for Ashwaubenon, Greendale, Grantsburg and Highland. They are the latest state champions,

Our rankers did a pretty good job of keeping up with things. Among all the teams I'd say the Jaguars of Ashwaubenon were the only team that they missed out on at the end of the season but the Jags did indeed put on a great run to win the D-1 title and in a great game against Chippewa Falls in the final. Three of the four title games went extra innings with Grantsburg and Lancaster going 12 innings.

There were some interesting happenings at Goodman to say the least. You've all read time and again why I keep going back to the ball yard -- because I'm apt to see something I have never seen before and don't want to miss it.

Every game featured some of that and quite honestly, some of it made me shake my head in bewilderment.

Have a great summer at whatever you do during the summer. I'll be in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness next week for six days. I'm looking forward to that.

It appears that I will probably be out and around in some areas of the state that some of you would call your neck of the woods. Places like Gilman, Park Falls, Minong and others appear to be good possibilities for July events.

I'll keep you posted -- until then ---

Keep it Rising!
Bob Tomlinson

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The Fastpitch Bulletin #52 - Summer Edition
July 25, 2006

Hello Everyone - This bulletin is intended to cover a couple of key issues.

1) Coaches who have not completed and submitted their umpire evaluations need to get it done right away. There were 223 of you who had not done so as recently as last week.

In my humble opinion I think a penalty such as not being considered for a top four seed in your regional for failure to complete the forms would get everyone on the stick. Or perhaps a little less harsh but needed stimulus might be that you could be considered for seeding in the top four but can't host the game.

Softball is one of the worst sports when it comes to paltry season completeness by coaches.

2) The Coaches and players for the Tri-State Challenge to be played in Iowa this year have been announced by the WFSCA. You can view the list at the wfsca.org website. The coaches are Dale Buvid of Monroe and Steve Krupke of Brodhead, two very worthy choices.
The team is: Pitchers Kayla Kastenmeier of Ashwaubenon, Carrie Franson of Poynette; Catcher Ashley Billerbeck of Sevastopol; Infielders Ashley Hammerbeck of Schofield D.C. Everest, Jenna Brose of Verona, Sarah Nelson of Chippewa Falls, Allison Wright of Pewaukee, Katie Maultra of SPASH, Stephanie Luska of Kenosha Bradford, Outfielders Whitney Turnow of Neenah, Chelsey Koeppel of Hortonville, Jessica McCarthy of Wisconsin Rapids

I hope your summer is going well.

Bob