| The
Fastpitch Chronicle |
 Home |
Commentary
from our Readers
The commentary articles contained herein and
written by the readers of The Fastpitch Chronicle website do not necessarily
reflect the feelings, thoughts, ideas etc. of the publisher - they are simply
the thoughts of our readers
The Fastpitch Bulletin – Volume 6, Number 1
February 15, 2007Hello again everyone – The fastpitch season is just around the corner and don’t forget about the WFSCA clinic this weekend in Stevens Point. The clinic committee promises to have a great clinic slate line up for you once you get there.
The Bulletins will continue through the season as they have before. I’ll not make any promises in terms of having one out every night but there will certainly be three or four per week.
We’ll also be doing the team rankings by division of play. I have to secure a few rankers yet but that will be wrapped up in the near future.
I’d like to let you know that there will be a Fastpitch Chronicle clinic in Poynette on Saturday, February 24th and one in Medford on Sunday, February 25th. For information on the clinics you can go to The Fastpitch Chronicle website at www.fastpitchchronicle.com and click on the technical page icon from the home page. If you or some of your players are interested in taking part in one or both of the clinics, contact me as soon as possible or Virgil Berndt for the Medford clinic.
I know there are few of you getting this bulletin whom are no longer involved with the game and no longer want to receive the bulletins. Just send me an e-mail response and I’ll remove your e-mail address from the appropriate list.
That’s about it for tonight and perhaps we’ll cross paths at the clinic this weekend.Bob
The Fastpitch Bulletin - Volume 6, Number 2 - March 6, 2007Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd!
Hello Again everyone - We're just six days away from Day Number one of the season here in Wisconsin. Tonight, in Columbia County anyway there is more snow falling. The Rules Interpretation meeting was in Portage tonight and it was snowing pretty hard there as it is here at my place just south of Portage.
The snow two weekends ago forced us to cancel our Fastpitch Chronicle clinic in Medford and that was the first time we've had to do that. Although it snowed every year we went to Medford, this year was an issue whereby I couldn't even get out of my driveway.
If you get this bulletin and you don't want anymore sent to you, don't get ticked off at me, just e-mail back to me and tell me to remove you from the list. I need to know, however, which list you are getting so be sure to tell me whether you are on A, B, C, D, E, or F. There are more than 1600 people getting this bulletin tonight.
I highly doubt if anyone will be out on their fields on the first day of practice this year.
From what I've been seeing at our Wednesday night free pitching clinics in Poynette, the pitchers are all ready to face some batters and get after it. They've been tuning things up throughout the winter all over the state and are ready to go. Everyone will have their eyes set on Goodman Diamond at the end of the season.
I was interested in the explanation of the new guidelines for interference and obstruction but interpreting them during the game when they occur will be the issue, as it always is. One step and a reach is very judgemental. But, they all are, right?
I enjoyed the reading the little box on the front of the 2007 handout from the meeting. It says, Coaches and/or officials alone or in combination have NO authority to set aside any National Federation or WIAA rules/regulation.
They should probably include "or makeup any either."
I need to be sure and teach my kids not to scratch out those lines or cover them up with dirt because the third time it happens the coach is gone!
I also chuckled when I read one of the slides at the rules meeting. The one I'm talking about is the one that explains the 20 second rule and enforcing a strike if the batter is not ready. The line I chuckled at was the one where it said the coach should be concise in giving signals from the coaches box. Coaches giving signals from outside the coaches box is the norm more than not. Of course, there is not penalty for being outside the coaches box.
March 9th is the due date for umpires to have their Tournament availability forms in to the WIAA office. That only gives you two days. March 23rd is the due date for officials to have their tests back to the WIAA office. Coaches are to do their tests in house and hand them in to your athletic director.
The list of approved bats is at www.asasoftball.com/about/certified_equipment.asp so you can go there and print out a copy so you have it when the umpires as you for your copy. Everyone is supposed to have a copy of it - coaches, umpires alike.
The WIAA Coaches Advisory Committee coaches are: Jane Briehl of River Valley, Brad Brogley of Seymour, Craig Diedrich of Athens, Richard Frost of Neenah, Doug Schmitz of Bruce, and Karen Scarseth of Wisconsin Rapids (Coaches Association Representative). Rick Gloe of DePere is the umpire on the Advisory committee.
If anyone is still looking for varsity, JV or freshman games, get in touch with me. Poynette still has an opening for all three of those levels. If you still needs games or want to make announcements to the entire state - just e-mail to me and I'll include the stuff in the next bulletin.
There is a good explanation of the NFHS Designated/Flex Player rule in the handouts. There is also a great explanation in the past two years worth of bulletins that you can access by going back to those bulletins.
I'm ready for people to send in pre-season previews on your teams and your conferences. I've completed all my basketball coaching duties for the past season and am ready to start focusing on fastpitch now. E-mail me your stuff and get ready to start forwarding your scores and game summaries.
Rankers should start working on your pre-season rankings. I'll try to get those out by the end of the second week of the season.
I didn't make it to the clinic in Stevens Point due to vehicle issues. I missed seeing many of you there.
That's about it for tonight!
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin, Volume 6, Number 3 for March 7, 2007
It's a "humpback liner" that falls in for a single!
Hello Again everyone
My inbox was filled with all kinds of messages today. Many, many of them were those undeliverable messages because people's e-mail addresses have changed since last June. I spent a couple of hours last night and a couple more today cleaning all those (every one of them) off the various lists I have here. I also spent a mess of time removing the addresses of people who e-mailed to me and told me to remove their addresses because they are no longer coaching. If you are getting this bulletin and you don't want to get them just e-mail to me and be sure to include the bulletin so just hit reply and type your message. That way I'll know which list to look on to erase you from the game. I think I have taken care of all those requests.I also spent about 20 minutes adding a bunch of new people to the lists. I enjoy adding people to our roster and getting them in The Fastpitch Chronicle starting lineup.
Don't forget to get your dues paid to the WFSCA organization. They need to be taken care of by April 15th or you don't qualify as a member for post-season awards for your players or yourself. If you win the state title and aren't a member, the WFSCA won't pay for your state championship ring and what a shame that would be eh? Check out the WFSCA website at www.wfsca.org for more information on membership issues. Those folks will be glad to help you out.
At the rules meeting last night in Portage we learned all about the new rule for obstruction and interference. It's still a judgement call though so you better watch closely to see whether or not there is a delayed dead ball signal hanging off the end of the umpire's shoulder. A situation was mentioned by our Fastpitch Chronicle rule interpreter John Peterson. The question came up the night before. Here it is and then I'll give you my thoughts on it. Ball is hit to first sacker who boots the play but the ball lands up in foul territory inside the running shoot but within a step and reach. The batter-runner then collides with the fielder. I think the runner is out for interference even though she is inside the shoot because that running shoot rule pertains to a play being made from behind her and not in front of her. She isn't interfering with the play because the ball beat her to the place where it now lies. Dave Schwanke had it right I think when he said, "interference is interference!"
John will be letting us know what he finds out from rule interpreters higher up than he is.
OK - Here is that question again from last year. Rule on this one! Batter hits a line drive that hits the third sacker in the head while she is in fair territory and so is the ball. The ball is hit so hard that it sails over the sideline fence along the third baseline. A couple of my umpire friends in the high school ranks keep telling me it's a ground rule double but a major league umpire says otherwise. I got the question from the major league umpire while we were both attending the ISC Men's World Fastpitch Championship. So what is your call?
Here is another one for new coaches and scorekeepers to ponder and old ones too. Bottom of the seventh with the score tied. Runner at third base. Batter hits a ball in the gap and off the fence. How do you score that at bat for the batter? (This one actually happened to our Poynette team in the WIAA State Championship game in 1998 vs Greendale).
Here's another scoring review for you - Name the plate appearances that do not qualify as an "at bat."
Another one - batter swings and hits the catcher's mitt -- A) also hits the ball and it advances all runners and the batter one base safely B) no contact with the ball is made. Score the two situations.
Last one for tonight - runner at third and a liner hits the shortstop's glove and pops higher into the air where the second sacker then catches it before it hits the ground. The runner at third heads home after her break off the bag on first touching.
OK - one more - Your game is at home and when it's over you fail to report the score to the newspapers, the TV stations, the radio stations and to Bob at the Fastpitch Chronicle website. Who suffers from that error?
Answer to that last question? Your players, the opposing players, every fan that reads the paper, listens to the radio, watches the TV set and reads the Fastpitch Chronicle game reports. Hardly a football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling match etc. fail to get reported during those respective seasons, but softball coaches are notorious for using the "I don't have enough time" excuse for not reporting scores. The bottom line folks is -- our sport suffers when a coach or a team rep fails to report scores. The biggest loser is fastpitch softball.
Softball coaches are also notorious for not sending in pre-season surveys to their daily and weekly papers and for not doing umpire evaluations at the end of the year. Our group of coaches had one of the worst , if not the worst percentage of returns from any sport in the WIAA after last season. That's not a good thing! Complete the process.
I also urge you to join the WFSCA. The organization is working for the coaches and for the game. It's an organization aimed at coaches!
That's plenty for tonight! Thanks to all of you who sent the complimentary e-mails about the bulletins. If you have crazy plays or scoring questions just e-mail them to me and I'll get the answers from the experts.
Have a great day and as always -----
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin - Volume 6, Number 4 March 11, 2007
Put me in Coach, I’m ready today! Look at me, I can play centerfield
Hello Again Everyone,
I’ve cleaned off the 2006 team and conference preview page and have already added the East Central Conference preview that was submitted by Tim Whitford from Winneconne. The coaches in that conference are reminded that you can add stuff to that preview or send in your own. I have also added a brief look at the Southeast Conference that Nathan Vance submitted but there is more information from other coaches that should be added so send it to me.
You should also know that Tim Husted, the General Manager of the Danes, a summer program, has submitted an article that appears on the features page of the website. Just click on the features line when you get to the Wisconsin High School girls’ page of my website. I’ve left last year’s features on there for a while just in case someone wants to read them again or take a look at the kind of stuff the website offers.
On March 24th there is a scrimmage scheduled to take place in McFarland. Right now there are three schools involved and we are looking for a fourth one to jump in. The three are McFarland, Middleton and Poynette. The cost of the scrimmage is $75 to cover the umpires that McFarland brings in. It will start at 9 am and you will scrimmage all three teams for about 75 minutes or so. You can contact me to secure the fourth spot as I told my longtime friend Steve Schmikla that I’d take over. Speaking of Steve, I’m happy and proud to announce that his daughter Stephanie has given Concordia in St. Paul, a NCAA Division 2 institution, a verbal commitment to play fastpitch softball there. Steph is a great kid and I wish her the best this year and beyond. Steve, of course, is just one of just five coaches in the history of high school girls’ softball in the state of Wisconsin to reach the 400 win level.
Here’s another announcement that might interest someone. My good friend Brian Phelps of Gilman is looking at bringing his club down to Poynette and using our facility to get some early practice in because he doubts if his field will be ready to use that early. He’s looking for a game against someone in Poynette on Tuesday, April 3rd. If you are interested in playing Gilman, a very strong Division 4 program that has been at the state tournament multiple times in the past few years, just let me know or let Brian know. We’d take care of both teams with a food and beverages after the game. Our schedule is full so we can’t play that game against them.
Marilyn Rogers of Adams-Friendship forwarded an intriguing question to me but before she gave me time to think about it and offer an answer she gave the answer to me. Here it is. Explain how a batter could see 11 pitches, never swing the bat and get called out on strikes for that turn at the plate. By the way, I could have pondered this one for a long time and never gotten the answer. Have at it. I might even offer a prize to the people who submit the correct answer – so Marilyn, don’t help them out.
I have those triple play certificates here now. I sent a few out last year. If you still want one for last year I’ll send them to you. I have to know the names of the players involved, the school they played for, the date of the game and the opponent. If you have a triple play this year just submit all that information to me and I’ll send out the certificates immediately (at least within two days). They look pretty spiffy and make a great framed piece for someone’s wall.
The season officially begins tomorrow (It’s Sunday night). I hauled a bunch of equipment around at school today to get ready for that first indoor practice. This will be my 28th first day of fastpitch practice. I know there are few coaches in the state that are a couple years ahead of me – like Darrell Laschen up in Loyal, Steve Schmikla in McFarland and Bob LeCaptain at Green Bay West but I am one of the fossils in the state. We’ve seen it all from the get go – like 12-game schedules and pitching restrictions where the number of innings a kid could pitch was limited much the same as baseball; Division 1 championship game scores that were like slowpitch scores because those teams seldom had enough pitching to stretch into a three-day event down there in Waukesha.
I’m looking forward to working with a group of very young, eager kids that simply want to pull on our black and orange uniforms. What more could a coach ask for?
Have a great first day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob
Back To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin - March 15, 2001
Let it Rip!
Hello Everyone - And there a lot of you to say hello to as we are now over 1800 people on the various lists getting these bulletins. That's a lot of people. And take a look at how many hits the website gets. It's incredible!
I've posted more pre-season previews so take a look at those and if you haven't forwarded something about your team, type something up and submit it.
Games begin next week. Our diamond is now void of snow but is wet. A couple of nice days and we'll be on it and get a game or two in next week. Schools farther south in Wisconsin than us might be there already. Schools in the north? Well, as I've always said, I have empathy for all you people up there.
There is a player clinic in Middleton and here is the note I got from Cherie, the coach at Middleton High School.
Bob,
Could you please put this out to your email list? Middleton is having a youth clinic this Saturday March 17th with 1996 Olympian Gold Medal winner Julie Smith. Please tell people if they would like to sign up to call Jeff Simon directly. (608) 836-7244
Thanks - Cherie Hellenbrand - Middleton High School - 608-829-9974Here is a message from Craig Otto in Onalaska
Bob:
Here’s a link to last year’s MVC schedule/standings page and season summary page on the league Web site. Don’t have this year’s composite conference schedule posted yet, but when I do, I’ll forward a link for that to you as well. One note from last year’s all-conference teams, Jodie Muth has transferred from Onalaska to Aquinas.
Craig
http://www.gomvc.org/0506sb.htm
http://www.gomvc.org/0506sbsmry.docHere is a message from some folks in the Eau Claire area that might be of some interest to some of you.
Hello,
Bob Meixner asked me to e-mail you about his forming U12 team. We are currently looking for young players to join the traveling team. We will play most weekends from May through July and expect to play in the Wisconsin State Tournament. Most of the tournaments will be in the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Twin Cities area.
If you have anyone you think I should contact directly, please let me know. Otherwise, if you would be able to disseminate this to anyone and everyone you feel appropriate we would appreciate it. If you have any other questions about our team, please let me know.
Thank you,
Emily Long
Bob Meixner
7154978970
bmeixner@nelson-tel.net
and/or
Emily Long
7152716369
clayandemily@charter.netHere is the answer to Marilyn Roger's question.
the runner on base got thrown out on a 3-2 count to end the inning. Then the next inning the girl took a 3-2 riseball for her 11th pitch.The first week of the season is nearly over.
I made a couple of mistakes last week in the Bulletin. Steve Schmikla is starting his 28th or 29th year not his 30th and Bob LeCaptain is starting his 27th no this 30th. I think that makes Darrell Laschen of Loyal and me the two coaches that have been at this longest. This is my 28th year!
Here are just a few of the changes I have watched take place.
Big heavy bats replaced by short light ones
white balls replaced by optic yellow with red stitches
pitchers limited to how many innings they can pitch to unlimited pitching
helmets required for kids under 18 in the field of play
mandatory breast cups on catcher's pads no longer required
helmets required for catchers and now must be NOCSAE approved
face masks on catcher's masks must be NOCSAE approved
double first base
face masks on batting and running helmets
an approved bat list
state tournament played on grass infields with 300' foot fences to now in a state of the art fastpitch site
a few hundred people at state tournament to overflow crowds that are forced to leave after a game
No publicity to weekly rankings and a website that features hundreds of game reportsA few things that haven't changed
girls still required to wear plastic or rubber cleats
girls keep getting injured due to having to wear required plastic or rubber cleats
increasing number of rules each year to clarify the recently enacted new rules from the previous year
more and more rules being added
the number of runs scored in the average game (yellow balls have made no difference in run production)
the number of runs scored when two good pitchers square off (yellow balls still don't get hit very often)
an alarmingly high percentage of coaching changes statewide in this sport
fans at games that don't know the rules but still scream at umpires, coaches and kidsI'm sure some of you can come up with a long list of things that could be added to my short list.
Hey have a great day and as always
Keep it Rising!
Bob
Back To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 6 March 20, 2007
Tinkers to Evers to Chance!
Oh, that’s right, that’s baseball, a different game all together. Aha, but there are only a few that really know that secret!
Hello Again Everyone – Hey, we played a game in Poynette tonight. We even played the JV game on that diamond. Pioneer Westfield came down and we got both regularly scheduled non-conference tilts in on our fields. It was good to get some strange hitters against our pitchers and I’m sure the Pioneers felt the same way. We had been outside just once and that was last night and we stayed off the diamond as the frost was coming out. We raked the really soft spots and they dried up and there was actually dust on those spots before we left practice at 5 PM. Our diamonds are just one reason why many teams come back to the Jamboree every year. It’s really tough to rain us out here.
The game was a pretty typical first game for two young teams. We had three errors and they had five. The final was 12-2. It was the 400th win for Poynette since I have been the coach. The kids didn’t know anything about that issue prior to the game as we never mentioned it last year or during the first week of practice this year.
Our team is very inexperienced as we had some screwy things take place since last year’s state tournament. Our first team all state third baseman chose to graduate early in January. Our three-time all state and first team all state outfielder in 2006 chose to go out for our soccer team as did our first team all conference second baseman. Our projected senior leftfielder then decided to get a job to try to make some cash for college. That was 4/9 of our starting lineup. We have some eager learners, however who are willing to risk failure early on in order to get better as we go.
Tonight, our sophomore shortstop laced a two-out, three-run double to get us into the lead. That was pretty neat in itself but here is the rest of the story. That kid’s mother played for me as a freshman in 1981 and graduated as an all conference outfielder for us in 1985. She was a fantastic player and if there had been all state players in those early days, Debbie would have certainly been on the list. She remains one of the top players in the history of our program. To have the chance to write her daughter’s name into the fifth spot in our batting order was a treat. After the current kid got back to second base on the double I told her that I thought her mom would have gotten to third on that shot to rightcenter. She just smiled at me. I’m not sure if the current sophomore really has a clue as to just how great her mom was.
That’s just one of the joys that happens when you stick things out over a long period of time. People keep asking me how long I’m going to keep at coaching softball. My answer is always, “as long as they keep coming to practice looking to improve and learn new techniques, I’m interested in sticking with them.” My biggest issues are the physical part of the job. Raking infields takes its toll on a 56 year-old body. So does pitching batting practice to them. Thank heavens I invented Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo years ago. With that racket I can hit four or five times as many fly balls, pop ups, ground balls as you can with your bats and with a lot less effort. I don’t have to bend over to pick up balls and then toss them into the air, swing a bat and then do it all over again.
OK – so the game summary for tonight’s game appears in the Week 1 summary. Be sure to read the fictional game summary between Hooterville and Bug Tussel so you can figure out the best way to e-mail me your game summaries once you start playing.
I don’t have as much time to post stuff as I have had the past few years. I’m pretty busy but I’ll get to the stuff. I don’t retype stuff for anyone but I do a little editing and proofing for you.
Don’t forget to join the coaches association and every conference ought to have a conference rep for the WFSCA. I am not a WFSCA official. I’m just a member like most of you. The Board names are posted on the wfsca.org website so you can get that information there. April 14th is the new deadline to join so get it taken care of.
Rankings are in the process of being compiled for all divisions of play but they are tough to start with because not many people have forwarded preseason previews for the website. I’m sure there are coaches out there who still try to keep as much as they can a secret from the rest of the fastpitch world. Remember folks, in this day and age, you can’t hide from us. There are three lines of communication when it comes to fastpitch softball – 1) telephone 2) telegraph and 3) tell another fastpitch person.
As I’ve said before, the one alarming statistic that always jumps out at me is the high number of coaching changes year-in-and-year-out in softball. There aren’t many of us who have been at it 20+ years. It seems like 10 is the cutoff with five being the next number that seems to be prevalent. Coaches last 5 or 10 years and they stop.
Another part of the game that always bothers me is the fact that we don’t report injuries like some sports do. It has always amazed me that nobody seems to be interested in the types of injuries softball players incur but yet we have all these safety rules that get shoved down our throats. I for one, know there are lots of knee injuries occurring when players slip on hard rubber bases and home plates with rubber or plastic cleats because when it happens the coaches e-mail me. They do so because they know I’m pretty passionate about allowing the use of metal cleats. Until surveys are done by somebody on the types and frequency of injuries nothing will change in that regard. Changes occur when a kid gets hurt and somebody files a suit. For instance, New York City is passing a ruling whereby metal bats will be banned from high school baseball games. High school softball games will be right behind.
A number of years ago, we went to the double first base. From my viewpoint, the biggest issue with injuries around first base is the second sacker coming over there and standing right in the baseline on the outfield side of first base. Collision after collision occur there and there are so many near-collisions that it really is amazing that more kids don’t lose kidneys etc. there. Just watch closely and you’ll be saying, He’s right.”
Why is that happening. The second sacker is going over there to back up the throw to first on balls thrown from all over the infield including shortstop and third base. Just watch! You’ll see that to be the truth. The problem is, so many back the throw up about six to eight feet beyond the base right in the path of runners going over the bag at full speed. Second sackers’ don’t belong there. They don’t belong there!! If the runner collides with that second sacker and then tries to get to second base, I think that would be obstruction. Correct? Most of them can’t head for second though, because they just got injured.
So, keep e-mailing those stories of crazy plays and ones that cause injuries. I’m genuinely interested in all of them.
Have a great day and as always,
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin - March 26th, 2007
BPF = 1.20 but only when contact is achieved!
Hello Everyone - It has been a few days since the last Bulletin was sent out and I have a little time tonight to compile something for you.
We had a good scrimmage on Saturday at McFarland. Everyone learned something, the umpires were fantastic and the food, all endorsed, according to the sign at the concession stand, by The Fastpitch Chronicle was also good. McFarland really knows how to treat people (until you have to play them and then they become tigers).
Here are some situations that arrived in my inbox today from the WIAA so read and enjoy and comprehend as well.
Question 1 Can a pitcher wear a pitching toe?
Answer Rule 3-2-11 prohibits metal toe plates. If the pitching toe is plastic or rubber it would be allowed.Question 2 The pitcher has the ball in her possession. The batter steps out to take signals from the base coach. If the batter takes 15 seconds does this mean the pitcher has only 5 seconds remaining to release the pitch?
Answer From the NFHS: "They both have the 20 seconds. The pitcher can't deliver the ball unless the batter gets into the box. The umpire could enforce the violation on either one." The NFHS Rules ommittee will discuss this at their summer meeting.Question 3 Slow grounder to first base. First baseman does not field the ball cleanly and the ball is within a step and a reach. The ball is in front of first base in foul territory and in the running lane. What rights does the batter-runner have? Since the path to the colored base is blocked by the defensive player the batter-runner can't touch the colored portion of the base. Is the batter-runner allowed to run outside the running lane to avoid contact with a fielder attempting to make a play?
Answer From the NFHS: "Since the ball is within a step and a reach, this is still the initial play and it is up to the runner to avoid the defensive player. This would be no different if it were the runner going to
second base and this was directly in the base path of the runner before reaching second. It is the obligation of the runner to give way when a fielder is making the initial play on the ball, even if it means leaving their base path. Rule 8-6-10a".Question 4 The pitcher steps on the mound with her hands apart. She then moves the glove so that it is hiding the ball but clearly not touching if you were viewing her from the third base side. It was not nearly as clear from behind the plate and first base. She then separated her hands then brought them together again to being her pitching motion. Questions are: A) Rule 6-1-1a; "...the hands separated." How far is this? Is this a judgment call for each umpire? B) "...bring hands together in front of body..." Does together mean touching? C) Glove covering the ball on the hip is not the front of the body?
Answer From the NFHS: "A) There is not a limit on the distance. The plate umpire and the batter must be able to determine that the hands did indeed separate. B) Yes, the hand holding the ball must come in contact with the glove either inside the glove or outside the glove. C) When we say bringing together in front of the body, this is so the home plate umpire and the batter can see them together. Then once the hands have separated, everyone knows the pitch has begun. Must be visible from the front...so judgment by the umpire."Question 5 For the initial play (step and reach) would that include diving for the ball?
Answer No. Rule 2-47 does not include diving as part of the definition of a "step and a reach".Question 6 At the recent Softball Meetings the presenter mentioned that the double first base is considered "one big base". When does this happen? Answer Rule 8-10-3; "The batter runner or runner may touch the white or colored base: A) When advancing on balls hit to the outfield with no play being attempted or when returning to first base B) When tagging up on a fly ball C) When returning on an attempted pick-off play."
I have posted quite a few previews for conferences and teams so take a look at the 2007 preview page on the website. There are also game results on Week 1 and now Week 2 of the site so check those out too and be sure to e-mail your results to me.
Be forewarned that my e-mail address will probably be changing. I've been on America Online for a long, long time but I live out in the country and have only been able to get dial-up all this time. It's really time consuming waiting and waiting for things to load up. I can now get high speed internet access from our telephone company and although I don't like Century Tel, I think it's time to move to their high speed access and get things done quicker. I'll keep my AOL account for a couple of months to be sure to get the results you send me but I will be changing it to something else. I will try to keep the faspich1 part so it won't be that tough.
I would assume that most daily papers have now sent out their preseason surveys for coaches to fill out and get back to them. I got mine from Rob Hernandez at the State Journal today. Both Rob and Dennis Semrau at the Capitol Times tell me that spring coaches and softball coaches included are the worst they encounter in terms of getting information on those surveys returned. Let's make an effort to get that stuff to them.
Don't forget to join the WFSCA by April 14th or you and your players will be "shutout" of any post-season awards. Send it to Jane Briehl at River Valley as she is the WFSCA Treasurer.
The number of people receiving the Bulletins just keeps growing and growing and that is a good thing. Be sure to tell your players about the site.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin - Volume 6 Number 8 for March 28, 2007
It's a humpback liner with eyes!
Hello Again Fastpitch Buffs - I've been posting the scores that I get e-mailed to me and I have even posted a few from the State Journal that didn't get e-mailed to me. I won't be doing that very much though because I just don't have time.
If you want people to read more than just scores then you need to have somebody within your program e-mail the game reports that you do want people to read. Here is a sample from the Week 1 results. It's the same Bug Tussle vs Hooterville game summary that has been on the website for six years. Look at the summary and read the formatting instructions. It's really pretty easy and it makes my job of copying and paste very, very easy. All I have do then is copy it, paste it to the correct day's results and add the color heading and make it bold. That takes me about 15 seconds per game summary - total. That's easy for me and it's really easy for you or your person that you ask or assign to send it in.
Here it is and of course you can find it in the future at the top of the Week 1 results or on the commentary page under Volume 6 Number 8 bulletin (that's this one).
The following game summary is fictitious of course and is done to give you an idea of how to submit game information to this website. We typed in Bug Tussle and then used the period (dot) key to move out to the right and then struck three zeros with no spaces in between hits and errors. When we typed in Hooterville on line two we used the appropriate number of periods (dots) to line things up. The report was done in Microsoft Word but works on e-mail as well. Give it a try and forward your game results that way. Write a game summary after your line score if you wish similar to the Bug Tussle vs Hooterville game below.
Hooterville 1, Bug Tussle 0
Bug Tussle ..................... 000 000 0 .... 0 0 0
Hooterville ..................... 100 000 x .....1 1 0
WP-Drucker LP-Uncle Joe
SO- Drucker 19 Uncle Joe-18
Both Sam Drucker and Uncle Joe had their stuff going on this day. Hooterville scored the game's only run when Bobbie Jo hit a long fly ball to center that hit a pigeon that was flying overhead. Uncle Joe's centerfielder, Billie Jo had camped under the would-be out but the pigeon had an effect on the outcome. It discharged a large volume of a milky white substance upon impact from the ball and the discharge hit Billie Jo in the eye and she was unable to see the ball or catch it. Bobbie Jo circled the bases. When the game was over the entire Hooterville club jumped on the Cannonball Express and celebrated on the rails all the way home.That's it. It looks good, it's easy to read and it gives everyone a good idea of how the game went.
Here's another announcement that people should be excited about - especially athletic directors and umpires.
A new website has been created by Portage Athletic Director Jim Langkamp to assist schools in finding umpires, and to assist umpires in finding more games to work. The website URL is www.OfficialsWanted.com It is a free website that allows schools to post ads looking for officials, and
officials to post their availability. This website will be especially useful during the spring season. Be sure to bookmark the site and use it as often as you need!Jim will also be listing games for all the other sports so tell your officiating friends and your athletic directors about the new site.
Here is another key announcement. Hurley is in Division 4 this season so Division 3 and Division 4 rankers should take note and should also get their rankings to me right away. The statewide media is anxiously awaiting the first Fastpitch Chronicle statewide rankings. Those will be published in the Journal Sentinel next week the way it sounds.
Teams planning on playing in the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree should check the Jamboree webpage on The Fastpitch Chronicle website starting Friday. I will list the teams that we have contracts from and on which day or days you asked for games. That schedule will be started very soon. I need to get umpires in line so keep checking that page. It's the official page for the Jamboree.
Poynette is looking for JV and JV reserve or freshman games for this spring yet. Contact me if you want to play our kids. We offer excellent pitching at both those levels of play so your players will get a look at pitches to swing at. We also have one opening for a varsity game as I don't want to play so many games at our own Jamboree - running the event is stressful enough.
Here is a play for you to think about. This play actually happened in a men's fastpitch game that I was umpiring in during an ASA Regional tournament years ago so don't think it can't happen to you when you are coaching or umpiring (I was the home plate umpire in that game). As a matter of fact, at Poynette, we instruct our baserunners to do exactly as I have described the following play. If you don't believe that, ask the umpires from the scrimmage in McFarland on Saturday where we scrimmaged. That play had them checking their rulebooks after the scrimmage was over. After having to rule on that play in a men's game I knew we had to start practicing it in girls' softball. Heck most of the special plays we run in our program are the direct result of crazy plays I have been involved in as a player, coach, umpire or spectator. I'll tell you some more of them as the season goes by.
Runner on first and less than two outs. Batter hits a ball to the second sacker. She tries to tag the runner going to second but the runner realizes she can't get past the fielder with the ball. The runner heads back to first base, being chased by the second sacker. The runner reaches first and is touching first when she gets tagged by the second sacker before the batter-runner touches first base. Right after being tagged (while touching first base and before the batter-runner touches first) the runner at one takes off for second base. The second sacker throws wildly into left-center field in an attempt to get the ball to the shortstop who is standing on two. Keep in mind that the second sacker never touched the bag at first. The runner heads for third and the batter-runner heads for second base. The centerfielder over throws third base and the runner scores while the batter-runner winds up at third base. You are the umpire and keep in mind there is lots of yelling and screaming going on during this crazy play.
Here is another play we actually teach and practice in Poynette. If you don't believe this one just ask umpires Rick Crawford and Jim Spangberg of Portage because we executed this play two years ago in the Portage tournament.
Runners on second and third and less than two outs. We have our "on contact" signal on. Both runners know what "on contact" means and signal back to me that they have the call. Batter hits a ground ball to the pitcher. The runners are off. The pitcher fields and throws to the catcher but our runner from third stops and gets in a rundown between three and home. Our runner from two goes one step from third and stops without touching the base. The runner from third forces several throws so our batter-runner heads for second base, where she rounds a step and watches what transpires. The rundown continues with our kid heading back for third base. She steps on third safely and our runner from two heads back for second which draws a throw to second. Our runner at third scores and our runner from second gets back to third safely on the throw to the plate. We score a run and wind up with runners on second and third.
Now, that play has also backfired for us when our kids failed to execute it correctly. A couple of years ago the same thing happened but the kid from second stuck too close to the bag at third and when the runner at third touched the bag safely the trail runner was too close to the play and got tagged out by the catcher. We did end up with runners at second and third but we didn't score the run like we did the other time.
Our general rule of thumb on our "on contact" play is that the runner at third has to stay in the rundown long enough to get the batter-runner to second base and she must try to be safe at home instead of third base. We give up the out to get runners to second and third like we had when the pitch was made. Our runner from second is instructed to get to third base and stand on it so she doesn't get tagged out. We haven't lost anything and we have forced our opponent to make some throws in that rundown.
Keep this in mind about rundowns. If you are the defensive team, the fewer throws you make the greater chance of getting the out. Our goal when we are the offensive team, is to get you to make at least three throws. Our chances of being safe get so much greater every time we get you to make three or more throws. I once read a master's paper while in college on rundowns in major league baseball. At that level, three throws increases a runner's chances of being safe by 50%. A fourth throw increases it to 75%. Even the above average high school girls' softball teams seldom handle four throws or more in a rundown without making a bad throw or dropping one.
How often do you practice rundowns. Do you practice making throws while running or do your kids stop to make the throw in a rundown? How far from the bags are they when they are making those throws? Do they open up "passing lanes" for themselves and their teammates to make safe throws? We didn't in our scrimmage on Saturday and we allowed a runner to score because our third sacker hit the runner in the back with the throw. We spent 45 minutes on Monday working on those things. Do your runners in rundowns look for somebody from the other team without the ball to make contact with in order to force an obstruction call? Do your players toss and get out way out of the play or do they continue to chase the runner even when they don't have the ball?
Some Possible Future Bulletin Situation Topics
Issuing a base on balls with a runner already at third base
Scouting and what we look for or chart
Umpire tendencies
picking pitches
decoding codesAre there any topics youd' be interested in reading about? This medium can really be a great coaching clinic in itself and --- it's free!
Hey, you've been great - good luck in your next game -- even if Poynette is your next foe. We don't mind losing to well-coached teams.
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 9 for April 2, 2007
Play Ball!
Hello Again Everyone –
I was going to send out a bulletin last night but since it was April 1st I figured nobody would believe anything that was written in it for fear that I might end with April Fool! Actually I did start a fictitious bulletin and was going to end it with those two words but then I realized that some people might not read all the way to the end before reacting to some of the stupidity that would have been in the bulletin.
By the way I got word of another hyper-extended knee when a player slipped on a wet home plate the other day and another one that slipped, fell but survived without injury. Keep those reports coming in as they really interest more than just me. I'll start keeping a list of softball injuries for the state if people send me the stuff.
The play I wrote about the other night is covered in the case book on page 53 under the heading – Two Runners Occupying The Same Base. In the mens’ game I was umpiring that I told you about, my partner on the bases failed to call the runner out when tagged while touching first base. That really caused lots of confusion. The same thing can happen in a high school game though. The case book situation is 8.3.3 on page 53.
I have been posting scores as they come into my inbox. You can see those on the website under Week 1 and now Week 2 results. There are a lot of them there including teams that appear on our first (pre-season) rankings.
I have also posted the first Statewide Rankings. They are pre-season rankings and do not take into consideration any games played through March 31st. We’ll update them at the end of every week. If there is a team not ranked that you think should be or that needs our focus from the rankers, just e-mail with that information. Those rankings could change considerably between now and next week.
One team that won’t change, I’m sure, is Grantsburg in Division 3. The defending state champions opened with a pair of victories on Saturday including a nice victory over Pine City, Minnesota which was the only team to beat the Pirates in 2006. Molly Bjelland and Miranda Kammeyer. That pair of players are two of the state’s finest no matter what division of play you are considering. Kammeyer possesses fantastic power and is a great catcher. She’s a kid that some collegiate coaches ought to be drooling over. Bjelland is another in that same boat. They also have some other fine players and plenty of pitching to get to Madison and win it again. Beside Bjelland then have Jamie Lund, and kid sister Michelle Lund who can win in the circle. People at the state tournament know that to be a fact because Jamie Lund finished up the state title game against Lancaster and was the hardest throwing pitcher our radar guns had found the entire weekend.
Speaking of Lancaster, they are also off to a great start in 2007.
I have added many, many more team previews from across the state for your reading enjoyment. A special thanks to my great friend Tom Giachino of Luxemburg-Casco for putting me on to the great previews. Everything he has found and sent me is now posted on the previews page of the website. If your preview is not there, it’s nobody’s fault but your own.
That reminds me of another issue. The various newspapers across the state do pre-season outlooks but it takes coaches to send in their surveys. Get them in to those people before you complain about lack of coverage. If lack of coverage concerns you and you do send in your surveys, then you need to contact the sports department at the paper that is upsetting you.
Coaches who won state championships prior to the WFSCA purchasing championship rings are reminded that you can still order a ring for yourself through Bill Rudy of Jostens. Bill’s e-mail address is bill.rudy@jostens.com so get in touch with him. The cost of the ring is $250. You need to know your ring size, the color of the stone you’d like in it etc. Bill can help you out on that. The ring is silver lustrium. If you want it to be gold that costs you about twice as much.
Remember that I have Fastpitch Chronicle triple play certificates here. If your players complete a triple play and you’d like the certificate just e-mail the information which should include the players’ names, the date of the game and the opponent on that day. If you had triple plays last year and didn’t get certificates I will honor those as well. As a matter of fact you can go back as far as you want to and get certificates for those triple plays.
I looked at the WFSCA website today to see how many school names are still printed in black. That color means the head coach from that school is not a paid-up member of the WFSCA. The membership deadline is April 14th. If you haven’t paid by then you and your players are not eligible for any post-season or in-season awards from the WFSCA. If you fail to join and then win the state title, you won’t get a free state championship ring, you won’t get plaques or any awards and your players will not be eligible for all district or all state nominations or awards nor for the wfsca all star games.
We’re not scheduled to play this week due to spring break and lots of kids out of the state and country so I will be out and around watching/scouting other teams all week. If I saunter into your neck of the woods and you see me at your ball yard or the ball yard where your team is playing, say hello.
Another thing that would be good for the fans and readers would be a master schedule for all teams in the state. There are always people looking for good games to watch. Send me your schedule on a word document and I’ll try to put together a master schedule on The Fastpitch Chronicle website. I make no promises but if everyone would put their schedules on highschoolsports.net it would be easy for anyone to see when you are scheduled. But, I’m sure there are some coaches that would prefer not to have anyone know when and where they play. It’s that hiding thing again.
As I did the previews I was again troubled by the number of programs that have coaching turnover so often and by the number of first-year coaches. All of us need to be sure to get the word to those coaches that there is an association just for them, the coaches. It’s the WFSCA and we all need to urge everyone to join and then help pitch in to make the association one that people are eager to join.
That’s it for today. This one went out at 9 am this morning because I’m on spring break.
Keep it Rising!
Bob
Back To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 10 for April 3, 2007
Portage's Katie Stilwell fans 20 in a 7-inning no-hitter over Sauk PrairieSeven inning game and 20 strikeouts!
That’s keeping it Rising!
Hello Everyone – My good friend and protégé Katie Stilwell of Portage turned in a pretty impressive performance this afternoon in a game against Sauk Prairie. “Kitty” as we call her tossed a no-hitter and fanned 20 in a seven inning game. That’s hummin’ it folks, simply hummin’ it! She’s bound for Seton Hall next fall on a full athletic scholarship as well. That’s the same Katie Stilwell who pitched Portage to the 2005 Division 2 state title and tossed shutouts against both Rice Lake and New London to get the state title. After recuperating from an injury during the 2006 season, she’s back to her old form. We knew from our Wednesday night workouts in February that she had “it” back. On the last night she worked out with us, her dad had all he could do to stay on the bucket as “things” were really moving and shaking.
There have been some other great performances as well and if you have been reading every game summary that comes in to me and gets posted, you are well aware of them (like I am as I read and proof nearly every one of them). Here are a few other noteable performances so far this season.
Before I mention any of them, let me emphasize a couple of things. 1) I teach full-time and am the head softball coach at Poynette 2) I am a one-person operation with The Fastpitch Chronicle website 3) those two bits of information should help you realize that I need things sent to me in order to get them posted because I have absolutely no time to go looking for your scores and summaries. I copy and paste and then proof and edit as best I can with the little time I have to do so 4) If you want your players to get any kind of publicity on a statewide basis or you’d like rankers, conference reps and district reps to know about your kids when it comes time to select post-season players, then it would behoove you to heed my advice – and that is – send the stuff to me and be timely with it. I’ll post stuff late for you but keep in mind that people are not apt to go back a week or more in the past to look at your scores and I’m not going to post last week’s scores in this week’s results!
Ok – Here a few notable performances from the first 2+ weeks of action
Poynette beat Westfield on March 20th and it was the 400th win for the Poynette Coach
Portage’s Katie Stilwell tossed a no-hitter with 20 ks against Sauk Prairie and doubled as well
Stilwell has pitched two games and they are both shutouts (Baraboo and Sauk)
Racine Case’s Alissa Koch throws no hitter and fans 18 vs Mukwonago
Koch followed that up with 12 Ks in six innings against Arrowhead
Koch fanned 6 in three innings and belted a three-run homer in a win over Horlick
Lancaster’s Katie Schroeder had 13 ks in a win over Dodgeville then had 13 to beat Richland Ctr. on 3 hits
George (her last name) fanned 13 for Prairie du Chien in a win over Platteville
Deerfield’s Ashley Gulbranson tossed a two-hitter at Princeton
Cuba City and Galena, Illinois played a 15-inning game where both pitchers fanned 23 but no names were available as nobody sent in the score to me
Katie Sutter of Barneveld tossed a two-hitter with 17ks against Belmont
Shoreland Luth. Rochelle Willkomm, hurled a 5 inn. no-hitter with 10s in a win over Heritage Christian
McFarland’s Stephanie Schmikla tossed a one-hitter and fanned 10 in win over Belleville
Adams-Friendship pitcher Amanda Griese had a one-hitter vs Reedsburg
Rosholt’s Anna Zdroik had 13K's on a 1-Hitter over Bowler Oconto’s Natalie Ruechel tossed a five-inning no-hitter over Coleman
Jenny Franko was 3-for-3 for Kewaunee in a win over Michicot
Kewaunee beat Denmark on 4/2 and it was the first-ever win for that school over Denmark
De Soto senior Courtney Zeimet struck out eight batters and gave up one hit in five innings of work as the Pirates defeated Weston 15-1Pacelli’s Jordan Olds starts the season out by throwing a perfect game and had 2 RBI’s vs Wey-Fremont
Bayport’s Miranda Szcepanski threw a no-hitter and struck out six while Sam Johnson had a bases-loaded triple to highlight an eight-run third inning for the Pirates
Thomas More pitcher Katie Boyle had 12Ks in a no-hitter over Pewaukee
Madison Memorial’s Koykaar (no first name included) hit two homers and a triple in a twinbill vs Fondy
Miranda Kammeyer of Grantsburg launched a shot in excess of 260 feet in Grantsburg’s first game of 07
Lourdes- B. Wolff tossed a no-hitter at Randolph and fanned 10
Bonduel’s Ashley Berger threw a no hitter in five innings over Weyawega-Fremont
Pepin’s Molly McIntosh 12 k's and no-hitter over Colfax
Lyndsay Swoboda struck out 12 as Algoma no-hit host NEW Lutheran
Wittenberg-Birnawood’s Katie Betry had 14 strikeouts while going 2 for 3 at the plate over ShioctonOk – that’s just some of the stuff I was able to glean from the stuff on the website tonight. There’s more great stuff on there. From here on out, coaches and fans (and parents of course) should e-mail me notable performances for future bulletins.
Here are two crazy plays I witnessed today in a game I was watching. First play: Ball hit over rightfielder’s head at base of fence. Rightfielder raises her hands and base ump starts running out there to look. Base of fence was lower than home plate so nobody could tell if the ball was under the fence or not. Rightfielder reached down and grabs ball and throws it toward second base. Base ump moves to his right about four or five steps and tries to catch the throw but it bounces and rolls between his legs. Runner was about half way to third when that happened. She scored as the third base coach kept her running. It was ruled a home run but – if I had been the coach of the team in the field I would have asked the umpire this question – “OK, I know the rule but if you weren’t sure the ball was under the fence or not, why did you try to catch the throw? And if that’s not what you were trying to do, why did you move in front of our throw and get in the way?” The team in the field’s coach didn’t ask those questions and the run scored as if nothing strange had just happened!
Those of you who have been reading these bulletins over the years know that I go to ball yards just to see something I had never seen before. I had never seen that happen before.
Here’s the second one and it happened in the same game. Runner at third and no outs. Batter swings and misses and the catcher drops the ball. Runner heads for first and the catcher rifles a throw to the first sacker who is standing about five feet in front of first base and about 3 feet in fair territory. The runner at third was off on the throw to the plate so the first sacker rifles the ball to the plate immediately. The runner from third is called out (good call by the way). The batter-runner suddenly appears in front of me (I was right behind home plate) and she is heading for the bench. She disappears behind the fence. The plate umpire comes over by me and says, “Hi Bob, how are you today?” I said, “Hey I’m good but I’m confused. That kid at first never touched the base or tagged that batter runner and she headed for the dugout.” The base ump never called the batter runner out, and the plate ump never saw the play. Play just resumed and when the inning was over the plate ump went out and told the base ump what really happened on that play.
That happened just that way. So what can you learn about that play? First of all the first base coach really goofed up. That batter-runner should have wound up on second base at the least. The first base coach was busy watching the throw to the plate and not coaching the batter runner. The base ump should have acted like he knew what had just happened by running over to the bench area and calling the batter-runner out when she vacated the field but he didn’t. The base ump should have learned to keep an eye on his play and not sneak a peak to home plate where the plate ump had things under control. That’s how great amounts of confusion occur at a ball yard. I typed about confusion in the previous bulletin! By the way, the defensive team’s coaches had no clue as to what took place near first base either and got lucky when the batter/runner gave up and headed for the bench.
Hey, it’s really late. Have a great day. I’m going to Notre Dame on Wednesday if they aren’t rained out. Scores from Wednesday, if there are any, or late scores from today, will be posted on my return on Thursday or tomorrow night if we don’t go.
Here’s to you and as always
Keep your eyes peeled for strange happenings and always
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 11 for April 5, 2007
Put me in coach, I’m ready today, look at me, I can play centerfield.
It was too cold to play centerfield anywhere in Wisconsin and honestly be able to say that you were having fun.
A few years ago we opened our season at Franklin Field in Madison against Madison Edgewood. It was 2002 to be exact. It was about 33 degrees and the wind was blowing right off Lake Monona that day. We played it though and the only time anyone really had any fun was in the bottom of the seventh when a Poynette kid, whom we had taught how to play fastpitch to begin with, beat us with a looping liner that hit the rightfield foul line and scored the winning run. She lived in Poynette but went to Edgewood High School. After that game, I decided to that we would never play another game when it was less than 42 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind blowing. Not if I could help it anyway.
Then, in 2005 we played in the Portage Optimist Club invitational against Kewaskum and Dodgeland. I didn’t even want to know what the temperature was that day but we played because it was an invitational with no make up date. I took tarps and we enclosed the dugouts we sat in with those tarps. I also took along two or three Coleman propane heaters. I didn’t allow my pitchers to bat that day even though they were two of best hitters. The risk of getting a hand full of bees on an extremely vibrating bat/ball collision would mean not being able to grip or have a feel for the ball when pitching. Instead those two would go to the dugout, get under a quilt and keep their hands in front of those Coleman heaters. Then go out and pitch like nobody’s business. On that day our senior pitcher tossed a no-hitter, fanned 15 or 16 and walked nobody. In the next game our junior pitcher tossed a perfect game with somewhere around 17 or 18 Ks.
I always liked pitching on cold days. I would try my darndest to get batters to swing at low, inside ones and hope they’d foul them off the handle and get a nest full of bees. Not too many people have the mind set to really give another pitch a real go after the bees have attacked them. Modern bats don’t do well in that cold weather either and coaches and umpires need to keep in mind that warming up bats in the dugout is illegal.
I looked on the WFSCA website today and discovered that my dues did make it to Jane Briehl in Spring Green. Poynette got switched from black to red so that’s a good thing. I found an awful lot of school names that are in the black yet. You have until the 14th of April to get your dues paid. Keep in mind that some coaches that belong are probably hoping that you forget or refuse to join. That way their kids have a greater chance of getting post-season recognition from the WFSCA. That’s the way it works. If you are not a member, your program can get no post season recognition. There is not other organization nor group of people who will honor kids from schools whose coach hasn’t joined the association.
That also reminds me that I wanted to be sure to inject some interest within conferences that do not have a conference rep or conferences that fail to send a rep to the all district meetings. It’s really hard to get the kids from conferences not represented the kind of recognition that many of they deserve. I try to get out and watch as many games as possible in our district so I have an idea of who the really top notch players are when I sit in the all-district selection committee meetings. Not many people do that though. Here are the links to the four divisions in the WIAA and the WFSCA membership pages. http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d3.pdf
http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d2.pdf
http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d1.pdf
http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d4.pdfIn keeping with WFSCA and all district selections, I was just on the wfsca.org website and did a little research. There are 10 conferences in the state without a conference rep on the all district committees. They are: Lakeland Central, Lakeland East, Lakeland West, Olympian, Trailways North, Trailways South, Six Rivers East, Milwaukee City and both divisions within that.
From what I was told, the WFSCA created a Northwest District in an attempt to reach more coaches and programs in that part of the state. The Lakeland conferences need to do some polling and get somebody on board. Don’t wait and have reps from other conferences try to represent the kids from your conference. Folks, I’ve been to enough all district meetings to know that it won’t work that way very often. Your conference needs a rep to be at those meetings.
Fastpitch Chronicle Certificates
I have certificates that are available free for kids that are involved in a triple play (the defensive players). I have also created certificates for kids who pitch 7-inning perfect games, 7-inning no-hitters, and kids who have unusually great offensive games like multiple automatic home runs, lots of total bases, or double-digit RBI etc. I’ll try to figure out how to get that certificate online and perhaps even printable on your own paper. That would eliminate my costs of postage etc. Hey, one of you computer whizzes, should help me out on this project.Another project for you to help out on would be a game reporting form available on the website whereby coaches can fill it out and send it directly to the results pages of The Fastpitch Chronicle website. I know there are some experts out there among our coaches who know how to do those things. I coach softball and type, I’m not into writing computer programs. Interested in helping out? Give me a shout.
The Big Rivers vs Wisconsin Valley Challenge is this Saturday in Eau Claire, weather permitting. Wisconsin Rapids and SPASH are traveling to Eau Claire to take on Memorial and North (I think that’s right). Are there any other Saturday events in the state I should know about and publicize? Let me know.
It’s been great and so have you!
Have a greater day than you had today and as always
Keep things hopping and Rising!
Bob
Back To TopThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 12 for April 10, 2007
Hello Again Everyone
Jim Kvisto of Hurley sent me an e-mail updating me on things in his neck of the woods where they've had lots of snow lately and he figures it has out them back two to three weeks.
There's snow and plenty of it forecast for the southern third of the state as well.
There are plenty of scores posted for games this week, though. Take a look at the website and you'll see them. Here are some notable ones from the ones that have been submitted. Menasha beat Appleton North at Appleton North; SPASH beat Merrill, Winneconne nipped WLA; Mayville is now 5-0; Denmark 2, Southern Door 1; Sturgeon Bay 2, Luxemburg-Casco 1;Algoma 3, Oconto 2 all from the Packerland;
Another report of a kid slipping and falling hard on home plate with rubber/plastic cleats on -- the sixth such reported incident this year thus far. No serious injuries from those falls -- YET! Keep those reports coming in. I believe there are now more people that you think who realize what many of us realized a long time ago.
Sevastopol softball has a battle going on there. The community field there is a grass infield and they've been playing their games at a nearby diamond. They've been trying to get the community leaders to skin the infield so they can play there games in town. It's been an ongoing struggle. They've been keep me up to date on the process. There was a meeting tonight to address the situation. The kids on the team have been forced to fund raise in order to play their games on a skinned infield nearby but having to come up with that kind of cash every year will be tough. The rulebook doesn't state that the infield must be skinned, it states that the best way is to skin it.
My daughter and I are going to be working on The Fastpitch Chronicle website in the near future. We are going to be dressing it up a bit and making it a little more user friendly and cosmetically better. Gerri Hansen, former Marshall coach has invested in a great digital camera and has promised to forward some pictures she takes as she travels around the state watching games. If you have some digital pictures you'd like to submit once we get the site re-modeled that will be great. I'll let you know when we're ready to embark on that kind of stuff.
For the most part, readers like reading material. I published the world's largest fastpitch newspaper for 14 years. It was the largest fastpitch publication of any kind ever in the world. I had pictures but the readers just wanted to read as much as they could. Pictures, they said were nice but not if they took up the space that a great article could use.
I now have more than 1900 e-mail addresses on the mailing lists. There is a good chance that I will start using RSS in the near future. RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds are free content feeds from Web sites, and would include fastpitchchronicle.com, that contain article headlines, summaries and links back to full-text articles on the web.
Benefits and reasons for using RSS
RSS is an easy way for you to be alerted when new content that interests you appears on your favorite websites. Instead of repeatedly visiting a particular web site to browse for new articles, RSS automatically tells you when something is posted online. Via a news reader, RSS automatically retrieves summaries of the latest content from the sites you are interested in similarly to the way your e-mail software regularly checks for new e-mail.When we move that system -- I'll let you know and let you know what you have to do to take advantage of it.
We've had over one million visitors to The Fastpitch Chronicle since 2005. That's a lot of people and visits. We want to expand it even more though. Tell your friends, the players on your team, the other parents in the stands and anyone interested in the game. The website really does have a lot to offer.
I was looking at the WIAA tournament brackets and noticed that there are only 95 teams in Division 4 for 2007. That is a low number, the lowest of all the divisions. I'd be willing to be that there are some teams out there that are pretty good but are some of the very smallest in D-3 that would like to be in D-4. I see by reading the minutes of the Softball Coaches Advisory Committee minutes they suggested the WIAA even things out by dividing the number of bottom teams (D-3 and D-4) in half to even things out. I'm not sure how that moved along through the political process within the WIAA last fall. If you know, let me know so everyone then knows.
That's about it for tonight.
Actually, that is it so
as always
Keep it Rising
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 13 for April 12, 2007
Say Hey Willie, Tell Ty Cobb and Joe Dimaggio -
Hello Again Everyone - I've posted many more team previews on that page of The Fastpitch Chronicle website so be sure to check all those out. I posted the Six Rivers East conference preview tonight.
Hey, Hey -- there were some games played today. Altoona and Gilman played and so did Thorp and Colby as did Park Falls and Prentice where Kesley Walasek of Park Falls tossed a five-inning perfect game with 13 strikeouts. The Fastpitch Chronicke pitching clinics staff have enjoyed working with Kelsey and the rest of the pitchers in that part of the state that attend the clinics we put on. And speaking of The Fastpitch Chronicle staff, Katie Stilwell of Portage will be highlighted in a State Journal preview in Friday's edition (I think that's when it will be). Katie, you see, is a pretty special kid to the rest of us who do the pitching clinics. She and her dad first showed up in my back yard at our training center when she was eight years old. She could light it up when she was eight and she's still lighting it up now. I once watched her strike out 22 kids in one game and the other pitcher on her team that summer fanned 21 in the second side of that doubleheader. Folks, that's lighting it up!
There are other fine pitchers in the state as well and that really makes me happy and proud. When we started this sport in this state, it was viewed as another sport for girls to take part in and meet Title IX requirements. The Pioneers kept plugging away and slowly we picked up interest and increased the level of competitiveness. We started summer programs and pitching clinics all over the place and we've taken a great game to a level of competitiveness that rivals all of our neighbors. And, we do it with a very small window of time for the high school season. Summer programs like that of The Danes, Bandits, Batgirls and more have also helped to take the competitive level to higher shelves. Everyone is responsible for the improvement and it's a tribute to each of you.
On Tuesday, in Poynette, we played Columbus. Before the game started I introduced one of the original Poynette High School softball players to our team. She's Jami Severson (Hanick) who played on our first-ever team in 1979. She and the others seniors on that team are the only Poynette softball players that I have not coached as I came on board in 1980. I umpired behind the plate during the home games that first year. Jami's daughter is a junior playing on the Columbus team. I always enjoy introducing current players to those that set the bar where it is. I've always felt that in life, it's impossible to understand where you are unless you understand how you got there. There's a whole lot of history behind all of our programs.
I'm hoping the sun comes out a bit and melts the snow in the south. If it doesn't I'm looking for fastpitch events in the north that I can travel to on Saturday. I need a good fastpitch fix this weekend to really get things flowing. So, if you are hosting a game, games or event this weekend, e-mail me that information and perhaps I'll show up at your venue and say hello.
I've gotten more reports of kids slipping and falling due to rubber/plastic cleats so keep those reports coming in.
I've also cleaned up the message boards that you can go to on The Fastpitch Chronicle website.
If you really thirst for fastpitch reading, be sure to check all the pages on the website. There is a new historical page at fastpitchronicle.com/historical.html with some stuff I have retyped from my old issues of The Fastpitch Chronicle I published for 14 years (1988-2002). I'll be adding more.
I've also added names and information to the coaches honor roll page so check that out and if it needs further updating just let me know.
Coaches who won state titles in years past can still order state championship rings from Bill Rudy of Jostens. They are $250. Contact Bill at bill.rudy@jostens.com. You will have to know your ring size.
Here are some highlights from the week: Onalaska snapped a 26-game conference losing streak with a win over Sparta the other day .... Williams Bay's Emily Deitz surrendered only 1 hit while striking out 11 and walking 0 in a win over Dodgeland while Dodgeland's Tieraney Plannasch recorded 13 stikeouts in taking the loss...... Big Foot's pitcher whose last name is Niven (no first name reported) tossed a one-hitter at Clinton and fanned 17 in the process ...... Medford's Jenny Kraemer tossed a five-inning no hitter with seven strikeouts against Lakeland ...... Mindy Pecher went 4 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored as Athens rolled past Edgar in six innings...... Freedom's Jamie Schuh struck out 13 and allowed one hit in a five-inning victory over Waupaca and Schuh also had three hits ........ Appleton East's Beth Spoehr hit a home run that went over the 215-foot center-field fence at Neenah, that ignited the scoring for the Patriots adn she also struck out 13 and didn't allow a Neenah baserunner past second for the complete-game win. ..... Appleton West 3, Oshkosh West 2 (12 innings) ..... Kimberly's Claudia Harke beaned the first batter of the game, but after that didn't allow another baserunner for the seven-inning no-hitter...... Sturgeon Bay 5, Green Bay West 2 and Winning pitcher Stephanie Shefchik had a two-run single during a five-run fifth inning that paced the Clippers. West (0-2) hurt itself with seven errors ..... Altoona 4, McDonell 0 .....
D.C. Everest 2, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 1 ..... Rosholt's Anna Zdroik pitched a 1 hitter with 15 strike outs at Port Edwards and was 2x3 at the plate with 2 doubles and 2 RBI's. ..... Menasha pulled off an early season upset over 4th ranked Appleton North at North High School ....Have a great weekend!
Keep it Rising
Bob--The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 14 -- Friday April 13, 2007
Who's on first? What's on second and I dunno is a third!
Hello Everyone - First things first. Who is playing games tomorrow (Saturday 4/1/4)? Where and what time? E-mail me that answer if you are playing. I need a fastpitch fix.
Here are some messages from a few of our readers.
From Craig Otto:
Holmen senior Emily Pierce has opened the season with three consecutive shutouts, a 4-0 win over Fall Creek, a 1-0, 8-inning win over Central and a 5-0 win over Tomah. Pierce has two 2-hitters and a 3-hitter, and has combined for 24 strikeouts and seven walks. They’re scheduled to play at a tournament in Wisconsin Dells Saturday.Luther’s Jessica Norcross hit her program’s first out-of-the-park home run since their park was shortened to normal fastpitch dimensions in 2004 in a 12-2, 6-inning win over Melrose-Mindoro April 2. Luther has opened the season 3-0, including a 7-4 win at defending Coulee champion Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau March 29.
You guys must have gotten it worse down there. We only got about 2-3 inches of snow in Onalaska, which all melted today, as it was close to 50 degrees. I’d be surprised if everything scheduled for tomorrow around here isn’t played.
Bob,
I am the AD at Ashwaubenon. We have the 2nd Annual Ashwaubenon Spring Softball Classic coming up on April 27-28 (Friday and Saturday) at Pioneer Park in Ashwaubenon. The teams that are in this year's field: Appleton North and Kimberly will play a FVA game on Friday night for their first game of the tourney, Ashwaubenon will play Germantown, Milwaukee Pius will play Chippewa Falls, and Beaver Dam will play Waterford. The Friday games will start at 5pm. Saturday games will start at 11am and 1pm. The championship game will start at 1:30pm. Last year Chip Falls (2006 state runner-up) beat Appleton North (2005 state champions) for the championship. Ashwaubenon, the 2006 WIAA State Champions, wound up taking 3rd place.
Dave -- Mr. David Steavpack
Bob, I read your question regarding the division of teams between Div. 3 &4. The Softball Coaches Advisory took action last fall to allow for anequal split in the future. Since assignments had already been made for the
2007 tournament this will not take effect until 2008. The language is in place in this year's Season Regulations.Marcy
Question 1 I have a question regarding a better taking signs. Earlierin the week we had two separate umpires tell me that the girls need to keepone foot in the batter's box, similar to the baseball rule. The one umpirestated that it was a new rule and was a point of emphasis at their meeting.I attended the rules interpretation meeting at the coaches clinic and havereviewed the rule and case book. The only thing I could find was the twentysecond rule.
Answer Rule 7-3-1 has not changed from previous years. This rulepertains to the time limit and restrictions on the batter. There is not arule which would prohibit a batter from stepping out of the batter's box. Baseball however does have a rule which requires "The batter to keep atl east one foot in the batter's box throughout time at bat." The umpire wascorrect that batter delays were covered in the recent Softball Meetings as a Point of Emphasis. The complete language may be reviewed on page 84 of the
NFHS Rule Book.Question 2 Girls on Team X were using the under eye black marker that many players will use for blocking sun glare. Question is, can it be more than one line? Under just one eye? Wrapping around to the side and the top of the eye?
Answer There is not a rule restricting glare blocker. If you felt that the use was somehow unsportsmanlike you might apply Rule 3-6-13 although it would be more appropriate to discreetly speak to the coach.Question 3 Player on first when the next batter swung (not third strike) and missed and the catcher missed the ball. All though it was a swing and miss, the sound of the ball coming off the catcher's glove sounded like a foul ball. The runner on first based advanced to second but then returned to first base on hearing fans say "foul ball" and was tagged out by the defensive team. We allowed the girls to go back to second base and continued play from there. Was this correct?
Answer Runner is out. It is the runner's responsibility to know what the umpire has called. If there is a question as to the call stay on base. Spectator interference, Rules 8-2-12 or 8-4-3k do not apply in this
instance. If the defensive team had called "foul ball" Rule 2-32; verbal interference could have been called.Question 4 We cannot find the Easton Rebel SZ100B on the ASA approved bat list. Is is legal?
Answer Yes. The ASA has updated its legal bat list. The Easton Rebel SZ100B is now on the list.Question 5 Out softball field is also the baseball field. We will be able to host WIAA tournament softball games?
Answer No. Please refer to the Softball Season Regulations, page 31; "Games may not be played on baseball diamonds."Question 6 I'm just curious if there is a WIAA rule about canceling sporting events due to cold weather.
Answer The WIAA does not have temperature criteria to determine whether athletic contests should be held or not. Always contact the host school to determine the status of athletic events.Question 7 Runners on second and third. A ground ball is hit to F5. The throw from third goes through F3's legs and comes to rest just inside dead ball territory. F3 picks up the ball, braces for the throw, and steps with one foot completely in dead ball territory. Please clarify the correct call.
Answer The ball was neither hit nor thrown into dead ball territory and became a dead ball only when the fielder, F3, stepped into dead ball territory. According to the Case Book, 8-4-3, sit. T, the award is two
bases but from the time the fielder stepped out of play (8-4-3i, Effect, page 66) not when it left the fielder's hand (8-4-3f, Effect, page 65). The step out-of-play and the throw may have been nearly simultaneous but the rule book does state there is a difference in timing.So there are some good questions and answers for everyone thanks to Marcy at the WIAA.
Some other notes of note: From a reader in the Fox Valley Area - My understanding is that it was a misprint that Beth Spoehr hit that homerun for Appleton East. I believe that it was someone else on that team.
Dear Bob:
Sorry for the omission. The first name of the pitcher for Big Foot who threw in the Clinton game is Cameron (Niven). Clinton's pitcher was Megan Gander.
Sincerely,
Melodie O'LearyBob,
As you know, I've attended quite a few college softball games with you and by my self over the years. These kids are as good as it gets in Women's Softball. In the last week I've seen kids play with broken noses, stitches, ACL tears and all types of injuries. But I have not seen any injuries stemming from getting spiked with metal cleats. Let me tell you, these girls come into a base much harder than High School girls do. And guess what? I have not seen any plastic or rubber cleats on a college player yet. The money that coaches spend on these kids is so great, they don't want to risk injury from plastic cleats.
Just my .02
Brian FransonIt's Friday night and it is getting late -- Have a great weekend. Rankers, please get your picks in on Sunday during daylight hours so I can tally them.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 15 for April 18, 2007
Mouthguards - slippery home plates - stitches - chipped teeth - and more
Hello Again Everyone!
Those of you who know me pretty well and those who have been getting the Fastpitch Bulletins (formerly called Nightly Bulletins) know that I have been involved in this game for a long, long time. I have been involved so long that I can remember when there was not a white 16' circle around the pitcher's plate. I can remember when all bats were wooden (my bat of choice back then was a Louisville Slugger Speedswing) and balls were white and were cork centered and some were made to be used during daylight hours, some were for night games and some were called Day/Nite balls. I can remember when mens' softball players wore pants with wide stripes down the legs and there were snaps at the bottom and baseball players scoffed at those guys (now baseball players walk and run on their pants that hang over the backs of their spikes). I can remember when crowds packed small town ball yards to watch the men play in those local leagues and packed ball yards on weekends to watch the local teams play local teams from other towns and the tournaments were filled with "Ringers" (hired guns to come in and pitch for the local club trying to win a 25 dollar trophy) and the tourney entry fees were about 25 bucks. I can remember when the Portage radio station broadcasted every game played in the Portage Mens' Fastpitch League. There were two games per night four nights per week. I can remember when one of those pitchers in Portage taunted the other teams by wearing a cap with a dollar sign on the front because everyone else called him "Dollar Bill" because of the money he was paid to provide his rise, drop and change to the team he played for. I can remember when fierce rivlaries existed between those local teams and even fiercer ones existed between those of neighboring towns.
I can also remember watching very excellent women's fastpitch games like those played by the Madison Cardinals and Shirley Martin's teams from the Milwaukee area. A couple of Poynette ladies played on the Cardinal team. One of those great female players last name is Stoltenberg, the same name as that of Wausaukee Head Coach Sue Stoltenberg. Sue's husband is a member of the same Poynette Stoltenberg family and a couple of years ago even brought her Ranger club to the Poynette Jamboree. They bunked and slept on the floor at our current varsity pitcher's house because Shirley Stoltenberg of Poynette is her great aunt. Isn't it interesting how those fastpitch playing genes get passed down from generation to generation?
I remember playing top notch men's fastpitch softball against guys like Head Coach at Grantsburg Don Bjelland, Steve Johnson of Grantsburg, Mike Murphy at Webster, Don Olson of Webster, with and against Al Lundberg of Pigeon Falls whose wife is the head coach at Osseo-Fairchild. I remember games against the Red Shed of Madison and on that team was Steve Schmikla, McFarland's Head Coach and one of my fellow 400 game winners. I remember playing in places like Custer, Luck, Milltown, Sharon, Clinton, Dawson Field in Janesville, Monterey Stadium in Janesville, Carson Park on both Gelien and Hobbs and over at that other little field west of Highway 12 but the name of the little one-diamond park escapes me tonight. There were great tournament games at the Kelly Ball Field at Schofield, games at Brantwood, games in Stitzer, games in Platteville, in Shullsburg, Middleton, Olbrich Park in Madison, Mount Hope, Brooklyn, McFarland, Oregon, Stoughton where Jerry Peterson toiled on the pitcher's plate. I remember huge crowds at tournaments in DeForest, Windsor, Morrisonville and games in Rhinelander where pickup trucks backed up to the outfield fence lined the field and there was a half barrel of beer in every one (and that's not an exaggeration either - just ask any Hodag). There were games at Suamico, Sunset Park in Kimberly and at however they spell that park's name in Kaukauana.
Yes, I've been around and seen plenty. I played in Pardeeville, Wyocena and they had a great men's tournament in Waupun that always started on Wednesday night instead of a Thursday and ended on Saturday night instead of Sunday but the people in Waupun will have to tell you the reason for that.
In all those travels across Wisconsin playing fastpitch, one common denominator always existed just as it still exists with high school girl's softball - great people!
A few new people to the Fastpitch Bulletin lists and to the game in high school in this state have recently sent me e-mails wondering what my background is in this game. Wednesday nights are slow nights at the Fastpitch Chronicle website desk so I thought I'd introduce myself or introduce too.
Here is an announcement about the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree for 2007. I've been working on the game schedule the past two days as we have an even number of games requested right now (that's an important thing). We have 24 games to be played on Saturday and 11 or 12 on Friday. We have room for four more games on Saturday and do have a couple of teams that would play an extra game if I have opponents for them. Those of you who attend or participate in the Jamboree know that I try valiantly to keep the level of competition as close to even as I can when scheduling all games. That hasn't changed.
If you have had games canceled that can't be rescheduled and you are looking for games or a venue and are interested in playing in the Jamboree - get in touch with me soon. You can reach me at this e-mail address or call me at my school number which is 608-635-4347 Extension 432. Games cost $55 each and you provide a game ball for each game you play (you get the ball back after the game).
I had a glitch show up in the Jamboree process when I found out our Poynette baseball teams both have a doubleheader at home on Friday so I can't use those diamonds on Friday. I'll be there all night setting up outfield fence on the one at the high school after that JV twinbill is over. We have five fields available though and will play a game under the lights in Arlington and one under the lights in Poynette on Friday night.
Start checking the 2007 Jamboree web page on the Chronicle website as I am updating it beginning tonight.
Here are a couple of messages to share with you from other readers.
Bob,
I have recently been named as head softball coach for next season at MSOE College located in Milwaukee, and we will be in need of players with a passion to play softball. The cupboard is bare at this point and we will need players to step in immediately. So, if you know of any players out there in your great program or in others that are still looking for a place to play and to get a great education, let me know or have the players contact me directly.
Our majors are limited to various engineering programs, business, as well as nursing. A degree from MSOE holds a lot of weight as the average graduate can expect to find a job in their major and earn on average a $50,000 starting salary.
My email address at this point is rod553@yahoo.com and my home telephone number is 262-377-2096. After the current season, I will have a phone and email at the college.
Please keep our program in mind, and continue your great work at Poynette, Bob.
Rod Wilterdink
MSOE softballHey Bob - We had a strange play that I have never seen Tell me how you would call this:
Runner on first base with no outs. Batter squares to bunt and pops it foul. Batter does not know where ball is and starts to run to first. Baserunner gets a good jump but sees that ball is in air and starts to go back to first. The catcher catches the pop foul bunt and tries to get a double play by throwing the ball to first. The ball hits the batterrunner who was running to first. The ball then bounces off the first base coach who yells "GO!" to the runner who made it back to first (hence tagging up).The runner breaks to second on the coach's command. In the meantime, the batter does not realize the ball had been caught and hearing the coach yell "GO!" keeps running and is now almost directly behind the runner. The second baseman who was covering the bunt retrieves and throws to second to the shortstop covering. Both runners slide into second almost together. Both are on second. What is the call? T
The umps called the runner out due to interference by the batter who should not have been running. It did not impede the play. I thought the runner should be safe. It is something I, and my very longtime assistants have never seen happen before, but again dinosaurs have small brains and short memories. :):):) Take care buddy!!!!!Hi Bob, I’m confused about a play that occurred in our game last night. The ruling was in our favor but I’m not sure how they came about it. We had a runner on 2 and our girl ripped one to the outfield. The outfielder touched the ball and then it went under the fence. They awarded the batter 3 bases. Something about 2 plus 1 and something to do with the outfielder touching the ball. I tried to find the rule in the book but couldn’t. Do you have any insight on this one? Thanks Tim
Bob,
We are in need of (2) games due to cancellation of Rhinelander. We would like to do both Varsity & JV if possible. Either home or away, single games or a DH. Please find following a list of OPEN dates;Friday 27/April -- Mon. 7/May -- Tues. 8/May -- Wed. 9/May -- Thurs. 10/May -- Mon. 14/May
We would have a couple after that, but I believe D-2-3-4 start regionals that week?!? Can you help us out and post this? Thanks Bob!
Pat Reiger -- Baraboo Thunderbird Softball
I have updated some things on the Coaches Honor Roll Page in the past couple of days and have added some feature articles from this year on that page as well. Check it out!
More and more scores are coming in and that's the way it oughta be. Every score really should be reported.
Tonight at practice in Poynette it was raining lightly throughout. We were doing a plethora of defensive things (as usual) and that included working with catchers and getting their throws off quicker. Home plate was wet and one of our freshman catchers took a step forward and landed on her side after slipping on that wet home plate. There are two sides to every issue and both sides have merit in this issue. There are safety issues to be considered in wearing metal cleats as well. I understand that. But, until somebody starts keeping track of injuries we'll never know what issues we face. My kid was unhurt but stunned this time.
I'm interested in hearing about the plays that occur in your games where players get cleated. Even with plastic and rubber cleats kids do get cut and get scraped up. So, please report those incidents to me as well as I'd like to be able to compare the number of incidents.
At Poynette, we urge our kids to wear a mouthguard but do not require it but that is about to change too. On Monday in our game we had a player slide into second base but stumbled a bit before actually getting down. Her body got into a weird position on the way down and she actually crashed rather than slid. When her top half went forward her head hit the dirt, face down and she bit through her lip with two teeth. She broke one tooth and her mouth is really a mess.
Actually I really think the real culprit in the incident that caused her injury was the face mask on the front of her helmet. The bottom of it hit the ground and snapped her head back. I'm not sure it would have happened that way if she had not been wearing a face mask.
At any rate, I told them again tonight that a mouthguard would have probably lessened the chances of losing part of that tooth and those teeth probably would no have cut through her lip.
She played last night by the way - what a tiger she is!
On May 12th at Spartan Bowl in McFarland from 2 PM till 5 PM there will be a get together to honor and thank the McFarland softball coaching staff as this will be their last year together. Head Coach Steve Schmikla is retiring after this season. Everyone is welcome.
The weather is turning for the better and there are lots of events coming up. Have a great few days here and a great weekend. I doubt if there will be another bulletin to you this week.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6 Number 16 for April 22, 2007
A can of corn! A piece of cake! There's one for your back pocket!
Hello Again Everyone - It was a busy weekend around the state with many invitationals and tournaments etc. Check out the Week 5 results page on The Fastpitch Chronicle website and while you are there check out some other pages for updated information such as:
1) Jeff Agnew's Fort Atkinson team winning on Thursday and giving him his 200th career win. There is a link to the article on the Week 5 roundup
2) Tom Drohner's SPASH club won a pair of game son Saturday and one of them was his 200th career win so check that out too
3) I also added in the fact that Tom Drohner has won 8 conference titles since taking over at SPASHThere is a Fastpitch Chronicle messageboard listed on the home page of the site and one of the areas for messages surrounds Wisconsin High School girls' fastpitch. If you want to join the group just register and I'll get you set up on my end.
There are Fastpitch Chronicle certificates for Triple Plays and I know there was one somewhere in the Madison area last week as the umpires who worked the game told me about it. There are also certificates for no-hitters and perfect games that are seven-inning games. Sorry, no five-inning certificates. Although noteworthy, a five-inning game is a shortened game and anything can happen in two extra innings.
I'd also issue certificates for multiple automatic home run games for players and for hitting for the cyle. All you have to do is tell me and give me the address to send the certificate to.
Here are some questions from some readers you will most likely enjoy.
Hey Bob,
Here is a situation that the umpires in the audience may be able to help me with:
Here is the situation: With a runner on two, batter sharply singles to center. The centerfielder fields and runs the ball into the infield, stopping the lead runner at third, and the batter at one. With the centerfielder
holding the ball, standing between second and the pitcher's circle, and with both runners standing on their respective bases, she requests time from the umpire. He refuses to grant it. After the play, when I questioned why it was not granted, he said "I will not grant time so you can avoid throwing the ball to the pitcher". I just got done teaching this technique in practice the night before. I want to avoid an unneccesary throw to the pitcher that could result in a poor throw and allow the runners to move up. I tried to find this in the rule book, but couldn't seem to locate it. Please help clarify.(As a follow-up, let's say the batter hits a single to right with nobody on. The right fielder fields it, and runs it onto the infield and stands with the ball in the basepath between first and second, preventing the runner from having any chance to advance to second. Can she call time and have it granted? Otherwise, what prevents her from walking over to first and standing two feet off the bag and holding the ball? She isn't obligated to throw it to the pitcher. Theoretically, she could stand there all day if time is not called?
Am I missing something? Or should these umpires have called time when it was requested if both runners were stationary on the bag?
Thanks,
JoelOK - John or Marcy - handle this one.
Hi Bob,
I had, in the past couple of games ,this happen and have had a couple of different takes on it too. I wrote to Marcy but she hasn't replied yet but here is the note I wrote:
A situation came up this weekend regarding the intentionally removing the box. Actually I had seen it happen in our previous game also (we did have the same umpires though). As the batter is preparing in the box, she kicks dirt over the front of the box. I was told by the umpire that is just something that happens and they had discussed it in their association meeting as being acceptable. In our next game I asked a new set of umpires the same question and they would rule that it was a violation. He said they had discussed it in their association and that is how it would be ruled. Interesting to note they are in the same association... Would it also be correct then that if a player digs in on the back line of the batter's box it would also be a violation?
Thanks,
MichelleBob,
We have been to fields in a row and got warned for kicking dirt on the lines. The batter's box has 3-4 inches of powder and or sand in the box. My girls pushed the dirt out forward and were warned for disturbing the line. I pointed out that we are right handed and not running or dragging or slapping. Can we push the dirt out behind us? They said no, you can not disturb the line at all. What do we do with loose dirt to start a game that we cannot even stand in to bat in our opinion?
BrianHere are two injuries reports that I received this week.
Injury form cleating - Our second sacker has cuts on both legs from plastic cleats right now - covering second on steals. We also have a knee injury due to slipping on second base with plastic cleats. MRI is scheduled for Friday.
BrianAnd here are some answers from Fastpitch Chronicle rules interpreter, John Peterson concerning questions on a previous Fastpitch Bulletin.
Bob here are my answers on these plays:
Hey Bob - We had a strange play that I have never seen Tell me how you would call this:
Runner on first base with no outs. Batter squares to bunt and pops it foul. Batter does not know where ball is and starts to run to first. Baserunner gets a good jump but sees that ball is in air and starts to go back to first. The catcher catches the pop foul bunt and tries to get a double play by throwing the ball to first. The ball hits the batterrunner who was running to first. The ball then bounces off the first base coach who yells "GO!" to the runner who made it back to first (hence tagging up).The runner breaks to second on the coach's command. In the meantime, the batter does not realize the ball had been caught and hearing the coach yell "GO!" keeps running and is now almost directly behind the runner. The second baseman who was covering the bunt retrieves and throws to second to the shortstop covering. Both runners slide into second almost together. Both are on second. What is the call? T
The umps called the runner out due to interference by the batter who should not have been running. It did not impede the play. I thought the runner should be safe. It is something I, and my very longtime assistants have never seen happen before, but again dinosaurs have small brains and short memories. :):):) Take care buddy!!!!!The batter-runner is out on the catch. Rule 8-6-18 , page 69, applies to this situtation.
"After being declared out ... a runner intentionally interferes with a defensive player's opportunity to make a play on another runner." The ball is dead and the runner closest to home is declared out.The operative word is intentional. In this play description the umpires ruled batter-runner interfered on the throw ao the runner is out and defense has double play.
If the umpires had ruled that the batter-runner did NOT intentionally interfere on the throw then the runner (R1) who was at first is no longer in a force situation. She legally tagged at first after catch and advanced to second. Unless she is tagged at second, she is safe there. Batter-runner's slide into second is irrelevant unless she interfered with the fielder's attempt to tag out R1. Since batter-runner was out she can't be called out for passing R1 (if that happened).
John Peterson
Hi Bob, I’m confused about a play that occurred in our game last night. The ruling was in our favor but I’m not sure how they came about it. We had a runner on 2 and our girl ripped one to the outfield. The outfielder touched the ball and then it went under the fence. They awarded the batter 3 bases. Something about 2 plus 1 and something to do with the outfielder touching the ball. I tried to find the rule in the book but couldn’t. Do you have any insight on this one? Thanks TimThis play is covered under Rule 8-4-3h, page 66. Two bases from the time of the pitch are awarded when a fair batted ball rolls under a fence.
However, under 8-4-3j if the umpire judges that a fielder intentionally carries, kicks, pushes or throws a live ball from playable territory into dead-ball territory the award of two bases is from the time the fielder carried, kicked, pushed or threw the ball.
John Peterson
There are have been several more reports submitted that surround the slipping on hard rubber bases and on home plate by kids wearing rubber/plastic cleats. There have also been a couple of reports about some players getting cleated by rubber/plastic cleats.
Keep sending your injury reports to me. I'll keep logging what gets turned in.
I noticed in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated (Pages 52-53) that Matt Holliday of the Colorado Rockies is pictured wearing what appears to be Nike cleats that are not metal. On the facing page, his teammate Garrett Atkins is wearing metal cleats. A collegiate softball coach pointed out to me last week that there are several or more than several major league players wearing some sort of composite cleats.
That's about it for tonight folks!
Keep the scores coming in and keep sending in those injury reports and crazy plays that take place or rules questions.Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 17 - April 26, 2005
It's another hump back liner off the bat of a punchin' Judy!
Hello Again Everyone - It's Thursday night here and it's a night following a day that was fit for only waterfowl to enjoy in this part of the state. Judging by the number of score reports coming in, the ducks won out in most of the state. Grantsburg got a game in against Barron today and Hudson beat Eau Claire Memorial. Hudson, by the way needs to be considered by all the D-1 Rankers. And speaking of rankings, the D-3 rankers should note that Thorp is 10-2 up in the neck of the state. There are some other clubs that are worthy of consideration as well and they'd probably get it if they'd send in some scores and reports.
Here are some questions and answers from the WIAA -
Question 1 I recently purchased a Mizuno Ice, model #340139. I couldn't find it on the ASA approved bat list even though it has the 2004 ASA seal. Is this a legal bat?
Answer Legal. The ASA added the Mizuno Ice, #340139 to the approved bat list last week.Question 2 Where can I find the Crow Hop video?
Answer Access the main WIAA web page (not the School Center), go to the Softball page and scroll down the right hand side. Click on the Crow Hop link. Please note that there is also a slide show on the Leap located on the Softball page.Question 3 Field umpire calls time and proceeds to tell the young lady playing first that she must leave the field as she was disqualified for wearing a metal barrette. Shouldn't a warning have been issued? Or was the pre-game conference discussion considered the warning? Answer Rule 3-6-1; team warning on the first violation, next violation results in the offender and the head coach restricted to the dug-out.
Question 4 As the home team, I was designated the official scorebook. After each inning, the home plate umpire would ask the opposing team the score in their book, and then check with me to see if mine matched. After 7 innings, and several substitutions, the home team is ahead 14-10 in the top of the 7th. The opposing team scores 3 runs and then we get 3 outs to close the game at 14-13. The teams shake hands, we say "Thank-You" to our umpires and teams and coaches get ready to leave for home. About 5 minutes later, after the umpire have gone home, the opposing team finds an error in the score book and by freak chance--I have the same error. The error ties the score at 14. What is the outcome of the game played.
Answer The score would stand. Once the umpires have left the field the game is considered to be over. Rule 10-1-2; "Umpire jurisdiction...when the umpires leave the field of play at the conclusion of the game."Question 5 Clarification of the DP/Flex. We have a girl that can hit and ield, but is very slow. We want to call this girl the Flex and put her in the 10th position of the lineup and have a girl that can run for her be the
DP and put her in the 3rd position of the order, where we want the Flex girl to hit. Then, when it is the DP's turn to hit, we substitute the Flex in for the DP so the Flex can hit. By rule, the DP has then left the game.
Then, when the Flex gets on base, we want to re-enter the DP to run for the Flex. The DP is then back in the 3rd position and the Flex returns to the 10th position and has never left the game. The next time the DP's turn comes up to hit, we again want to substitute the Flex in for her to hit. By rule, this DP has left the game a 2nd time and is done for the game, having used up her re-entry. When the Flex then gets on base again, we enter an eligible substitute for the DP and then enter the DP to run for the Flex, with the DP back in the 3rd position and the Flex returning to the 10th position. We keep doing this as long as the 3rd spot comes up to hit and the Flex gets on base, using eligible subs for the DP.Answer Legal. When the DP's turn to bat arrives the coach can have the Flex bat. The Flex has not left the game but the DP has. He/she can then bring the DP in to run for the Flex should she get on base. That is the DP's re-entry. Flex only leaves the game if she is replaced defensively. This doesn't happen in this scenario. Next time DP comes to bat the coach can have Flex bat, but the original DP cannot re-enter to run should the Flex get on base. A legal substitute could enter the game as the new DP or DP2 and run for the Flex. DP2 would have to re-enter to run. Next time DP2 comes to bat the Flex could take her place but DP2 has left the game and cannot return. Coach could use another legal substitute, DP3, and continue this method for as long as he has legal substitutes.
Question Is it legal to use pine tar in the grip area on a metal bat?
Answer Rule 1-5-6; "No foreign substance may be added to the surface of the bat beyond 15 inches from the end of the handle."Question Batter is a lefty, drag bunter. How is a strike determined?
Answer Umpires judgment using Rule 7-2-1. Case Book 7-2-1, Sit. B; "Normally there are four areas that constitute whether or not the batter has swung at the ball or checked the swing: 1) rolling the wrist, 2) swinging through the ball and bringing or drawing the bat back, unless drawing it back occurs before the pitch gets to the bat, 3) the bat being out in front of the body, or 4) the batter makes an attempt to hit the pitch. Inbunting, any movement of the bat toward the ball when the ball is over or near the plate area, is a strike. The mere holding of the bat in the strike zone, or pulling the bat back, is not an attempt to bunt."
The 2007 Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree schedule is posted on The Fastpitch Chronicle website now. It's tentative until tomorrow night then it's finalized unless - I get several more teams that want to play a game or two as I have some open time slots at 1 and 3 on the 5th of May. Umpires are listed there as well.Features have been posted on that page of the website as well and don't forget that there is a messageboard and forum page for your use as well.
The Muskego Slugfest is the 5th too so people in that corner of the state can get in on a great event there too.
I keep watching scores from the WIAC softball race and keep noticing some names I recognize that are doing superbly. Amy Gahl of Parkview is tearing the cover off the ball for Whitewater and Ronessa Stampfli is twirling the sphere pretty well for Oshkosh. There are other names that pop out there too. MATC in Madison is having a nice year in this, their first year of compeititon after being on hiatus for quite a few years. Check out their stuff online as well.
Keep the scores coming in and as always
Have a great day and
Keep it Rising!Bob
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 19 for May 10, 2007
Just a bit low and outside!
Hello Everyone - I've been extremely busy and haven't published as many Bulletins this year as compared to years past but -- there have been more scores getting reported and I get short on topics unless I repeat stuff from previous years
However, the past couple of nights I have received a couple of e-mails pleading for something to read so --- I have the scores posted from so far tonight and will put out a bulletin.
The Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree went smoothly and we have started to plan for next year's event already. I also understand that the Muskego Slugfest also went well down there.
As for the Jamboree - it is always the first Friday and Saturday of May so with 2008 being a leap year that means that the dates are May 2 and May 3. If you'd like to be a part of the Jamboree just get in touch with me. You can play one game, two games, three games or even four games if you'd like to (Randolph did this year). The entry fee covers one umpire per game and you provide a new game ball for each game you play and you get the ball back after the game is over of course.
There are have been quite a few rules questions lately. Many of them I can answer without passing them on to John Peterson. I will include a couple examples though.
Two weeks ago an umpire called an illegal pitch on a pitcher for using the slingshot delivery in the midst of her windmill deliveries. Clearly a case where an umpire doesn't know the rules.
In the Jamboree a coach inserted the Flex player into the batting order in a spot other than where the DP was playing and the umpire allowed it to happen but didn't report it to the other team. The other team appealed the substitution when the Flex batted in that illegal spot in the order. Calm was attained when the team that appealed realized the umpire had screwed up. That coach, a nice guy, simply said, just put the correct batter back in with the count where it is now and we'll proceed from there.
Bob,
Federation rules. When a batted ball hits a bat there is no violation. If bat hits fair ball it is interference. If ball hits bat in foul territory it is a foul ball. If ball hits bat in fair territory it is fair ball even though it would have gone foul. Rule references 7-4-13; 2-20; 2-25; Case book 7-4-13, page 46.
We have a question regarding a situation which happened to us this afternoon at Zenoff Park in Stevens Point, where we played Pacelli.After completing the top half of the first inning, both teams questioned the field set up, as the pitching mound and bases appeared to be longer distances than normal. We located a tape measure and found the bases were set at 65 feet. The pitching mound was set back somewhere around 49 feet with the pitching circle surrounding the pitching rubber.
The game was halted so the bases could be moved to the proper distances and the circle was redrawn around the correct pitching rubber. Both teams agreed to start the game over. Was this decision to restart the game correct? We could not locate a ruling in the rule book or case book.
Please advise for future reference. Thank you for you reply.
John
Have a question for you??? coach subs in a batter he says #6 for #22.... two batters later, #22 is batting... the coach said the wrong number..., we catch it on our books.. what is the call???
thanks much!Are there any WIAA or NFHS rules regarding "facepainting" with eyeblack? Just curious. Thought maybe you wrote about this once and have stumbled across an issue is all!
There seems to be issues statewide with runners that run in front of fielders who are about to field a batted ball but do not contact the fielder nor say anything to them - just simply run past them toward the next base. Umpires have been calling nothing and also calling that interference. With that in mind here is a question to me and John Peterson's thoughts.
Hey Bob
Hope you can clarify for me on runner interference with a fielder. My shortstop was going forward to field a grounder. As she got to the ball and picked it up, the runner was less than a step away from her. Fielder pulled back so she wouldn’t get bowled over (and saved her head from being taken off) which made her rush her throw to first and overthrow it. The umpire told me there had to be physical contact, or something verbally said to make this interference. Since she did not get touched by the runner there wasn’t any. I don’t think this is correct in this situation. I understand that if the fielder didn’t go for the ball and pulled back there would not be interference, but she did field the ball within the step and reach and in order to not get killed she pulled back. Rule 2-27-1 states “Interference is an act (physical or verbal) by a member of the team at bat who illegally impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder….” There may not have been contact, but the runner did impede, hinder and confuse the fielder. Does there actually have to be contact??? I just don’t believe that we want fielders to be run over to get this interference call. This shortstop has already been knocked on her butt a couple times, do we need her to get hurt?Bob, the coach is correct. Rule clearly states "impede, hinder or confuse." Play described says that runner was step away from fielder. Some umpires call interference tightly and others do not. I think that is why we saw new rule on "initial attempt to play the ball" this year. I call tight interference so in my judgement the play described was interference.
However, a umpire can decide that a fielders actions were not the result of an "act" by a runner. Umpire could judge fielder decided not to throw the ball and was not "impeded, hindered or confused." Is there interference? That could be judgement call in the play described.
The fact that a fielder does not make a play could be due to her poor technique or positioning. For example, runner stops in her tracks, fielder then collides with runner while in the throwing motion. Who intitiated the action? Runner or fielder?
Case book doesn't help because the plays all involve contact.
John
Note Note Note
Oakfield is looking to schedule a varsity game for Monday. Contact Doug Mock at ohsphyed@hotmail.com to chat with him about it.
May 24th is the deadline for schools to order State Tournament season passes. If your AD didn't get something to you - you had better contact that person before then.
That's about it from here for tonight.
Maybe not -- the Coaches Honor Roll Page on my website is set up to honor coaches who have reached mileposts in their careers etc. Check out that page and if you or a coach you know should have their name on that page, contact me right away with the correct information.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin #19, May 20, 2007
Hello Again Everyone - This is Bulletin #19 for the 2007 season. I looked back to the 2006 bulletin season and discovered that there were 51 of them.
That's a lot of Bulletins and I guess 19 isn't so many. I guess I can understand why my mailbox has been full of questions about where I've been and why there haven't been more of them. People e-mailing and telling me that they are going through withdrawal because there aren't as many.
Why not?
There are several reasons.
1) More scores than ever before to get cut and pasted onto the website. A lot more scores but still not as many as there should be.
2) Me not wanting to type about the same things I've written bulletins about before. The old ones are archived on the website so you can go back and read them again or read them for the first time.
3) Fewer scoring questions than ever before
4) Wife's new job causing her to not watch TV as late at night as she previously did so the computer room is off limits after about 10:30. Most of you know that the bulletins usually got typed between 10:30 and 11:15 PM.
The season is quickly coming down to the wire. The regular season is now over for all divisions of play and everyone will be involved with regional play this week or like Poynette, are already packed up for another season.
I'll be out and around in the next few playing days, watching some of your teams and you for that matter. Tuesday is apt to find me close to home as I need to be back in town at about 6 PM. Thursday will be a regional final somewhere within an hour and half from home. The sectional day will find me at perhaps two venues close together in different divisions of play.
Many of you I will see at the state tournament so stop me and chat for a while.
I plan on being at a couple of men's fastpitch tournaments in the state this summer. They will probably be the Jack Grafmeier in Kimberly the first weekend of June, the Boys of Summer in Denmark, the Eau Claire Classic for a few hours of that one and perhaps the Farm Invite in Middleton in August (if there is one there then as the website only has information about last year's tourney there).
I'll be firing up a summer girls' page on the website. Tournament dates, and results are going to be posted for any and all tournaments that submit information.
Have a good week. I'll put out a more detailed Bulletin later this week.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin - Volume 6 Number 20 for May 25, 2007
Most Eyes are on the Sectionals -
Hello Again Everyone - The number of people getting these bulletins just keeps growing and growing. We increased by 50 more in the last week.
The sectional pairings are set and there were some upsets in the process. Just take a look at the rankings page where I have put the ranked teams that have been knocked out of the tournament in Bold Blue type and the ranked teams still alive in Bold Red type.
Rankings are not a real scientific thing and we always miss a team here or there but not teams that regularly send us reports on how they are doing. If you take a look at the rankings in all four divisions of play you will see that 15 of the 19 teams we had ranked are still in the sectional race and a few had to play each other to get there. In Division 2 there are 12 ranked teams still alive while in Division 3 a total of 12 ranked teams still have a shot at the state title. In Division 4, both our top ranked and #2 ranked teams fell and so did the defending state champion but there are still 11 of the ranked teams yet alive.
So who did we miss during the season in the rankings? In Division 1 it appears that Pulaski was a team that needed more or our attention while Hortonville beat #1 ranked SPASH 4-0 today but we had Hortonville on the radar the entire season. In Division 2 Campbellsport and Southern Door ran below most our D2 rankers throughout the season. In Division 3 I think we had things pretty well ranked. The Division 4 rankings were also very good throughout the year. Perhaps Eau Claire Immanuel was flying under our radar a bit but a couple of us were on to them but they never sent us any information to be able to keep a close look at them.
Take a look at the 2007 Season Recap page and see if your conference standings and all conference teams are listed there. It would be great to have every conference listed there and all the names of the all conference players as well. That's probably a pipe dream on my part because once the season is over, many softball coaches just pack things up and move on. That's a challenge for everyone, if you didn't pick up on it.
I have started a records page for the state but have not announced the exact site URL yet. The Lancaster people are wondering if any pitcher in the history of the sport in this state has ever struck out more than 701 batters or won more than 73 games in their career. That's where their pitcher, Katie Schroeder is as I type this message tonight.
If there is a player from your school that holds a school record that you think might put her in the running for a state record, get in touch with me. I'll start mentioning those records and will then start announcing the categories and will post them on the site.
Some records that you might want to send me include not just individual records but team records as well -- such as:
Longest game in state history
Most consecutive scoreless innings
Most 7 or 7+ inning no hitters
Most 7 or 7+ inning perfect games
Most Shutouts in a season - Stephanie Schmikla of McFarland has 17 in one season I thinkThere are a plethora of records I can keep on the page.
I'm also interested in pitching stats from schools that use more than one pitcher during the season and compare a staff's totals to the totals of the many schools where one pitcher throws most or all of the innings in a season.
I'm interested to see whether any kid in Wisconsin has ever hit more than 3 automatic home runs in one game. I'm interested in seeing how many Wisconsin kids have ever tallied more than 11 RBI in one game. I'm interested in all of the records that you might keep. The page is wide open for all of them.
I'm not sure how much I will be at the state tournament but I will be there for part of the event. My son, I'm sure will watch them all as long as they are all at Goodman Diamond. I have a wedding to attend late Saturday afternoon (former shortstop and excellent player for us at the turn of the century).
I was in Verona on Thursday in time to see them call the game and reschedule it for today. Eric went today, I did not. Verona won 8-0 over Oregon.
It's nice to see some teams from the Poynette Jamboree still in the hunt for a state title. Pacelli, Kenosha Bradford, Rice Lake, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, Union Grove and Prescott are all alive and kicking yet. Congratulations to those Jamboree participants. Other Jamboree teams played well too.
Speaking of the Poynette Jamboree - there will be another one in 2008, The dates are May 2-3. Contracts to teams that were here this year will be mailed in the coming week. Umpires will also get contracts next week.
Fall League Teams in the Capitol Area Fall League should start thinking about whether or not you will take part this fall. Several new teams have already been asking about getting in.
Keep checking the website for up to date information.
I am firing up a summer fastpitch page so keep your eyes glued to the Wisconsin Page for that annoucement.
Have a great weekend!
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin - Volume 6, Number 21 for May 26, 2007
Some staggering numbers for sureThere are some staggering numbers folks!
Hello again everyone.
Not everyone who needs to check in has checked in, but a few of the people who read last night's bulletin did respond with some impressive statistics, especially for pitchers.
Here are a few to get you started.
Here are some Horicon Pitching Stats for your reading:
Brooke Schliewe of Horicon had 1085 K's in her career and 80 wins in 90 attempts.
In 2001 Brooke had 13 shut outs and 5 No hitters
In 2002 Brooke had 20 shut outs and 7 no hitters including the one at the state tournament with 19 K's
she also has a school record of the lowest ERA with 0.17 in 2002 with a 25 - 1 record
In 2003 she had 8 walks in 199 innings or .281 walks per 7 innings
in 2003 Brooke had 16 Shut outs and 6 no hitters
Chelsie Held is right there also with 843 K's and just picked up win no.74 the other night
She may break the lowest walk per 7 innings for a career record held by Brooke, it will be close
She has 6 walks this year.
Jolene Heller was not bad either with 696 K's and 64 wins to her totalAnd from McFarland
Stephanie Schmikla finished the year with 18 Shutouts this year and 47 for her career. (18 this year, 14 as a junior, 12 as a sophomore and 3 as a frosh) She also struck out 826 batters in her career. (247 this year, 277 as a junior, 266 as a soph and 36 as a frosh.) She only pitched a few games as a freshman but pitched every inning of every game the last three years. She ended up with 62 wins and pitched 512 innings walking 81 with a career ERA of 0.46 (thanks to Jim Wickert and his stat book!!) At one point this season Stephanie had pitched 60 scoreless innings in a row.From Greendale comes this report
Greendale started the 2005 season by winning their first 8 games, all shutouts. The scoreless inning streak lasted 53 2/3 innings, snapped by Oak Creek in a game at Helfaer Field next to Miller Park. Senior Nikki Temple pitched all the innings as well.
Longest Games
Andy Niedzwiecki of Fall Creek reported that in 2005 in a WIAA regional game Fall Creek and Chetek played a 19-inning game.
Brian Phelps of Gilman reported an 18-innning game.
I think Cuba City played a 20, 21 or 22 inning game this year -- somebody set the record straight.Longest winning streak in state history?
I'm not sure what the season record were for many of the teams that won two, three or four straight state titles. Help me out here folks.Most automatic home runs in one game - Kelsey Squires of Poynette had three of them in one game in 2006
Most RBI in one game - Poynette's school record is 11. Anyone top that? Let me know if you have a player that has more than those numbers.Most doubles in one season? Anyone with more than 12?
On another topic
Strike Zones - I thought it was just me but I've learned lately that I'm not alone. I read the rulebook where the strike zone is explained and re-read it a couple hundred times. This year, however, it just seemed like game in and game out, the strike zone had dropped too far below the knees. I saw games that I coached, watched, scouted etc. where pitches were 8 to 10 inches below the knees and were consistently called strikes. That happened with a myriad of umpires and not just a few guys. I didn't say too much early on but as the season progressed and other coaches began asking me what I thought of the umpiring this year my answer was, "the safe and outs were really superb but the strike zone has dropped to a zone where pitches are absolutely unhittable. For us, that started right out in the first game of the year and then at the scrimmage.
So what is a person to do? Answer? Get your kids accustomed to the lower zone and teach them to hit the darn thing when it's down there. It's tough to do but if they are going to ring you up and get excited to boot when they call that third strike - you gotta do something.
I'm not complaining - just commenting because except for one game, I thought the zone stayed very consistent for both teams in every game I witnessed.
I watched a few baseball games lately too and I haven't seen that low zone called in that sport.
Here are a few other things I saw this season.
I saw two different umpires run back to the backstop and call runners either safe or out on wild pitches and passed balls and both insisted that being where they were was absolutely the correct place to be to make that call. Hmmm - I've been around this game for along time and witnessed thousands, yes thousands of games and I had never seen that before. I saw umpires in the wrong places with runners on certain bases. I saw an umpire call and infield fly on a pop up to short stop with one out but with runners on second and third and no runner at first, the shortstop dropped the ball but got the runner out at first because she stopped when the guy said she was out as he said, "Infield fly, batter is out!" Hmmmm?
I saw a coach substitute the flex player into the batting order for a player other than the DP and the home plate umpire allowed it to happen. When the flex came to bat the knowledgeable opposing coach appealed the illegal subsitution and then the home plate umpire was caught in a conundrum because he'd allowed it to happen.
I saw the four outs in an inning situation take place. That was the first time ever for that one for me.
If I had more time I could write about a plethora of others things I saw but it's getting late and as Yogi said, "It gets late earlier these days!" Or maybe he said "it gets early later these days"
But one thing Yogi once said held true for many of us this season. "We kept making all the wrong mistakes!"
And by the way - last night when I was typing about teams from the Poynette Jamboree still in the hunt for a state title I omitted by neighbors to the north -- Portage is alive yet in the Division 2 McFarland Sectional.
Capitol Area Fall League Teams still alive and in the hunt for a state title include: Verona, Monroe, Beloit Memorial, Portage, Deerfield, Middleton, Madison Memorial and Fall League Teams that were in the regional final but did not advance include: McFarland, Monona Grove, Sun Prairie, Baraboo, Mt. Horeb, and that's 12 of the 20 Fall League schools from 2006. There were 22 teams in the league but Middleton and Madison Memorial fielded two teams each.
The Summer Super Senior League is also well represented on the list of schools that were in the regional finals and beyond.
Have a great weekend!
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 22 - 5/28/07
It's deep -- it's got a chance -- yes, yes it's gone!
Hello again everyone -- I've received some more highlights and school records from some people that I know most of you will enjoy reading so before I accidentally delete them or lose them or forget about them, I thought I'd get another bulletin out to you tonight.
Here are a few of the e-mails that I have received:
From Phil Adam - former Ashwaubenon Head Coach and winner of more than 400 games in his career and an all-around fantastic guy.
Bob,
During our three year run as state champs, 92-94, we were 25-0, 24-1, 25-0 and the next year we were 22-1 for a 96-2 record. In that span we had a 61 game winning streak.A neat statistic for Ashwaubenon occurred at the 1994 state championship. We played 28 innings. Our first game was 10 innings, the second was 11 and the third 7. We were tied or behind in 24 of the innings. We won in the bottom of the 10th, the bottom of the 11th and went ahead in the bottom of the sixth in the championship game. It's a tournament that I will never forget.
Keep up the good work.
Phil AdamFrom Dave DeGrace - Longtime assistant at Milwaukee Bay View and another all around fantastic guy.
Bob:
The Milwaukee Bay View record for RBIs in a game is 12 by junior catcher Heather Flores in 2003. She had 2 grand slams, a 3-run triple and a sacrifice fly vs. Milwaukee South.
The Redcats also won 111 straight Milwaukee City Conference games from 1993-2002.
Thanks,
DaveFrom Greg Lampe - former Head Coach at Oak Creek, a great guy and a guy you can always count on.
Hey Bob - As far as doubles in a season goe, Riley Garcia had 16 for us back in 2000.
GregAlso from Greg Lampe -- a follow-up e-mail to a question I had for him on an extra inning game I'd heard about and remembered. I thought the game was one of those marathon 19, 20, or 21 inning affairs. Here is Greg's reply.
Bob: That was the 2002 Sectional Semi at South Milwaukee. We beat SM 1-0 in 13 innings. They had beaten us twice during the regular season and were 20-0 going into that game. We won in the bottom of the 13th, We got a base hit to lead off the inning runner moved to 2nd on a wild pitch and scored on a bunt. The pitchers throw went off the glove of the first basemen and hit her in the face while she was worried about her face the ball laid at her feet and our runner scored from 2nd. The pitchers that day were SM Lindsay Jones who had 14 K's and gave up 5 hits. Kristen Fossell was our pitcher she had 9 K's and gave up two hits. What a great game! Then we came back to beat Greenfield in the final 1-0 we scored our 1 and only run in the bottom of the 7th.
GregMore from my former adversary but great friend Steve Schmikla in McFarland and a guy who won more than 450 games in his career at McFarland.
HI Bob: I was up early taking equipment in and I stopped by our record board hanging in the gym. Here are the battting records we have for season and career:
Hits--Season:Laura Olson 53 in 1999:; Career: Laura Olson 128 (96-99)
Doubles: Laura Olson-16 in 1999; Career:Laura Olson-36 (96-99)
Triples: Jill Schoenike-7 in 1095; Career-Laura Olson-15 (96-99)
Homeruns-Tricia Blair-7 in 1982;Career-Tricia Blair-11 (82-83) *played two years
Batting Average: Tricia Blair-.650 in 1982 ; Career-Tricia Blair (82-83) .576 Laura Olson-.554 (96-99)Rbi's-Ericka Breiby-38; Career-Laura Olson-105 Jill Schoenike 100 (92-95)
Stolen bases-Tammy McKay-30 (1982); Career-Andrea Carlson-65 (98-01)All of the above were all-state softball players at least one year. Blair and McKay were first team all state in both basketball and softball their senior years. Looking back I wonder how some of these records are skewed to some extent by the lack of outfield fences in many parks years ago and the perception that pitching was not that dominant years ago especially overall speed and control. What do you think? Steve
From Kevin Colburn at LaCrosse Central and another example of a guy you can count on!
Another stat for you. In 2001 Jackie Juan from La Crosse Central ended the season with 13 triples. Obviously we don't have a home run fence or most of those would have been Home Runs.
She holds the la Crosse Central Records for Hits, AB, Doubles, Triples, RBI's and is 1 short of the HR record held by former UW-Madison Basketball star Kelly Paulus.
Kevin ColburnI'm waiting to hear from some Mayville people with statistics compiled by former pitcher Mel Benter there. She led her club to the 1999 state title with a 1-0 win over Poynette and fanned 16 good hitters in that game. She accumulated some high numbers as well.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 23 for May 31, 2007
We're headed for extra innings!
Hello Everyone - There were some exciting sectional games played today. My son Eric saw 24 1/2 innings of softball at two different venues and I watched a 17-inning, 1-0 game between Portage and Wisconsin Dells and a nine-inning 4-3 game between Monroe and Dodgeville. Eric was in Waterloo to begin with where he watched Horicon tip Oakfield 3-2 in 15 innings. He then watched Racine St. Catherine's nip Horicon 2-1 in 8 innings before heading to McFarland to catch the end of the 2-1 Portage win over Monroe.
I had a pitching lesson at 6 today so I had to leave McFarland in the bottom of the 17th with Portage coming to bat.
Look on The Fastpitch Chronicle website for Week 11 results to see the scores and all the extra inning games played today.
The Packerland will have two teams at Goodman Diamond as Sevastopol returns for a second straight year in Division 3 while Southern Door will be there in Division 2.
Madison LaFollette stunned that sectional by shutting out Middleton 6-0 and then beat Holmen 1-0 and earned a trip across town on Thursday.
Grantsburg shutout Prescott 4-0 then Thorp 11-0 amd will be the second Division 3 school in as many years looking to repeat as state champions. They beat Poynette in the semi-final at Madison last year.
Meanwhile - Arcadia avenged a sectional loss in 2006 to Lancaster and remained unbeaten as they knocked off #2 ranked and also unbeaten Lancaster 2-1 in extra innings. Arcadia was last at Goodman two years ago where they were beaten in the semi-final.
Verona returns for another shot at a state title from the Southeast Sectional where they nipped Kenosha Bradford 6-5.
After upsetting top ranked New London 10-0 last week Fox Valley Lutheran found itself on the short end of a 5-4 game against Oconto of the Packerland. Oconto was then beaten by fellow Packerland school Southern Door.
In Division 4, Oshkosh Lourdes snuck up on some people and tipped Assumption 10-3 to deny the Royals a third straight berth. Williams Bay snuck past Belmont 2-1 to earn its first trip to Goodman Diamond.
Here is a complete Sectional Score wrapup for you taken off my website.
Division 2 - McFarland Sectional
Portage 1, Wisconsin Dells 0 --- 17 innings
Monroe 4, Dodgeville 3 --- 9 innings
Portage 2, Monroe 1Division 2 -Fort Atkinson Sectional
New Berlin Eisenhower 2, Wisconsin Lutheran 1
Union Grove 2, East Troy 0
Union Grove 5, New Berlin Eisenhower 3Division 2 - Altoona Sectional
Rice Lake 7, Altoona 1
G-E-T 7, Wittenberg-Birnamwood 3
Rice Lake 7, G-E-T 4Division 2 - Freedom Sectional
Oconto 5, Fox Valley Lutheran 4
Southern Door 6, Campbellsport 0
Southern Door 4, Oconto 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Division 3 - Waterloo Sectional
Racine St. Catherine's 3, Deerfield 0
Horicon 3, Oakfield 2 - 15 innings
Racine St. Catherine's 2, Horicon 1 8 inningsDivision 3 - Boscobel Sectional
Lancaster 2, Aquinas 0
Arcadia 10, Stratford 0 in 5 innings
Arcadia 2, Lancaster 1 -- 9 inningsDivision 3 - McDonell Central Sectional
Grantsburg 4, Prescott 0
Thorp 3, Park Falls 2
Grantsburg 11, Thorp 0 -- 5 inningsDivision 3 - Pacelli Sectional
Pacelli 14, Crivitz 0
Sevastopol 1, Laconia 0
Sevatapol 8, Pacelli 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division 1 - Sectional
Holmen 1 Memorial 0 11 Innings
Madison LaFollette 6 , Middleton 0
Madison LaFollette 1, Holmen 0Division 1 - Greenfield Sectional
Greenfield 1, Pius XI 0
Racine Case 1, South Milwaukee 0
Racine Case 4, Greenfield 1Division 1 - Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Sectional
Kimberly 1, Hortonville 0
Oshkosh West 5, West Bend East 2
Kimberly 4, Oshkosh West 1Germantown Sectional To Be Played Friday
Division 1 - Ashwaubenon Sectional
Pulaski 2, Ashwaubenon 1
Appleton North 2, Appleton East 1
No Final as of 9:23 on WIAA siteDivision 1 - Kenosha Bradford at Parkside Sectional
Verona 12, Beloit Memorial 3
Kenosha Bradford 2, Waterford 0
Verona 6, Kenosha Bradford 5Division 1 - Marshfield Sectional
Chippewa Falls 2, Hudson 0
Merrill 5, Wausau West 1
Chippewa Falls 3, Merrill 0 -- 12 inningsDivision 1 - Arrowhead Sectional
Kettle Moraine 3, Watertown 0
Waukesha West 5, Brookfield East 1
Waukesha West 1, Kettle Moraine 0------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division 4 - Shell Lake Sectional
Hurley 5, Elmwood 0
Eau Claire Immanuel 6, Flambeau 2
Hurley 9, Eau Claire Immanuel 2Division 4 - Assumption Sectional
Assumption 9, Wausaukee 8
Oshkosh Lourdes 4, Tigerton 2 -- 8 innings
Oshkosh Lourdes 10, Assumption 3Division 4 - Highland with Iowa-Grant Sectional
New Lisbon 4, Pepin 3
De Soto 6, River Ridge 1
De Soto 3, New Lisbon 1Division 4 - Verona Area Sectional
Williams Bay 10, Princeton 0 -- 5 innings
Belmont 8, Argyle 0
Williams Bay 2, Belmont 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I did receive Mel Benter's pitching stats from Mayville. Mel graduated in 1999 but not until after she'd won a state title game 1-0 over Poynette and accumulated the following career stats:
Pitched in 84 games
Complete 82 games
Won 75 - lost 9
Pitched 547 innings
Had 47 shutouts
allowed 82 runs but only 8 her junior year and 8 her senior year
allowed 46 earned runs but just 4 her junior year and 2 her senior year
allowed 194 hits
walked 102 but just 9 her senior year
fanned 921 batters
allowed no home runs
hit two batters
had an ERA of 0.65 and was 0.24 her junior year and 0.10 her senior year.Pretty impressive was she! I watched her shutout the US Olympic Team in Stevens Point in her five inning stint one summer when the Olympians took on some Wisconsin Collegiate All Stars up there. I was proud of her.
I'll be in Madison all day Thursday and Friday -- be sure to stop me and chat for a while.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 24 for June 3, 2007
And then there were 20!
Hello Again fastpitch fans.
It's the final week of high school fastpitch softball in the state of Wisconsin (at least that sponsored by the WIAA). There are 20 teams headed for Goodman Diamond in Madison on Thursday through Saturday.
Here are a few things that fans from schools that have never played at Goodman Diamond should be aware of. If you are connected in any way with one of those schools be sure to read this Bulletin closely and pass along the information to other fans from your community that are planning on driving to Madison.
The South Beltline is full of construction so you'll get held up there for sure if you use that route. Coming in from the East is no problem on the Beltline if you get off at Park Street and head for University Avenue. Take University Avenue until you get just north of Camp Randall Stadium and then take University Drive. Stay on that until you get to the exit for University Hospital and go north (right). Goodman Diamond is north of the hospital and directly north of the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. But, if you drive there you'll have a lot of trouble trying to find parking as Lot 60 will not be open for you. Good luck on Thursday and Friday's morning and afternoon sessions if you drive there.
Read the announcement from the WIAA right below this paragraph for an alternative method of getting there easily and heed my advice - take the shuttle!
Please be aware that there will be extremely limited parking for spectators on Thursday, June 7 and Friday, June 8 for the State Softball Tournament at Goodman Diamond on the University of Wisconsin campus. Patrons are directed to park at the Alliant Energy Center, Beltline Hwy. Parking will cost $4.75 but patrons will be allowed re-entry. A free shuttle will be provided from the Alliant Parking Lot. Patrons should plan to be on the shuttle at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the game they wish to see. Shuttles will run from 7:45 am to 10:30 pm. Please see the attached map for detailed directions. Fans buses may park in Lot 132 on University Bay Drive all three days. Parking will be available on Saturday, June 9. No shuttles will run that day.
Here is another thing you need to be aware of. The crowds outgrew Goodman Diamond in the second year they held the tournament there. There is not enough seating at Goodman Diamond to handle all the people who want to get there and watch all the games, the people who want to get there early to get a good seat because their team plays the second game of a session or for the people who would really like to hang around and watch the game after their team’s games. You are not apt to get into the stadium soon after the first game of a session begins and especially on Friday when the D-2, D-3 and D-4 schools play. Those three classes really draw huge crowds on Friday and Saturday so be aware of the fact that you might not get in very soon and the ushers will be yelling at you and herding you out of the stadium right after your team’s game is over. If you are wearing clothing that identifies you with one of the teams that just played – you’ll get herded out pretty quickly. Ticket lines will be long and there are only two or three windows at the ticket booth there outside the Stadium. There is no seating in the outfield at Goodman Diamond and seating right behind home plate is almost non-existent (there are two rows of bleachers directly behind home plate that probably hold fewer than 50 people. Most of the seating is off to the right and left of the backstop and extends to where the infield dirt meets the outfield grass. Pictures are another issue. Teams get whisked out of the dugout and off the field pretty quickly when a game is over so you won’t get post-game picture chances on the field after games. I also think the WIAA has a new policy of some kind on picture taking. I’ll check into that on Monday and include that (if there is an issue) in the next Fastpitch Bulletin.
I was in Kimberly on Friday night and met some new people who read the website all the time. It was great to see many longtime friends and to meet some new ones as well. Brian and I enjoyed the fastpitch although the first two games were blowouts. It was fun to watch those Worth balls leave the field and float on down the Fox River. I saw my longtime friend Larry Flannery of Antigo there and also ran into Charlie Smith of El Paso, Texas. Charlie is an ISC Executive Committee member (Treasurer) and was in Kimberly enjoying the weekend. Ed Kirner, another longtime fastpitch friend and former ISC President and now At Large Commissioner was also on hand and it was great to see him. There were some other ISC personnel on hand as well.
I enjoyed talking with the people who are on the committee to stage the Women's Professional Fastpitch League Playoffs in August. I have a press release posted on the Women’s Fastpitch page of my website at http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/women.htm so you can read that and get up to speed on that. It would be best and easiest to purchase your tickets in advance rather than have to stand in line to get them once you get to Sunset Park in Kimberly.
I tentatively plan on having a vendor booth set up at the playoffs there. I imagine I’ll have some great deals on EZ Sliders sliding pads, X-Celerator speed developers, some Andersen Gloves, Akadema gloves and perhaps some Schutt equipment to boot. Of course, I’ll be there for great conversation as well. I really enjoy getting to meet and chat with folks that I send bulletins out to, folks who click in on the website etc. and chat with them face to face.
Our South Central All District team selection meeting was yesterday and it was again tough to choose which players get selected. This is one thing I learned after the first year I was a conference rep on the all district selection committee. Reps need to get out and watch lots of games when their own teams are not playing. If those conference reps who sit on the selection committees don’t do that, they don’t have the skills to select players like they do when they watch teams that play in all four divisions. That’s where the Poynette Jamboree really comes in handy for many of us. There are teams in that event from all four divisions of play and many of them play up and down. There are great players in all divisions of play. Players have proven that they can play at the highest level of collegiate play even when they attend the smallest of schools. Like I have typed many times – the biggest difference between Division 1 and Division 4, year in year out is not the pitching. The biggest differences occurs from the number six batters through the number nine batters and in the field where the smaller schools simply don’t have the number of athletes to choose from to play positions. D-4 schools and have great players on them and they are as good as the best D-1 players when matched against them. Selection committee members must get out and see all levels of play in order to distinguish between those lower numbered all district selections. Being a part of All District selections is a position I take very seriously and I try valiantly to leave my biases outside the door when I enter, I keep an open mind and listen carefully and in our district I really do trust the thoughts, feelings and player assessments of my fellow selection committee members. I enjoy working with Tammy Rademacher of Waunakee. She is a great organizer and has things ready for us when we get there. We’ve cut our times down from what at one time were three hour meetings or more to about two hours. She also works hard for the WFSCA all star games. We had a great chat after the meeting where she told me that she just spent nine hours scanning the pictures for the program for the all star series. Nine Hours just scanning pictures. She also has to type all the copy for the player information, organize the entire booklet.
The WFSCA officers really do work tirelessly to improve the game and the product that we put on the field. People get frustrated from time to time but everyone needs to keep an open mind and realize that things aren’t always going to go the way we’d like them to go. It’s a process that everyone must be involved in though, if we are going to keep bringing more and more attention to the game.
The NCAA College World Series telecasts have really increased the interest in fastpitch softball. We, as high school coaches need to jump on that interest and improve our product here. We need to urge our kids to play in the summer and I believe we need to urge them to play together more than ever. Summer and fall leagues can be great team building opportunities. Of course there is an important place for travel teams as well.
The summer page on my website is about ready to be introduced to the general public. When it gets announced be sure to click on that link and take a look. There will be announcements, tournament directories, tournament schedules and results and much more.
Also, we’ll be introducing a few new looks and options on the website.
Have a great day! I’ll see many of you on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Keep it Rising!
Bob
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 25 for June 4, 2007 (Bob's Birthday)
Happy Birthday! and make it sound like Frosty the Snowman when you say it.
Happy Birthday is what my Grandson said to me today - along with a mess of others. It is my birthday today!
Hello again fastpitch enthusiasts -- It's Monday, June 4th and I have a few thoughts on my mind tonight and some more announcements.
Check out the main Wisconsin High School page of my website where a logo for the Women's Pro fastpitch playoffs in Kimberly is located. Click on that and it takes you to the press release you need to read to get all the information you need to get to Kimberly and watch the pros play in August.
Also read this:
Calling all coaches and anyone interested in girl`s fastpitch softball. I am in need of a U-14 girls fastpitch softball team to fill our tourney for this Sunday, June 10, 2007. If you are interested or know of a team that might be interested, please have them contact me as soon as possible. The tourney is only one day and you are guaranteed 3 games. We use WIAA and ASA certified umpires and the tourney is run very smoothly with each team playing only every other game. (there is also a U-18 tourney at the same time). PLEASE help me out if you can. thank you.
Nick LutherIf you look closely on the main page for Wisconsin High School Girls' news you will see a new link line to Action Scenes from the season. When you get to that page you will see some awesome photographs that my son Eric has been taking of players as he tours the state watching your teams play. There are two pages of photos that he has taken on the website but that is only a small fraction of all the great shots he has stored on my hard drive here at home. He has some interesting plans for all those shots that we will be announcing in a later bulletin.
My daughter also taught me how to load pictures that you e-mail to me onto the site so you can look forward to some pictures starting to appear with articles and bulletins as well. Be sure they are crisp photos though. It takes great cameras and camera operators to get top notch shots.
One of my favorite shots that Eric has taken is a picture of the Black River Falls pitcher at the Jamboree. She's the one with the blonde hair flowing and is wearing the orange jersey of the Black River Falls team.
That summer page is about to take life. Before it does you'd better send me the dates and details of for your summer tournament. And speaking of summer tournaments, if you are going to be at the tournament in Hallie in June, look for me there. I will be handling the onfield duties for the Poynette 12-Under team. I really enjoy watching my young cousin twirl the pill and have agreed to fill in for our 12-Under coach that weekend. I have no clue but perhaps that tournament is part of Jared's Flash Tourney? Is it Jared?
I don't have cable TV or a dish so I am not watching the NCAA game tonight between Tennessee and Arizona but I just got an update from one of my greatest friends who lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and he said he is watching the Vols lead the Wildcats 2-0. I'm hoping Tennessee wins that thing. I know Ralph Weekly from my newspaper publishing days and am cheering for him.
I'll be at Goodman Diamond on Thursday -- if you don't know who to look for just look for the old guy wearing a royal blue Fastpitch Chronicle softball cap - old because he turned another year older today and he's on the backside of 50.
Get your conference standings and all conference teams to me so I can post them. There's no better place in the state or on the world wide web to post those lists. Afterall, we are over the one million mark on visits to the website in the past year. That's a bit of traffic I'd say. But, it's not as much as it should be. So, help me get the word out and tell all your fastpitchin friends about the site.
I'll have my radar guns with me this weekend at Goodman. They'll be right behind the backstop. I'll also be doing some video taping for another project I have in mind.
It's late but I'm not going to bed until after midnight tonight. It's been way too great a day to not enjoy every last minute of it! I still have two hours and fifty minutes to enjoy life.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 25 June 6, 2007
Put me in Coach - I'm ready today - Look at me, I can play Centerfield!Hello Again Everyone - It's the eve of the WIAA state tournament at Goodman Diamond in Madison. I have just about everything ready to go - radar gun, video camera, still camera, umbrella, rain suit, tickets, notebook, pens and pencils -- a little cash!
I'll be there when the first pitch is thrown at the morning session. Look for me right behind home plate as I like to sit where I can really see the ball move -- up (if it does), down (if it does) sideways (if it does) and I like to get a feel for each plate umpire's strike zone and even critique them so I can rank or rate them on the officials' ranking form. So, that reminds me, make sure to get online and rank those umpires that worked your games during the season and just as importantly, the umpires you watched work other games that you scouted, watched etc. That should include the people who work at the state tournament.
Gatorade announced it's 2007 Player of the Year of the Year and it is --- Stephanie Schmikla of McFarland. The senior pitcher was chosen from a list of excellent players throughout the state and I'm sure that the selection process was not an easy task. I have added a page to The Fastpitch Chronicle website entitled "Special Awards Page" and have started it out with a picture of Stephanie and her season stats. You can view that page at http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/specialawards.htm so give it a look see.
Also - I have fired up two other new pages this week . One is a Summer tournament directory and the other is a summer tourney results page. You can find the links to those pages on the Wisconsin High School Page when you get there.
I have also opened up a couple of photo pages where you can view photos that my son Eric has been taking throughout the season. His images are crystal clear.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 26 - June 9, 2007
Division 1 Quarterfinals - Thursday, June 7
Game 1 - Waukesha West 2 (15-10), Chippewa Falls 1 (19-5)
Game 2 - Appleton North 3 (18-7), Verona 1 (19-3)
Game 3 - Racine Case 2 (22-2), Madison La Follette 0 (13-12)
Game 4 - Kimberly 6 (21-4), Homestead 1 (20-3)Division 1 Semifinals - Thursday, June 7
Game 5 - Appleton North 8 (19-7), Waukesha West 0 (15-11)
Game 6 - Kimberly 1 (22-4) Racine Case 0 (22-3)Division 1 Final - Saturday, June 9
Kimberly 3 (23-4), Appleton North 1 (19-8)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division 2 Semifinals - Friday, June 8
Game 1 - Southern Door 4 (20-5), Rice Lake 2 (14-12)
Game 2 - Union Grove (22-3) 2, Portage (20-5) 1 (10 innings)Division 2 Final - Saturday, June 9
Union Grove 5 (23-3), Southern Door 1 (20-6)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division 3 Semifinals - Friday, June 8
Game 1 - Sevastopol 4 (22-3), Grantsburg 0 (23-1)
Game 2 - Arcadia 3 (25-0), Racine Saint Catherine's 2 (15-9)Division 3 Final - Saturday, June 9
Sevastopol 6 (23-3), Arcadia 3 (25-1)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division 4 Semifinals - Friday, June 8
Game 1 - Hurley 3 (14-9), Oshkosh Lourdes 2 (19-5) (8 innngs)
Game 2 - Williams Bay 6 (23-2), De Soto 2 (22-2)Division 4 Final - Saturday, June 9
Williams Bay 4 (24-2), Hurley 3 (14-10)
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 27 for June 13, 2007
WFSCA All State lists released today on website!
Hello Everyone - The WFSCA has posted the 2007 All State teams on it's website. I have added a link to the site from The Fastpitch Chronicle website at http://www.fastpitchchronicle.com/wisconsin.htm so you can click on the link herein and view the information.
The Players of the Year are also listed there.
I have also posted the results of the St. Luke's Youth Tournament held in Plain, Wisconsin on Sunday. You can check that out on the summer results page. Send your tournament results to me via e-mail and I'll post it too but I will not retype anything for you. I'm far to busy to do that! I try not to live inside this little box called a computer.
That's it for tonight - look for a much longer Bulletin tomorrow night with some key information.
Also don't forget to make plans to attend all or part of the National Pro Fastpitch playoffs in Kimberly in August. For details go to The Fastpitch Chronicle website and browse around there till you find the logo for NPF then click on it - you'll end up right where you want to be.
Take it Deep and
Keep it Rising
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 28 for June 14, 2007
These Happy Days are yours and mine!
Hello Everyone – It was a great day and I hope your day was as great as mine.
I’m sure that most of you have taken a look at the 2007 WFSCA All State teams that are posted on the WFSCA website. If you have not just remember that you can get there a couple of ways including just going to the Wisconsin High School Girls’ Fastpitch News page on my website – www.fastpitchchronicle.com/wisconsin.htm and click on that line. Otherwise you can also just go directly to the WFSCA website and look at them.
The official state tournament photography company (Visual Image Photography) has now posted their pictures as well. You can view them and purchase them from that company right on line. If interested just go to The Fastpitch Chronicle website at the same address above (the Wisconsin page) and click on the line that says State Tourney pictures. That will take you to the correct place and you can click around on your own once you get there.
Weekend Events that I am aware of include a great tournament in Horicon and another great event in Baraboo. You can keep checking the Summer Tournament Directory page for upcoming tournaments. If you are hosting one and it isn’t listed on The Fastpitch Chronicle online just e-mail your information and I will add it to the site – free of charge. Of course, I’d like you to follow it up with a tournament summary report as well which is also free.
I updated some information today on the Coaches Honor Roll Page. I added another state tournament appearance for Don Bjelland of Grantsburg (he now has three) and also for Heather Spetz of Sevastopol (she has two). I also updated some other stuff on there so please go to that page and look things over. If there is a mistake or there is a coach that should be on a list or is on the wrong list, just get me the correct information and I will change it.
At the state tournament I took a mess of notes that I can refer back to when continuing to work on my book of essays about fastpitch softball. I’ve written a few for the book but it will take a while. Jim Turner of Altoona, Earl Gunderson of Spring Valley (two good friends of mine) and I stood at the bar in the lounge of the hotel Monday night before the All Star games and talked about the book a little. One story I will be writing for sure is the saga of the strikeout, turned rbi single caused when an umpire was sweeping off first base when a pitch was thrown. That happened at the state tournament and I had never seen anything quite like it before in my thousands of trips to hundreds of ball yards across the continent.
The conversation at the bar on Monday night was more like a three-way coaching clinic with all three of us sharing our thoughts on the game, situations, coaching ideas, technique etc. It was really tough to just say that it was time to turn in but Earl had the most intestinal fortitude and finally told us that it was time for him to turn in. I really enjoyed that clinic.
I also enjoyed the chat with the guys from Chippewa Falls. They were as funny as ever and interesting to listen to and chat with. I also got a chance to chat with my great friend Virgil Berndt of Medford (and it wasn’t snowing).
While talking to Virgil a pair of ladies came over and said hello. Back in the 80s and 90s I played against and with a lot of guys on fastpitch diamonds across the state, Midwest and North America. One of those guys was Al Lundberg of Pigeon Falls. His wife Sue and their daughter were coaching the Division 3 Red All Star team and they came over and we had a great chat about fastpitch, old times and times still to come.
While sitting on the bleachers watching the first Division 3 All Star game I wound up in a conversation with a lady from Aracadia whose daughter was catching. Her last name is Flury and that is a men’s fastpitch name as well. We started chatting and she was surprised that I knew so many names (including nicknames) of people from that part of the state. I learned that a longtime fastpitch friend is now running an establishment in Arcadia called Up Chuck’s. I will be traveling up there this summer to say hello to Chuck Timm at his establishment. While making the trip I’ll look for old friends named “Bone Rack,” “Buck”, “Grizz”, “Pounder”, “Rastis”, “Koos,” “Kirby”, “Sporty”, “Higgins”, “Becks”, and more.
I guess there is a big youth tournament in Middleton this weekend as well. I knew nothing about that one until Pat from Greendale sent me an instant message earlier this evening informing me of that.
There are probably tournaments this weekend all over the state but I don’t know about them. Pass the word along because there might be people reading these bulletins that would be interested in going to a venue to watch a game or two and buy a brat and beverage.
It was great to see and talk to all the people at the State Tournament. I had a great time! Thanks to all of you that stopped to chat, yelled hello from up in the bleachers, or just waved.
Have another great day and as always
Keep it Rising!
Bob
The Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 29 for June 15, 2007
Hello Again Everyone
I went through the entire web page where I have final standings and all conference teams posted. Here's what I discovered. There are far, far too many conferences which have had nobody send me the standings or all conference teams. I'm shooting for 100% coverage on that page for 2007 and I won't stop insisting that somebody gets that information to me.
Here is the list of delinquent conferences.
Big 8; Central Lakeshore; Coulee; Dairyland; East Central Flyway-Rivers; Fox Valley Association; Greater Metro; Heart O' North; Indianhead; All of the Lakeland Divisions; Lakeshore; Marinette & Oconto; Midwest Classic-South; Northern Lakes; Olympian; Parkland; Ridge & Valley; Six Rivers West; Southwest Wisconsin Conference; South West Athletic League; Southeast; the Milwuakee City Conference; Trailways North; Valley Eight; Woodland;I was thinking about more stories for my book as I was out working on Legends Field today (my plastic bat and ball Stadium here in my backyard). I have to start jotting down the stuff that comes to me but here's just an example of the kind of stuff that will be in the book.
Back in the early days of coaching girls' fastpitch softball our Poynette club was playing at Waunakee. In those days the games were played at Centennial Park in "The only Waunakee in the World." Poynette had a father who was known to be cantankerous throughout his entire lifetime and he had demonstrated that behavior toward me many, many times. On the occasion I'm writing about though - I could only laugh when it was over. Here's how it went. We arrived, warmed up and the game was underway when the cantankerous guy sauntered over to the bench by me and asked me why I didn't have the restrooms unlocked for people to use. Remember, we were the visitors and we were in Waunakee. I didn't have a key to the restrooms. I have always tried to have everything in order, be organized and be ready to handle any situation that might arise but unlocking the Waunakee City Park restrooms was not something I had any control over. That didn't make any difference to the cantankerous father, however, and he just walked away huffing at me anyway. I suppose he figured that we had so much organization that we ought to at least have keys to every away venue that we traveled to.
From what I can gather, there is also a big invitational youth girls' fastpitch in Altoona this weekend as well so if you are in that part of the state - there is some softball there to be watched.
Coaches - get those umpire rankings done soon and do it by getting online and clicking on the School Center and use the correct screen name and password and take care of business.
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 30 for June 17, 2007
For it’s one, two, three strikes your out!
Hello Again everyone – The Bulletin from the other day where I listed the conferences that have not submitted final standings and all conference teams seemed to have worked as we have cut the list down from where it was.
Here is the updated list of delinquent conferences and like I stated the other day. My goal is for 100% of the lists to get submitted and on The Fastpitch Chronicle website.
Big 8; Central Lakeshore; Coulee; Dairyland; East Central Flyway-Rivers; Fox Valley Association; Greater Metro; Heart O' North; Indianhead; All of the Lakeland Divisions; Lakeshore; Marinette & Oconto; Midwest Classic-South; Northern Lakes; Olympian; Parkland; Ridge & Valley; Southwest Wisconsin Conference; South West Athletic League; Southeast; the Milwuakee City Conference; Valley Eight; Woodland;
My good friend Dennis Semrau of the Capital Times has promised to forward the Big 8 Lists to me as soon as he gets them for publication. The other conference commissioners will be hearing from me this week.
Attention – Attention – Attention – Attention – Attention – Attention – Attention
Now that I have your attention, read this carefully and take care of business. The WFSCA deadline for coaches to submit recipients for Academic All State is tomorrow (June 18th). They must be postmarked no later than June 18th. That also is in effect for any WFSCA coaching awards that you might be in line for. Go to the WFSCA website and click on the forms box and print out the forms, get them filled out and get them mailed on the 18th to be eligible for those awards.
I took at look at what I am assuming is the final membership roll for the WFSCA for 2007. The ones listed in black print are unpaid head coaches for 2007 while the red print are the schools whose coaches were members. Division 1 did pretty well as far as the percent of coaches who joined and the percentages go down as we go down in divisions of play. Division 2 had more non-paid schools that Division 1 and so on down the line. If you paid your dues on time for 2007 and are not in black, you ought to check that out.
More summer tournaments are slated for this weekend. You can see some of them listed on my Summer Directory page of The Fastpitch Chronicle website.
I am also in the process of firing up a separate page for Legends Field at Thompson Yard. That’s the Plastic Bat and Ball stadium I have been building in my backyard for the past six years or so. Call it a wiffle ball stadium if you like but that name is copyrighted so my stadium is just a plastic bat and ball venue. I’ll have pictures, history, the process of building it and a schedule of events. We are trying to find a weekday where our Legends Field All Stars will take on the Capitol Area Media and raise some funds for a local charity. We played the first-ever challenge last year and had a blast but we didn’t have any sponsors to raise funds for charity like we are trying to do this year. When the page is ready to view, I’ll announce it in a bulletin like this.
I was in Baraboo yesterday and also was at Bowling Green in Middleton where youth girls’ fastpitch tournaments were being played. One thing I noticed at both venues was that more and more EZ Slider sliding pads are being worn and I really like that. As many of you know, I am the patent holder for Schutt’s EZ Slider and EZ Slider II sliding pads.
Have a great day and get those WFSCA forms in today!
Until the next Bulletin hits cyberspace,
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 30 for June 18, 2007
And now a word from our sponsors! Hey, There are no sponsors!
Hello Again Everyone - I have a few announcements that are important to get out to everyone tonight so that you have time to get them taken care of.
I hope you heeded my announcement last night and took care of those Academic All State and Coaching Award deadlines today. I got mine taken care of.
My friend from Chippewa Falls, Jared Faherty is looking for a player or two to help out his Flash Softball Club Under 18 team in Kimberly this weekend. If you have a player or two that would like to hook up with a great bunch of people - both players and coaches, give Jared a shout at jaredfaherty@charter.net so he can get your players set up.
As I announced before I will be in Eau Claire on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday at the Seymour Ball Club tournament there. I'll be handling the Poynette Nitehawk Under 14 team. If you are around that area stop in and we can chat.
Umpire Rankings should get done right away. Go to the WIAA website and click on the school center link and then follow all the directions that your athletic director has given you to complete the assignment. If you have no clue as to what the password is and username just e-mail me or contact Marcy at the WIAA and we'll get you onboard on that assignment. I have chosen to get as many of the coaches rankings done as we can. Remember you should rank any umpire that you watched work a game this year and not just games that your team played. Many times you can actually be more objective watching them works games that don't involve your team.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
BobSpecial Metal Cleat Edition for July 10, 2007
Special First-Ever Metal Cleat Edition
Hello Everyone - Recently I received news that the National Federation has passed a new rule for 2008. It's a rule change that I have fervently been trying to get put into place since 1980.
High school girls softball players will for the first time ever, be allowed to wear metal cleats in 2008. Pitchers will also be able to use a metal pitching toe.
Anyone who has been reading these bulletins from the get-go knows just how passionate I have been about the metal cleat issue. This past softball season I took it upon myself to collect information about accidents and mishaps that involved girls slipping on bases and home plate. There were dozens of them and one where the player was lost for the entire season and is perhaps career ending as a torn ACL was the outcome.
I had been advocating a choice for girls for many years and always seemed to be bumping up against people who never thought it had a chance to be changed or who had never had the chance to feel the difference between metal and rubber/plastic.
I guess it goes to show that if a person is passionate about an issue and hangs in there and keeps working at executing change, that change might occur. I wasn't the only one though and I certainly don't take credit for the change - no credit what-so-ever but I do take credit for keeping the issue in people's minds the past few years by being opininated and fighting for a change that I believe is the greatest safety change in the game in my 28 years coaching girls' fastpitch softball. It's a greater change than double first bases, greater than bat performance factors, Coefficient of restitution rules, ball compression rules and yes, even greater than facemasks on batter's helmets.
Does that mean that the other side of the coin won't come into play? Of course not. The other side of the coin is - players getting cut when being cleated with metal spikes. There will be some of those, but there already were serious cleatings with the modern hard plastic cleats. We've had girls from Poynette get torn up and cut with those. This I can assure you though, there will not be as many girls tumbling, stumbling and getting knees torn up because there was water on hard rubber bases and home plate. Some might still fall but not nearly as many.
I have told people for years that my goal was to stick around long enough to see high school girls having a choice about what kind of footwear they wear. Even after 28 years I had not given up hope.
With the new rule change I'll move my passion towards another safety rule that will make a huge difference in lessening serious injury. That rule will be the requirement that players wear mouthguards. Our all conference third baseman bit completely through her lip this season when she slid headfirst into second but didn't have the greatest slide of her career. She hit hard and the shock of the fall forced her teeth completely through her lower lip. She was a mess and hurting. She would not have bitten completely through with a mouthguard in place. She would have had a sore lip but not one that looked as bad and felt as bad as the one she wound up with.
The regional pool groupings were posted on the WIAA website on June 27th so take a look at that. There are some eye-popping changes in all divisions of play. One factor that is different is the fact that there are more Division 4 teams in 2008 than there were in 2007 and that is a good change. Check out the regional pool groupings and sectional assignments on the WIAA website.
Coaches should also make sure that they have completed all their responsibilities for 2007 which includes ranking umpires. I think a good move by the WIAA would be to penalize schools whose coaches do not complete the rankings. A good tool would be hosting regional games. My thoughts are that a school whose coach fails to rank but an announced deadline would lose their right to host any regional games. They would be allowed to be the higher seeds but would not be allowed to host any games. I know some people will argue that my thoughts are unfair etc. They are just my thoughts! Something needs to be done to get every school to complete those rankings. One common thread I hear centers around the efficiency level of umpires. One of the best tools the WIAA has to increase the level of efficiency of tournament umpires is the coaches ranking forms. Get them done. I will have been in contact with the WIAA and will be posting the names of the schools whose coaches have not completed the task.
Check out the WFSCA website to see who the WFSCA selection people picked to represent Wisconsin in the Tri-State Challenge. They have a tough job and have picked a good group of kids.
The summer has been filled with lots of summer action. I have been to some venues and have enjoyed the games and the visits.
The Capitol Area Fall League will begin organizing this week. Look for an e-mail bulletin concerning that league which begins the Sunday after Labor Day. Players will be allowed to break in their metal cleats in the Capitol Area Fall League.
Have a great day and a better tomorrow and as always
Here is the link to the news article about the metal cleat rule change. Thanks to Greg Jones f(Head Softball Coach at Winona State) or forwarding it to me.
http://www.nfca.org/news/?id=2802 metal cleat edition
Keep it Rising!
BobThe Fastpitch Bulletin Volume 6, Number 32 for July 23, 2007
Hello Everyone - Here is a mid-summer Bulletin that contains several items people have asked me to help them out with and general information as well.
I have fired up a Summer Team Tryout page for the summer programs that include tryouts in their operation. It can also be used just to give people some general information about summer teams and programs and I will include free links to your program websites if you would like that. Teams and Programs are encouraged to submit some general information about your team/program which should include contact information etc.
The West Wisconsin Batgirls now have a new website at www.batgirlsfastpitch.com so you can check that out as well.
Once again, be reminded that the National Federation, after all these years, has announced that beginning in the 2008 season, girls will be allowed to wear metal cleats. I have had many inquiries from the readers of the bulletin and the website in general wondering whether or not Wisconsin (WIAA) will fall in line with the new rule regarding footwear. I have not heard anything to the contrary and I don't know why they'd disregard the research that led to the change anyway.
The Capitol Area Fall League will allow metal spikes in the upcoming season. Team Leaders for Capitol Area Fall League teams should be thinking about how many weeks your team can play in 2007. Look for a special bulletin aimed just at the team leaders and that will be out yet this week.
If you no longer want to receive these Bulletins just e-mail back to me and be sure to include which Bulletin list you are on - it is either A, B, C or D. without that, it will take me a long time to find your e-mail address and remove it.
Don't forget about the Professional Women's fastpitch playoffs in Kimberly in August. You can get all the information you need on that event right on The Fastpitch Chronicle website. Just go to the Pro Fastpitch Logo that is a link to the correct sites. I'll probably be there with a booth set up and if that does happen, stop in and see me.
I did, for the first time ever, coach a team in two summer tournaments. I took our Poynette 14-Under team to the Seymour Tournament up by Eau Claire in June and I took our Poynette 12-Under team to the Sun Prairie Tournament this past weekend. My general thoughts on those two tournaments was that they were both held on great venues, had excellent umpires, were fun but both lacked some long-range planning and organizational issues. In Seymour our 14-Under team played four games and three of them were against the same DC Everest team. That should not happen and did just from an oversight in the scheduling. In Sun Prairie the printed information on how the tournament format was being organized really lacked the information that was needed for teams to plan ahead. Those issues may seem trivial but they really are not.
I have organized dozens and dozens of tournaments over the years and some that included 125 teams or more and more than 200 games in all. I learned early on that keeping close track of where teams go when they win or lose and who they then play is an important part of organizing the event. Nobody wants to travel to an event and play the same team three out of four games. Nobody wants to get surprised about the format after they've entered the event.
Summer tournaments are not cheap deals either. They are expensive and understandably so. Umpire fees, balls, field rental if there is one, chalk, gasoline and the other items all add up. They also require a tremendous amount of volunteer time on the part of the group running the tournament. Those tournaments are hosted because the people want to provide a place for teams to play and make some working capital for their programs as well. Paying $300 or $400 dollars to enter a tournament is costly but worth it if the experience is a good one for everyone, win or lose. That includes great concession stand items, nice looking T-shirts at a reasonable fee, umpires who are game and team friendly and not there just to make some cash and show people they know every rule in the book.
I commend all the people who run the summer events. I know how much work they are and what that entails. Great job!
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
BobBack To Top Back To Top Back To Top Back To Top Back To Top Back To Top