International Tie-breaker, Nuances In Coaching

[Steve Huff]

Sparky and hen, good answers. hen you and Sparky both have it tuned in! But I think I am going to ask just about Defense for now to keep it from getting too convoluted and I go back to offense later. I will change my wording above, so if you can just focus on Defensive strategy. That is where their errors were.

(off track here, but your answer Sparky about "fastest and smartest runner" was good because you can sub just like any other time in a game)

 

[Steve Huff]

And Sparky what about if you wore both hats, Visitor and Home team coach. Home team coach is scratching his head first; what does he do?

 

[Steve Huff]

Didn't think that. It was his first tournament from memory. I just watched what he did with the W A team (I don't know him personally, went into the system after he left) and what he did was amazing.

Lozza, he had a good team in the field. That played good defense. I was sure they would finish third, but what did I know. I got the standing wrong at the European Championships too!

 

[hen]

Mm defensively if we're on the field first and they have bottom half of the lineup coming up I let them bunt, play the out at first and take my chances. Corners up a bit. I'd hate to open up holes for a seeing eye single but want to deter the squeeze. If I have the upper half of my lineup coming up I may play back a bit more and almost concede that one run but let no one else on.

I'd love to hit second. If nothing else for the certainty of what the team needs to win. Think it provides a mental edge. If on defense (we hit first), less than 2 outs, and their winning run is on 3B I'd pull my CF in front of the 2B bag to have a chance on a ball past the pitcher. LF & RF shift to the gaps and they have to be shallow enough to be able to throw out the runner. Corners have to be up to take away the squeeze, middles have to be able to throw out the runner on a grounder. Any bobble or chance that the runner may take off and the fielders have to not throw to 1B.

 

[hen]

Side note: how prevalent is the pitch out in softball? I may just pitch out to the first batter and hope to catch the runner leaning on the bunt and we'd try a backdoor pick...

 

[Steve Huff]

Hen very good idea! It is common in baseball, less common in softball except at elite levels. But it is a very good option. Also if you should get a strike on the hitter and a count of 0-1 for example, you could also pitch-out. But your first comment here is very relevant, especially this part. It is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle:

"I'd love to hit second. If nothing else for the certainty of what the team needs to win."

I said "elite" above. In that I mean top 16U, 18U, college, National Team play. Some others might be able to handle it as well.

 

[shockcoach]

If the hitter places a great bunt and we can't get the runner at 1st I'm walking the next hitter.

Here's a question for you. I know that what you say is a good managerial strategy, but is your pitcher able to throw an intentional BB? I have seen the best of the best fastpitch pitchers unable to complete this task, quite frankly, because they have never been asked to and have never practiced it.

The last time I asked my pitcher to do it, she put it to the backstop on the first pitch and the winning run came in to score. My strategy was correct, but I had never asked my pitcher to do such a thing and she was lost. She didn't even know why I would want to walk a batter on purpose. FYI, we had a tie game, runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, bottom of the last inning.

 

[Steve Huff]

Here's a question for you. I know that what you say is a good managerial strategy, but is your pitcher able to throw an intentional BB? I have seen the best of the best fastpitch pitchers unable to complete this task, quite frankly, because they have never been asked to and have never practiced it.

The last time I asked my pitcher to do it, she put it to the backstop on the first pitch and the winning run came in to score. My strategy was correct, but I had never asked my pitcher to do such a thing and she was lost. She didn't even know why I would want to walk a batter on purpose. FYI, we had a tie game, runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, bottom of the last inning.

Not only are these things I practice, not only for the sake of the pitcher, but to keep the catcher legal also (feet). But I go over all this kind of stuff early on in the year, or on a rainy day, or at a team function. One year I even talked to parents about it before the season because the year before we were in the Int. Tie-Breaker, we were the visiting team, got a swinging bunt single right on the 1st base line, gave an IBB to the next batter, brought the infield and outfield up. Two dads ran up to the fence and started screaming at the outfield to move back! I didn't even get a chance to talk to my pitcher about keeping the ball down, I was so busy over-coming those two 18U travel ball dads who's daughters played for the 8 Time HS state champions. The next batter hit a waist high pitch over the left fielders head, and all hell broke loose with the parents!

But let me cut to the chase a little.

In fact, about 60% of the time, one team, Visitors or Home wins International Tie-breakers, all things being equal (both coaches know what they are doing and both coaches play at comparable levels), but why?

WHICH TEAM HAS THE ADVANTAGE AND WHY?

 

[T.J.]

I'm no expert, but I'll take a gander on this one. I feel defense wins championships. In my opinion, (at the level I coach) I feel the visiting team has an advantage because they can learn from any mistakes the home team makes in the field. Also, I'm not sure how many offensive strategies there are for this situation and the home team may not want to copy what the visiting team does on offense, knowing they showed the visting team how to defend it.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Steve, is anyone using the Kamikaze tie breaker?

I've only seen it used once, after 3 innings of international rules.