As you may recall, a parent and I had a disagreement about "dual bug squishing"--which is swinging the bat and squishing the bug with both feet.
At an 8U game last week, the other's teams coach told a kid to "squish the bug" while demonstrating proper squishing technique. At the plate, the...
I'm out at the old ball park throwing batting practice to a bunch of 8U. We got 12 kids to get through, so I have roughly 5 minutes a kid, so I'm working pretty fast. A parents comes up and tells a kid to "squash the bug" with the rear foot *AND* the front foot. I tell him politely that's...
It's hotter than hell. I'm covered in dust from the the wind is blowing across the field. My shirt is soaked with sweat.
One girl I had worked extra hard with had struck out three times in the first game and now once in the second.
I'm thinking, "What did I do wrong? What could I have done...
8U rec ball. The home team is up 11-0 in the 4th. Batter on visiting team hits a single, overruns the base incorrectly, and thus could be put out. 1B doesn't tag her.
Home team coach goes ape-s**t crazy yelling at 1B for not having her head in the game. The guy is SCREAMING at the poor...
If your DD has aspirations for playing in college, this is a must see. The main take away is that lots of people were involved in the disaster. Parents have to look out for their children because there is no guarantee anyone else will.
The basic story is that a college freshman (who appears to...
Runner at 1B, no outs. Batter bunts the ball toward the pitcher. It is too far from the plate for the catcher to field. 3B and 1B crash. 3B fields and runs into 1B trying to make the throw. Runner safe, although 3B could have gotten her easily. (And, of course, P strikes out the next two...
I banned two users for two weeks because they just had to share their "enlightened" views on politics on a SOFTBALL forum. Both had been previously warned.
Of course, they could post the stuff on a political forum if they wanted. But they didn't, probably because there are tons of similar...
1. Make all Oklahoma batters bat left-handed.
2. Require Patty Gasso to speak French during games.
3. Make Oklahoma pitch from 2B.
4. OK catcher has to loudly announce the called pitch.
5. OK batters have to use wooden bats.
6. On defense, OK players, other than catcher and pitcher, have to...
Washington was the visiting team.
In the bottom of the fifth, the announcer said with gravitas, "You can almost count the number of outs left for Washington on one hand."
This year, there is a super-slow motion camera at 1B. You can really see how the bullet spin pitches are thrown. I've not seen a backspin rise during the playoffs.
For a rise, the ball's axis of rotation appears to about 20 degrees from horizontal, resulting in the top seams being behind the...
@BigSkyHi wrote, "As the old saying goes, they don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care."
Considering I'm old as dirt., I'm surprised I hadn't heard this bit of wisdom before. But this is great advice.
A good coach demonstrates (1) that he cares about the kid and (2)...
I was at a varsity HS game yesterday, and a Dad was standing directly behind home plate offering guidance to his daughter as she pitched. In the first inning, he told her to, "get head in the count," which is a slightly more nuanced way of saying, "just throw strikes."
Moms, dads...just don't...
For any rational discussion, you have to define "movement." There are two different ways to define movement. "Absolute movement" is the amount of movement a pitch has compared to a pitch with zero rotation and the seams symmetrically oriented (the symmetrical pattern, that is 2-seam or...
New York Times, Nov. 8, 2022:
New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells
by Kurt Streeter
Olivia Dunne is a gymnast on Louisiana State’s women’s team.She was an all-American in her freshman year and made the Southeastern Conference’s honor roll as a sophomore...
What? Collecting data on menstrual cycles for athletes?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-student-athletes-are-now-being-asked-to-report-their-periods-online/ar-AA12G6Lu...
1. The rule is that a batter gets at most a single UNLESS the the ball reaches the outfield grass. If it does, the batter gets one additional base. It's a good rule for this age. My DGD finally hit one through the infield and into the outfield. I was coaching 1B. She came thundering down...
Very rough week...I try to make these posts funny, but I didn't see much humor....just a couple of coaches beyond stupid.
The rules are 5 runs or 3 outs per inning, whichever comes first. No more than a double. Coach pitch/batting tee Simple, right?
What did I see:
1. A coach who never...