Bush League Tactics?

[Lozza]

See as a teenager I'd have pushed the coach out of the way. Nothing would have stopped me from getting home.

Ump told the coach he had a choice: 1) take the out or 2) get the run, and then the ump was going to throw the girl out of the game for going with some "piss poor bush tactics that some adult obviously taught her to do.." Coach took the out.

Good on him! We had a catcher taken out this way last season. It wasn't bias as we had other clubs who were watching yelling for her to be ejected too.

Waggling the bat I don't count as bush league, but its not the best look.

 

[obbay]

I hate that waggling the bat B.S.
It is also employed to interfere with the catcher's line of sight to assist a baserunner stealing a base.

 

[PEPPERS]

We played a team a few weeks ago each girl that bunted, and they had a lot of bunters, stood as far in front of the box as they could, and their front foot looked like to me it was even with or slightly touching home plate strike zone and this was looking behind home. The ump would not make a call, because no box was visable. My daughter pitched and did well, we lost 4-3 errors cost us the game, I can understand this being a distraction to the pitcher. She hit 2 batters one on a change with the girl making no attempt to get out of the way. One girl had a big pad on her front foot and tried to stick the foot in front of the plate to get hit. His was 18 and under by the way.

I didn’t agree with what the team was doing, but as long as the ump let them get away it what can you say. If you can’t teach hitting you got to come up with some way to score.

 

[Lozza]

It is also employed to interfere with the catcher's line of sight to assist a baserunner stealing a base.

Pfft, its useless for that. (for the simple reason every coach I know has taught their catchers how to get around that) The one that I've seen taught is standing right at the back of the box and when bringing the bat back, in the catcher's eye-line. It works very, very well.

 

[fastpitch]

We played a team a few weeks ago each girl that bunted, and they had a lot of bunters, stood as far in front of the box as they could, and their front foot looked like to me it was even with or slightly touching home plate strike zone and this was looking behind home. The ump would not make a call, because no box was visable. My daughter pitched and did well, we lost 4-3 errors cost us the game, I can understand this being a distraction to the pitcher. She hit 2 batters one on a change with the girl making no attempt to get out of the way. One girl had a big pad on her front foot and tried to stick the foot in front of the plate to get hit. His was 18 and under by the way.

I didn’t agree with what the team was doing, but as long as the ump let them get away it what can you say. If you can’t teach hitting you got to come up with some way to score.

I'm not sure that is bush. Bunting is a big part of softball. Moving up in front of the box is also normal for bunting, hitting slower pitchers or pitchers with a curve or screw to catch it before the break. While they may have been on top of the plate, at 18U the pitcher should be able to pitch inside to back them off the plate or if they are on top of the plate an inside fastball for a strike on the hands is tough to hit. What I'm saying is the batter being on top of the plate should have been an advantage if she can hit her spots.

 

[PEPPERS]

I'm not sure that is bush. Bunting is a big part of softball. Moving up in front of the box is also normal for bunting, hitting slower pitchers or pitchers with a curve or screw to catch it before the break. While they may have been on top of the plate, at 18U the pitcher should be able to pitch inside to back them off the plate or if they are on top of the plate an inside fastball for a strike on the hands is tough to hit. What I'm saying is the batter being on top of the plate should have been an advantage if she can hit her spots.

Moving up in the box is fine, having the lead foot in front of the strike zone is a different issue along with the intentional getting hit with a change up and sticking a padded front foot in the strike zone to get hit, this is not the things I would teach a player. Some of them would not back off the plate because they were trying to get hit.

A good coach teachs kids to hit not get hit, or this is how I look at it

 

[fastpitch]

Moving up in the box is fine, having the lead foot in front of the strike zone is a different issue along with the intentional getting hit with a change up and sticking a padded front foot in the strike zone to get hit, this is not the things I would teach a player. Some of them would not back off the plate because they were trying to get hit.

A good coach teachs kids to hit not get hit, or this is how I look at it

Trying to stick your foot out that's padded with the intention of getting hit is just crazy. I can't even imagine someone really doing that especially at 18u. How do you even go to a game with a padded foot? How does that look?

We were at a baseball clinic for my son. The college coaches were teaching them not how to get out of the way... but how to get hit safely by turning their body so it hits them in the back or thigh. They were emphasizing not backing out of the box on a pitch that might hit them.

 

[stephanie]

I teach mine how to get hit safely, too....
But before I teach them how to turn their back to it, I teach them how to jump out of the way first!

 

[andyh64000]

Trying to stick your foot out that's padded with the intention of getting hit is just crazy. I can't even imagine someone really doing that especially at 18u. How do you even go to a game with a padded foot? How does that look?

We were at a baseball clinic for my son. The college coaches were teaching them not how to get out of the way... but how to get hit safely by turning their body so it hits them in the back or thigh. They were emphasizing not backing out of the box on a pitch that might hit them.

You sure that wasn't just for a curveball?

 

[amanda_cake]

I also teach my girls how to properly get hit. It's a fun practice, getting to throw tennis balls at them. Also helps show 10Us that it isn't going to hurt that badly if they do get hit.