POLL~ is Fastpitch a Balanced sport now?

[Cagman]

With bat tech , I’d say hitters. You don’t have to be a great hitter to get the barrel on the ball and have it fly 200 plus.

 

[KrisHur]

Pitching IMO - Good pitchers, really good pitchers, no one can seem to hit. They are few and far between when younger but get more concentrated the older the girls get and more girls leave softball and the cream starts to migrate to the best franchises. We've had several HS teams last year go undefeated b/c of standout pitching. Those same girls' travel teams do exceptionally well b/c of the lights out pitching.

 

[radness]

As a compairison of then and now do to changes.
To support my previous comment as to batting averages rising .100 points after changes.

Just looked up 1986 players stats at Long Beach State. First year the Beach went to wcws.
Our Top hitter that season was Lisa Limp .337 batting average.
At wcws i hit .333 and
set a record for hitting 3 base hits in one game, along with defensive contributions made cws first team ...
Which surely now that record has been shattered. Perhaps many have 3 hits in one game.
(1986 all season, including pre-season, only 2 homeruns for the entire team)

Here is a snippet on oklahoma hitters.

 

[radness]

Wow just found this old article about moving pitching back 3 feet



No wonder international tie breaker was created.

4 hours 15 min ~ 1 game!

And Only 9 hits between 2 teams


Hmmm
Perhaps why the softball commitee thot more runners would be a good thing.

 

[John 800]

As a compairison of then and now do to changes.
To support my previous comment as to batting averages rising .100 points after changes.

Just looked up 1986 players stats at Long Beach State. First year the Beach went to wcws.
Our Top hitter that season was Lisa Limp .337 batting average.
At wcws i hit .333 and
set a record for hitting 3 base hits in one game, along with defensive contributions made cws first team ...
Which surely now that record has been shattered. Perhaps many have 3 hits in one game.
(1986 all season, including pre-season, only 2 homeruns for the entire team)

Here is a snippet on oklahoma hitters.

View attachment 23688

Much has been said about Oklahoma and changing the game ie balls, bats, fences ect. It seems to me that if you look at college ball as a whole it is not as much time of an issue, but I will be honest I don’t really follow ncaa very closely. The “dumb” question that I want to bring up is this: If those hitters were spread out among the top few teams instead of all on Oklahomas roster how would things look different? It seems to me that it may be a recruiting parity issue, not a change the rules of the game issue. What do you think?

 

[radness]

Much has been said about Oklahoma and changing the game ie balls, bats, fences ect. It seems to me that if you look at college ball as a whole it is not as much time of an issue, but I will be honest I don’t really follow ncaa very closely. The “dumb” question that I want to bring up is this: If those hitters were spread out among the top few teams instead of all on Oklahomas roster how would things look different? It seems to me that it may be a recruiting parity issue, not a change the rules of the game issue. What do you think?

GREAT QUESTION, little side note to that...
imo...This year there are more elite players spread out DO to the oddness of the excessive use of transfer portal and extended eligibilty. And 2021's who took offers at colleges that could prove interesting results
Expect some upset games!
And HOORAHH Wins



Thinking through playing elite teams, and having experienced it.
Definetly played against stacked teams.

My answer is
strategy overcomes adversity.

 

[John 800]

GREAT QUESTION, little side note to that...
imo...This year there are more elite players spread out DO to the oddness of the excessive use of transfer portal and extended eligibilty. And 2021's who took offers at colleges that could prove interesting results
Expect some upset games!
And HOORAHH Wins



Thinking through playing elite teams, and having experienced it.
Definetly played against stacked teams.

My answer is
strategy overcomes adversity.

You say more elite players are more spread out. Does this pertain to OK ? Or in general? I dont follow it enough to recognize the names either way. But my thought has been that for whatever reason this centers around recruiting, weather they are more able to recruit better players, they deliberately prioritize hitting while other orgs are lharder for pitching or maybe they simply had more of their top recruits wprk out.

 

[Dave619]

I think each umpire's zone can vary so much....so depending on how they are calling would depend on who I would give the advantage to. Overall I would say it is more or less balanced at this point.

 

[radness]

You say more elite players are more spread out. Does this pertain to OK ? Or in general? I dont follow it enough to recognize the names either way. But my thought has been that for whatever reason this centers around recruiting, weather they are more able to recruit better players, they deliberately prioritize hitting while other orgs are lharder for pitching or maybe they simply had more of their top recruits wprk out.

No not speaking toward OK.
Rather to generally a lot of other colleges.

Because at many of top D1's seniors opted taking extended eligibilty.
Closed opportunity to recruit and hurt current players opportunity so...
Younger year players opted the transfer portal.
Incomming elite players opted the other than top colleges scholarships and open walk on spots elsewhere.

This means talent was spread out.

 

[radness]

Hmmm even between those that selected
Pitching or Hitting...
Looks pretty close to balanced
They kinda 'balance eachother'