Mandatory Masks Ohio High School Softball

Looks like high school softball players in Ohio are being required to wear batting helmets with face masks. (Hawaii already requires this for high school and ASA). There is a bit of debate over the issue there which you can read about in the Dayton Daily News.

Here in Hawaii, we knew ahead of time that we'd be making the switch. The season before, we had the girls try it out and they didn't like the masks at all. Of course, once this past season got started (the first making the masks mandatory), they all adjusted just fine.

I never did bat with a face mask, so I don't know what it's like. Being a player that was always allowed to go without it, I'd probably resist too if I were told I had to wear it. After all, I never needed it in the years I played, however I am glad the younger girls here have to wear it. As a mother, I don't have to worry about my daughters getting hit in the face with the ball. As a coach I don't have to worry when teaching inexperienced 10-yr-olds how to bunt. Their faces areprotected.

Cool fastpitch softball article

I came across a neat fastpitch softball article today. It was written by a guy who's had limited exposure to the game of fastpitch. He was surprised at what the game was like. He made a bit of a comparison to baseball and shared his experience of getting a first hand look at the game. At the end he even urges baseball fans to check out fastpitch softball if they haven't already done so. It was cool to read a positive article on the game.

Click here to check out the article.

We're all losers

No, I'm not saying you're a loser. I watched 3 softball games this weekend and each time, the team I was cheering for lost. My daughter's 10U team lost, my other daughters' 8U team lost, and my sister-in-law's team lost (my sister-in-law is 7, my husband's baby sister, yes, same parents). Then to top it off, my husband's cousin (also age 7) lost his baseball game too. We're just all a bunch of losers this weekend. BUT, we all still had a lot of fun!

I sure hope your softball weekend went better than ours. Of course, like I said, we still had fun and that's the main thing, so it wasn't all bad.

OT - Baseball Cards

I know that a lot of softball fans are also baseball fans and may even be into collecting baseball cards like me. With that in mind, I just wanted to share a fun little site that just went live and it's all about collecting baseball cards. I haven't introduced baseball cards to my kids yet, but I think it'll be a fun activity we can do together. Go ahead and check out the site at www.BaseballCardsCentral.com

Sharing 8U pictures

A while back my daughter's had their first 8U game. I was so excited when my youngest hit the ball. She is only 4 and is one of the smallest on the team as you will see from the pictures here. In her 4 at-bats so far this season, she hit a coach-pitch ball twice and a ball off the tee twice. I think everyone is just so surprised when she hits the ball that they don't know what to do. She hasn't gotten out yet this season.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

She's #8 - did I mention she's small? LOL (click to enlarge)


Yes the tee is chest high for her...


Don't ask me where the ball is, but here she is in the middle of a swing...


here is my 6-yr-old...

Fastpitch Interviews

This month's fastpitch interview is with Donna Newberry, NCAA Div. III most winningest coach. That interview will be online ready to read this month.

For the month of May, our featured guest will be Bill Hillhouse from www.houseofpitching.com so be on the lookout for that interview next month. If you'd like to be one of the first to read it, sign up for our Fastpitch Membership and you'll be able to access the interview before it goes live on the site in May.

If there is someone you'd like to see interviewed, please let us know and we'll see if we can get it done. All interviews can be accessed at our Fastpitch Interview Page.

Fastpitch Softball 3rd Base Lead

For fastpitch softball, we teach taking a lead from 3rd base outside the foul line. Do you players know why they should do this? We were talking about this on our 10U team and I assumed they all knew why they were supposed to do this. Then, for the heck of it, I asked them if they knew why. A bunch of them said they were just going to ask whey they should take their lead in foul territory. Some of these players were 11 years old. This is their 2nd or 3rd year playing 10U and they've been playing this game for 5-6 years.

Now that I think about it, we even had a couple of high school players this past season that didn't understand what we meant when we told them to take their lead foul and come back on the inside.

Do you know why leads are taken in foul territory? Do your players (if you're a coach)?

Some of our10U players said they thought it was to avoid being hit by the ball, which is partially correct. But you can still get hit with the ball even in foul territory. So why take your lead foul? For those of you who aren't sure, the big reason is that if you're in fair territory and the batter hits the ball down the line and it hits you, the ball is dead and you're out. You just took away a potential base hit for the batter and any chance to advance runners that are on base.

Yes, there is a situation in which you wouldn't be out even if the ball hit you in fair territory (i.e. 3B is playing tight and already made her play on the ball, missed, then it hit you), but more often than not the play is dead and you're out. This is why we take our lead in foul territory - to avoid this situation, then return to the base in fair territory (to take away the clear shot from the catcher to the person covering the bag). It's not because you're less likely to get hit with a batted ball in foul territory, it's not because the footing in foul territory is better than in the baseline, which is what one person thought. I'm just surprised at how many people don't know this.

How do you handle it?

After rain all week, the weather actually cleared up for us to play a few games this weekend. Of course, it was quite interesting since we haven't been able to practice for over a week (10U). We lost two games, but overall, the girls played well. There were a few mistakes and the pitchers had a bit of difficulty here and there with the strike zone, but that was expected.

The title of the post, "How do you handle it" comes from the game we had today. It also comes from me as a parent. My oldest daughter is 9, so I don't have lots of experience watching my own child in a pressure situation. It was tough. It was the last inning. We were the home team. We are down my one run. Our top of the lineup is up. Good sign right? After battling to a 3-2 count, our lead off batter hits a line shot, her best hit of the day. The short stop snags it out of the air - nuts! One out.

Our next batter comes up and strikes out. Our third batter gets on base. Right now, I can't even remember how. Two outs, runner on 1b. The fourth batter comes up and hits a weak ball to the 1st baseman, but she hustles down the line. The 1st baseman panics a bit and can't decide whether to take it herself or toss the ball to the 2nd baseman coming over for the cover. She ends up tossing it and the ball is mis-handled. Runner safe at 1st. So 2 outs, runners on 1 and 2.

The next batter works a full count. During her at bat, the runners move to 2nd and 3rd on a passed ball. I was hoping she'd put the ball in play and get that tying run in because then the pressure would be off. My daughter was coming up next and it would have been so much easier on me if this batter brought in the tying run. But she draws a walk instead.

So now there are 2 outs, bases loaded, we're down by 1 run and my daughter is up to bat. I felt more pressure having to watch her in that situation than I did when I was in that situation myself as a player. My daughter is the smallest on the team, I've been telling her all day, "Be patient, make the pitchers work." The first pitch comes in high, above her head. She doesn't chase it, thank goodness. Ball one. Her major batting weakness right now is swinging at high pitches. Pitch selection is an adjustment she's learning to make after playing coach pitch all last season. The pitcher finds the strike zone on the next pitch to even the count 1-1. Darn, no easy walk. The third pitch comes in low on a hop to the catcher. Ball 2 - she's ahead 2-1. Another high pitch, still no chase, she doing good, 3-1.

I know the pitcher is feeling the pressure. I tell my daughter (from the coaches' box at 1st) that the pitch has to be perfect and indicate waist high with my hand. She nods. The pitch comes in, I can tell right away it's going to be high, I'm about to say, "Good eye" but at the last minute, my daughter swings at this obvious ball 4. Oh man, that was the tying run! So now it's bases loaded, two outs, full count, we're down by one. The next pitch has the right height, but she doesn't swing. I see the catcher reach out for the ball and miss. The ball gets by the catcher. I think for sure, it's a ball outside, a walk, we tie the game. Then I see the umpire's hand slowly raise and his fist clench. Strike 3, batter's out, game over. Such a bummer.

*sigh* - that was tough to watch. Not because I thought she did bad, not because we didn't win, but we were sooooo close. She was so close to doing something great for the team, but it just didn't happen. It didn't help that everyone on our side of the field disagreed with the umpire's call, it didn't help that none of the players held it against her, and everyone told her it was alright. It was hard to see her so close to doing something so cool and not get there. I was surprised at how hard she took it. I didn't think it mattered so much to her. I'm glad to know that she wasn't scared and she wasn't nervous. She was upset because she felt jipped by the call. But that's part of the game. My husband and I told her it wasn't her fault the team lost. We made sure she knew that we thought she played a great game. I also told her that umpires are not perfect. Sometimes they make mistakes, but that's part of the game. You always have a chance to make something happen regardless of the calls that are made. If she had held back on the pitch before, she could have avoided the entire situation, but you live and learn. Sometimes, you only get one really good opportunity to do something great for your team, you can't let it go by. Her big opporunity was that high pitch. I also told her, there will be many, many more times where she will have the chance to make game winning plays. Don't dwell on the what if's. Take this game, learn from it, and get better for next time.

You experienced softball parents out there, you know what this is like. Does it get easier? I sure hope so. To make matters worse, she wants to be a pitcher some day - talk about parent stress! I hope I can handle it.