18U Gold Nationals

Good luck to all the teams participating in this year's upcoming 18U Gold National Championship. The tournament is scheduled for August 5-12 in Oklahoma City.

Teams from 21 different states will be represented in Oklahoma City during the ASA Girl’s 18-Under Gold Fast Pitch National Championship. California leads the way with a total of 21 teams earning spots in the championship field. Texas is a distant second with nine while Arizona is a distant third with four teams. Oklahoma, Washington and Georgia will each boast three teams in the field.

Should be some good softball!

More information at the ASA Website.

NPF Championship Passes Go On Sale

Single day passes for the National Women’s Pro Fastpitch World Softball Championship Series, scheduled from Aug. 24-26 at Kimberly’s Sunset Point Park’s lower diamond, will be sold beginning Monday, July 30th.

The top four teams in the National Pro Fastpitch league advance to the Championship Series at Kimberly.

Games will be played at 6 p.m. and approximately 8:15 p.m. on Aug. 24 (Session 1), 3 p.m. and approximately 5:15 p.m. on Aug. 25 (Session 2), and noon and approximately 2:45 p.m. on Aug. 26 (Session 3).

If a seventh game were necessary in the double-elimination event, it would begin at approximately 5 p.m. on Aug. 26.

The tournament will also be held at this site in 2008 and 2009.

Parking will be $5 per night with proceeds going to the Kimberly High School softball team.

For more information Click Here

Learned Something New About High School Softball

Wow - while scanning the fastpitch softball news online, I learned something new today. According to the National Federation of State High School Association Website, Softball is the fourth-most popular sport among girls at the high school level with 369,094 participants during the 2005-06 season, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS. It also ranks third in school sponsorship for girls across the nation with 14,710 schools.

Another thing I learned is that the NFHS rules have been amended to permit metal cleats in 2008. I would have LOVED to play in metal cleats in high school. I always wondered why the baseball boys could wear them and we could not.

One rule change I don't really like is the one that says a batter shall take her position in the batter's box within 10 seconds of the ball being returned to the pitcher in the circle. I mean, I can understand the reasoning for it because sometimes batters take way too long. Shucks, I suppose it can be done, but between taking a signal, taking a deep breath to reset, and scanning the defense for cues, that's not all that much time, especially if the coach is talks to baserunners between pitches and you have to wait to take a signal OR if the coach gives a long set of signals OR if you get confused with the signal and have to ask to see it again.

Anyway - to read more about these issues and other changes, visit
http://www.nfhs.org/web/2007/07/high_school_softball_rules_amend.aspx

USA Women's Team Advacing Through World Cup

The USA National Team started off the KFC World Cup of Softball with a bang and continues to move on with wins over Japan and Canada.

USA defeated Japan 4-1 on Saturday. Monica Abbott and Jennie Finch teamed up in the circle while the USA offense continued to produce the runs necessary to win the game. Read more about the USA vs. Japan game here.

Yesterday, Team USA secured a spot in the World Cup Championship game with their 7-0 run rule win over Canada. Jennie Finch earned her first win of the World Cup pitching 6 shut out innings, allowing only 3 hits, and striking out 8.

USA will face Japan in the championship game tonight which is scheduled for 8pm CST. Catch the game on ESPN2 - also available in High Definition. I already have my DVR set just in case something comes up and I'm not home for some reason. ;)

Great Shape for Summer....

...and for softball of course. Summer is here and this is the time of year everyone wants to look great at the beach (or the pool). I hardly went to the beach when I was playing. I just never had time, but from what I've seen, I think all the players I coach find time to play in the sun. lol

Anyway - if you're looking for an effective way to stay or get in shape during the off season or for your season, check out this article I posted on the site. Get stronger and get faster without having to add hours and hours of training to your already busy week. After all you don't want to have to give up time at the beach or the pool for more training. Balance in life and taking the time to relax and have fun is important too.

So what got me closest to being in active "softball shape" at the age of 30 after having 4 kids and being out of actively playing softball for over a decade? Click here to find out.

ISF Campaigns for Softball's Return in 2016

The International Softball Federation announced a "Back Softball" campaign to push for the sport to be reinstated in the 2016 Olympic Games. ISF President, Don Porter, says the Federation is focusing on spreading softball to more countries in different areas of the world. The idea is to develop the sports so that more countries are able to compete at the highest level.

The next chance for softball to regain its Olympic status will come in 2009, when the IOC will select the sports for the 2016 Games. After working for about 30 years to get softball included in the Olympics, Porter is not about to give up on getting softball a second chance in the Olympics.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist, Michele Smith, visited President Bush last month as an honorary commissioner for a T-ball game on the White House South Lawn. Smith said the president told her he's "100 percent" behind the effort to reinstate softball.

We'll see what happens as '09 rolls around.

To read more on this story, Click Here.