HS - Do you have your ace pitcher go for the K's or the easy gounders?

[softball88]

Varsity game last night went into 9 innings. Our #1 threw 164 pitches....lots of strikeouts. Felt like and probably was 3-2 on a lot of batters. She threw great...a lot of pitches. Final was 2-1.

 

[coachjwb]

It's all about getting 3 outs before the other team scores any runs last I checked. Different pitchers do it different ways based on their skill sets, but nothing's better than watching a true pitcher keeping the other team off balance with her different pitches, and ability to hit locations. If she doesn't have a ton of speed, chance are most of those outs are going to be ground outs or pop ups.

 

[TorontoCFE]

We get it. Nowhere in the 7 pages of this thread have I seen any response that says they'd rather have a ground ball than a K. The K is always preferable.

With the possible rare-ish exception of runners on, 1 out with a very weak hitter up and a fearsome one on deck.

I have heard plenty of NL managers say they would rather their pitcher stand there and strike out
than hit a sure double play to end an inning and not bring the top of the order up.