High School Softball

Cannonball said:

HS coaches have all kinds of pressures. I have a student/athlete who is not doing well in one particular subject. That teacher wanted me to bench her last night so that the point would be made about grades. I've taught for 30+ years, I take care of my problems myself and don't go to other teachers/coaches to try to get those problems resolved."

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Agree! As a MS coach I occasionally get a comment or an email from a teacher that wants/demands that I punish a player (their favorite is to make them run laps) for something that happened in their classroom. For some reason, they cannot see that their classroom management issues have nothing to do with my team.
Now, I will not put up with the Bullcrap from a player, and I understand that we all have to work together to guide these student-athletes through the entire process. But, I have never gone to anyone outside my own classroom to help me manage my classroom. In fact, I have written one disciplinary referral in ten years.
You take care of your classroom, I will take care of mine, and keep your meddling away from the team I am coaching (teaching).

Well our high school season came to an unfortunate end yesterday. Gave away the regional championship game 5-4. Three errors cost us 3 runs. Girls battled back twice to tie the game against a very good pitcher, but couldn't get a run across in the last inning to tie it back up.

Il softball fan said:

Well our high school season came to an unfortunate end yesterday. Gave away the regional championship game 5-4. Three errors cost us 3 runs. Girls battled back twice to tie the game against a very good pitcher, but couldn't get a run across in the last inning to tie it back up.

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Not only a good pitcher but good program. This must have been an exciting game to watch. Good luck in the future.

Our HS banquet was Monday.

This was a very successful season for us, though it didn't end up the way it could have. Team started 4 freshman and 3 sophomores and a freshman was the first player off the bench when we needed a sub, a courtesy runner or a start due to injury/weak team. The year before the team only won 6 games due to lots of seniors graduating and a rash of injuries - this year we won 18 so just in that turn around alone it was great. We have a decent freshman group coming in next year - hoping for enough for a JV team which we did not have this year.

DD did phenomenal. She started at pitcher for every meaningful game we played and was not overused as she was supported by our other pitcher who was able to handle the weaker teams - this was a BIG concern going into the season - but our #2 came through where we needed her. It does show how stats can lie though - both pitchers have basically the same ERA but my DD pitched to all the hard teams (Perspective: we had 6 run-rule wins - my DD pitched in none of them)

HS coach wanted DD concentrating on pitching early in the season so she didn't bat in the first 4 games, but then as district games approached she got her opportunities and batted all but one game where she was totally rested and didn't play at all. She ended up batting .385 and batting at #5 which was about right on this team. She wasn't fielding when not pitching in the beginning of the season (she was DP), but when we lost a player half way into the season due to injury she played 2B the rest of the season. All in all I thought the HC did a good job of managing her freshman year.

She also came out of the season full of confidence in her abilities. 3 teams we played ended up in their Class State Semi Finals or Championship game and though we went 1-3 against these teams, all games were competitive and all but one could have gone either way. Also made her realize she needed to build up her stamina and get stronger as she faded in a couple of games down the stretch. Pitching and playing a highly intense HS game for 7 innings (or occasionally more) can be WAY more intense than any travel weekend where you may throw way more innings and games.

We are really looking forward to next year. This was a great experience for my DD and she genuinely loved it. A lot of credit has to go to our HC who has put a lot of time and effort into the team and supported the programs that feed players into the team over the years. While most of the players do not play together in travel ball, all but the one player started playing softball in the local rec league and played for the local travel program in the early age groups (several still do).

I know many are not as lucky as we were this year and that is a real shame - because done right this can be a great experience for the player and their family.

Marriard - congrats on a solid season! It's great to hear of the good HS programs out there proving that it can be done. I wish there were more of them!

It is great to read the positive high school softball stories. When I played high school baseball, it was a great experience for me. I have a lot of positive memories. DD just finished her third high school season, and unfortunately, the memories have not been as fond. I have mentioned in other posts how much inexperience the team has and that the season was not very successful in regards to record. But those things are secondary to me. The true issue in my mind is the politics and attitudes of some of the parents. The players themselves tried their best, worked hard all season, and never gave up. The coaching staff amazes me with how well they deal with the constant sniping and attacks from outside the fence and in the newspapers. Both coaches are former college players that are knowledgeable and do a great job teaching and mentoring the athletes. The school and players are lucky to have them as coaches. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way. And ultimately that leads to a truly forgettable experience for many of the players. I am extremely disappointed because I feel DD's high school experience could be just as memorable....

We wrapped our up with a team/family get together last night. The season exceeded a lot of expectations but came up just short of our ultimate goal of making the state finals. The girls finished the year ranked 5th in the state. We won our area championship for the first time since 2012 going 5-1 in area games and undefeated in the area tournament. Once we reached regionals we made it to the winners bracket final before playing our biggest rival we had just beaten twice to take the area title. They jumped on us so we fell to the losers bracket final. In one of the best games of the year we ended up giving up the lead in the bottom of the 6th and losing ending our season. Our rival wound up winning the state championship so one plus is the girls know than can compete and there will be extra motivation during summer weight training.

For DD it started out tough. She missed the last week of preseason practice and the first 11 games with a bum knee. After the physical therapist released her she became a full time starter as an 8th grader for the varsity. By the time the season ended she had started at every position except P, SS, and 3rd. She had 3 walk off hits including 2 during our area tournament. She ended hitting around .440 with 40 rbi's bouncing between leading off and the 3 hole and was over .500 during the post season. She also only struck out twice over the 38 games she played.

I was very proud of her on field performance but she also matured so much. She really looked up to a junior that was our team leader and tried to follow her every step of the way. By the end of the year she was a different kid on the field and showed more excitement than I have seen out of her.

Cannonball said:

Not only a good pitcher but good program. This must have been an exciting game to watch. Good luck in the future.

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Yep, was a very good game. Our girls did well facing their ace. If we could have eliminated a couple of throwing errors we had it. I know our coach had arranged this spring for you to come help out with some hitting instruction, and it fell through. Hopefully this winter/ next spring it can possibly happen. DD had some good streaks, but struggled most of the year with hitting the better pitchers. Hard to believe my baby girl will be a senior next year.

We are still playing .

Going into round 3 of CIF playoffs

WARRIORMIKE said:

We are still playing .

Going into round 3 of CIF playoffs

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Good luck to Angela & her team! Mike, I see we're in the same pool for the Zoom into June tourney coming up soon. Dos cervezas, por favor? ;-)