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  1. JStar00

    When will travel ball start back up? Poll

    Michigan reportedly will declare all schools closed until June within the next several days. (At the moment they 'tentatively' plan to go back April 13 but pretty much all agree this is far-fetched.) For all intents and purposes this probably means August; I haven't heard any serious discussion...
  2. JStar00

    Terrible Spring weather - Indoor practice alternatives

    Get a dozen of heavy foam-rubber balls you can use for limited pitching and fielding practice. Unless you have access to a gym really set up for indoor softball/baseball (netting set up to protect windows/light fixtures), you probably can't do much hitting practice. I'm grinding my teeth...
  3. JStar00

    How many rain outs so far?

    Our 14U summer season starts June 1, because that's the day after HS district tournaments and many players are free to play on their summer teams. We start practices mid-April (after Easter) and ideally plan for 3 practices per week. Under that schedule we should have 9 practices in. With rain...
  4. JStar00

    Who get the win

    Analytics run amuck. The three most important words in analytics are "small sample size." In our 14U league this year, we're playing official NFHS rules with a couple of exceptions: one is, a pitcher can only be switched back to the slab twice during the game, which eliminates every-batter...
  5. JStar00

    What is the goal of HS varsity softball?

    Winning the state championship and/or sending players on to college are in many ways beyond the control of the varsity coach; those things are the result of a developmental program that has to start well before HS. Certainly you can refine and develop talent, but in order to be a serious state...
  6. JStar00

    Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

    In my community (a Division 1 HS with 1200 students), I'm coaching the 14U team this season. On our roster, we have 7 players from the 8th grade of the public middle school. They will make up the basis of the HS freshman class next year. One player plays travel ball, the daughter of our rec club...
  7. JStar00

    Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

    Here, it's lacrosse and soccer that are killing rec softball. The damage from soccer was already done 30 years ago. Now, it's lacrosse moving in fast, sucking up players and chewing up fields. Of course, lacrosse fields are designed to be interchangeable with soccer and even the old creaky...
  8. JStar00

    Pitcher substitution question

    The flex rule really bugs me; it was perfectly fine to have a 9-batter lineup including a DH, and allow re-entry substitutions for starters. Flex/DP makes it astronomically more confusing and complicated for little if any benefit. It also busts the previously-inviolate rule of batting in order.
  9. JStar00

    ERA and Innings Pitched..

    I usually just figure RAA: Runs Allowed Average. Total runs allowed / total innings pitched x number of innings in an official game. I don't mess around differentiating between earned and unearned runs: Unearned runs as a result of "bad errors," i.e. misplays on easy balls, tend to even out...
  10. JStar00

    Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

    There are HS coaches in soccer and volleyball particularly who literally take orders from travel team coaches on who to play, where and how much to play them. Some club volleyball coaches have also ordered players in 6th-7th grade to quit all other sports (rec or school) in order to play on the...
  11. JStar00

    Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

    The problem (well, one of them) is that many high school coaches are now making decisions based largely on the results of travel ball. Roster decisions, position decisions, PT and strategy decisions, you name it. It's supposed to be illegal but it's very common.
  12. JStar00

    Commitment issues/overextended kids

    We usually play doubleheaders; I usually play my "starting lineup" in Game 1, then flip-flop it in game 2. Therefore the plate appearances should even out, although as the season wears on, the "starters" tend to creep ahead a bit in PAs, because our Game 2's are often called by darkness...
  13. JStar00

    JJ from Michigan

    Coaching 14U this year after doing 12U the last two years. Coached baseball/softball about 8 seasons in the 1980s, when I was in my 20s. Also coached 4 seasons of football and about 10 of basketball. In between, worked as a sports writer about 30 years for small and medium papers.
  14. JStar00

    Deciding starting pitcher

    Ding ding ding -- this!! Non-stop walkathons are no fun for anybody, not even the opposing team. Nobody gets to make any plays on either offense or defense. Whoever throws strikes will be the main pitchers.
  15. JStar00

    Report to safesport or warn other parents..or both

    As I've discussed in another thread, I'm coaching 14U this year after doing 12U the previous two seasons. At 10U -- any level -- I can't see yanking a player mid-inning for an error. Except possibly if the player blatantly quit on the play or intentionally messed it up. At 10U you do...
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