The art of the 7th inning - closing the deal

Seems like it takes something special to win the 7th inning in a hard fought game. Having watched Arizona and Ole Miss come up short in the 7th and having seen my DD's team win 6/7 innings and then lose the game, it seems like the 7th inning is the one that sets great teams/coaches apart from the rest. Am I right, or is it the case that you don't forget the hard losses?

Unfortunately, most players do not see a 7th inning until they hit HS and college. With the time limits on games at tournaments most only see 5 innings and ties are allowed in pool play. Learning how to fight for 7+ innings is something there are very few opportunities for the players to see today.

By the 7th inning, the batters have seen the same pitcher 2 or 3 times already and I think more teams should have a second pitcher close the game (similar to baseball). It doesn't always work but I think bringing in a fresh and different look pitcher can help teams win that 7th inning.

this happen to us in a 12u championship game. NSA Assn championship game this weekend, no time limits....7 innings to play. Up 5-0 going into the 6th when they started coming back, our team ended up losing 6-5 in the 7th. they threw three different pitchers to our one. First time playing NSA in a loooong time.

your right, its a rarity to see something like this in travelball.

Rocketech1 said:

By the 7th inning, the batters have seen the same pitcher 2 or 3 times already and I think more teams should have a second pitcher close the game (similar to baseball). It doesn't always work but I think bringing in a fresh and different look pitcher can help teams win that 7th inning.

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Agreed that seeing the lineup multiple times is a big factor and more specifically the heart of the lineup. The 7th inning in itself isn't magical.

The reason that softball doesn't have a "closer" that pitches the 7th inning is that softball coaches are more enlightened than our baseball brothers.

DD played HS varsity this year as a freshman. Her first time playing non timed games. During the first game of the season she said she looked at the scoreboard once when she thought the game should be over and was shocked it was the 4th inning. Softball coaches have many more options than baseball coaches. One of my favorite options is to use the starter as a closer. It works particularly well if you have a starter that throws harder and a #2 pitcher that relies more on spin, movement, and location. Have number 2 come in the third time through the order and then bring the starter back in to close the game. Our high school team used one pitcher all year out of necessity. The first half of the year her ERA tripled in the 6th and 7th innings. As she got more stamina she still was not as good but did better in the late innings.

we were having a great run until we lost a 1st game on a sunday in the 7th inning.
we were up by 7 runs, and it was the host teams last AB. with 1 or 2 outs, a batter laid down a bunt and kicked it fair on her way to 1B. for some reason the umps let it go. we protested but where we were up by 7, we didn't make a big deal out of it.
that's when the wheels came off the wagon...
many errors later, the other team had scored 8 runs and we were done.

obbay said:

we were having a great run until we lost a 1st game on a sunday in the 7th inning.
we were up by 7 runs, and it was the host teams last AB. with 1 or 2 outs, a batter laid down a bunt and kicked it fair on her way to 1B. for some reason the umps let it go. we protested but where we were up by 7, we didn't make a big deal out of it.
that's when the wheels came off the wagon...
many errors later, the other team had scored 8 runs and we were done.

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Ah, the joys of sports. They can't possibly score 8 runs before we get 3 outs, can they?? Where's that darn drop-dead clock when you need it!

My daughter's HS team lost a game in similar fashion (up by 8 and giving up 9 runs in the bottom of the 7th), plus a couple of walk-off HRs losing games. Good fun.