College ball and the Int'l tie breaker

What's up with the decision to swing away rather than bunt when a runner is placed on 2nd base using the International Tie Breaker?

Is it statistically better to let the girls swing away rather than bunt?

Is the bunt strategy just too old school and predictable?

Is it considered "weak" or amateur or bush league?

What am I missing!?

I'm steaming at the Washington (if it's not obvious--I'm a Husky fan) loss to Florida 1-0 Friday evening because they chose to swing away, not bunt. What's worse, they decided to sub in 2 freshman hitters in the 8 and 9 spots and let them swing away. They had never faced Barnhill in their life AND Barnhill had already thrown a no-hitter for the 1st 7 innings!

I don't get it.....I'm sad......and mad......

That was absolutely brutal. Not to mention that Washington small balled them a little earlier in the game and it worked. Why would they not bunt? Maybe the hitter can't bunt.. But then to pinch hit two freshman who never faced Barnhill? It borderlines on crazy. Also the Washington pitcher couldn't throw a strike in ITB until the run scored then she threw 8 strikes in a row. Something weird going on

4KidsDad said:

What's up with the decision to swing away rather than bunt when a runner is placed on 2nd base using the International Tie Breaker?

Is it statistically better to let the girls swing away rather than bunt?

Is the bunt strategy just too old school and predictable?

Is it considered "weak" or amateur or bush league?

What am I missing!?

I'm steaming at the Washington (if it's not obvious--I'm a Husky fan) loss to Florida 1-0 Friday evening because they chose to swing away, not bunt. What's worse, they decided to sub in 2 freshman hitters in the 8 and 9 spots and let them swing away. They had never faced Barnhill in their life AND Barnhill had already thrown a no-hitter for the 1st 7 innings!

I don't get it.....I'm sad......and mad......

Click to expand...

Sad and Mad? Interesting. A softball game and a coaching decision.

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No team wins or loses because of something they did or didn't do in the last inning; that's an illusion. As far as putting two freshmen in against Barnhill Crowhopper, I think that tells you that teams aren't going all out to win these February/early March games. Against Auburn I think Washington played 18 players and it looked like they used quite a few against Florida as well. Teams won't do that so much during super regionals and beyond.

No team wins or loses because of something they did or didn't do in the last inning; that's an illusion. As far as putting two freshmen in against Barnhill Crowhopper, I think that tells you that teams aren't going all out to win these February/early March games. Against Auburn I think Washington played 18 players and it looked like they used quite a few against Florida as well. Teams won't do that so much during super regionals and beyond.

I assumed they put in two freshman players who have never faced Barnhill so they CAN face Barnhill.


Would you rather their first time be a game that doesn’t matter as much, or the WCWS?

Someone somewhere has the stats on the likely hood of scoring with no out and a runner on second vs scoring with 1 out and a runner on third. I'm also sure that someone somewhere has stats on the likelyhood of scoring in the ITB by bunting with no outs vs swinging away with no outs. My guess is there is little difference.

As far as pinch hitting a freshman in this situation. Its all about getting batters into clutch situations and seeing what they can do, and to get them used to these situations. At the end of the year when the games mean more, you might be forced to use one of these batters, wouldn't it be good for them to have learned from an earlier situation?

chinamigarden said:

Someone somewhere has the stats on the likely hood of scoring with no out and a runner on second vs scoring with 1 out and a runner on third. I'm also sure that someone somewhere has stats on the likelyhood of scoring in the ITB by bunting with no outs vs swinging away with no outs. My guess is there is little difference.

Click to expand...

I have those numbers. ITB is heavily skewed towards the home team. As the visiting team (Florida) you needed 2 runs to give yourself a better chance than a coin flip.

Even after Florida scored one run Washington had a 66.4% chance of winning when they (Washington) had runners at first and third with zero outs (bottom half of the inning, down a run). The Washington coach did a good job here (the stolen base with two outs was a risk that wasn't necessary). The bottom line is one of those two Washington hitters with runners at 1B and 3B needed to put the ball in play.


Coaching in softball is in the margins. You give yourself a 1/2 runs advantage by making all the right moves and you hope the other coach gives up a 1/2 run by making bad moves. This gives your team a slight advantage in a close game. That is the difference between a good coach and an average or poor coach.