24 hrs and still disgusted with our coachs call WHY with our 4 best hitters up!!!!!!

[Amy in AZ.]

Last night I was hoping that TN. would bunt every time at bat, just to make OK. have to handle the ball. So, we just don't know. An infielder could have been back a little far, or something.

 

[flipper14]

I know my response was a little snarky but it's so much easier to coach from the sidelines. I have an example that happened just the other day to illustrate the point. I coached high school softball for three seasons before my wife and I adopted a daughter. I still try to get out and see the team I coached play when I have the opportunity. The new coach is excellent and much better than I. During the game the all-state shortstop who is a DI commit is involved in a play at the plate. The bat got left in front of the plate and when the girl approached the plate she didn't slide to avoid the bat. The mother I was standing with (her daughter who played for me was standing there as well) asked who should tell the runner if she should slide and where she should slide. I told her it's clearly the on-deck hitter's job. As soon as I said it I thought to myself that in my three years of coaching I don't believe that I ever instructed that point. It's simple, it should have been coached, and I don't believe I ever did it. Also, at the high school level most of us just don't have time to watch a ton of video with the girls and this is something that would have come up in a film session but playing 35 games in a spring high school season doesn't provide a lot of time to watch film.

So, watching the game from the stands I instantly recognized the coaching point. When coaching third base I would have likely never instructed the point as I would have been thinking about the next sign to give, or if we were coming back to the dugout any number of things. Perspective does matter.

 

[Crazy Softball Guy]

Originally Posted by catcher23
my dd team is a great team no thanks to high school coaches on this team .the call was made by parent who's dd plays and she is great freshmen pitcher but he never should of been coaching 3rd he never coached anything but asst at 12u travel and the head coach is a teacher. and played hs ball that's it! my dd high school team r young and still few yrs left of school ball my dd is a freshman, the whole team is softmores and freshmen, 3 seniors& 1 only plays . we need to start finding better coaching at the high school level. every single member of this hs team is playing travel ball, some play more competitive but it the parents that made these kids the team they r and we get dad and teacher to lead then to next season !!!!! the combo that was up starting with my dd have won 12 games in to two years of the team they r the closer !!!! same thing last year we where down 3 in semi finals and my dd hit a triple tied up and the same DH scored her in top of 7 taking the lead but coach pulled in the OF and over the head the ball went solo homer lost again

You seem to have all of the answers. Why don't you throw your hat in the ring?

Indeed.

Slamming someone's credentials doesn't help your case. Coaches do what they feel is best for the team, not for the parents. If you feel that strongly that somebody shouldn't be coaching, then do something about it.

 

[29dad]

Well at least the coach didn't choose to pitch to the greatest home run hitter the game has ever seen with a runner on second and first base open in the bottom of the 12th inning.

 

[Country Boy]

hi everyone , tell me what u would of done with 2 games away for a shot at the state title!!!!!!
its the bottom of the 7th and we r down by 1 , 1st hitter up w/ batting avg 421 hits hard grounder to ss error ! no outs runner on 1st , next up is my dd with avg. 484 , 1st pitch she fouls off hard to the back stop! , then a ball , catcher throws to 1st and hits our girl in the helment and she is out cool and not moving , few minute she gets up and the coaches put the fastest runner on that was pulled up from JV !!!! my dd next pitch lays down a bunt down , she out at first but the runner is now at 2nd & we have 1 out. Next up our DH w/ avg 523 , first pitch ball, 2nd ball !!!
2-0 the next pitch she starts to square and lays down a BUNT !!!! 3rd base throws to 1st 2 OUT. the girl at 2nd rounds 3rd hesitates and gets thrown out at home.!!!!!!!! the part that in cant understand???? our next girl
up next W/ avg 4.71 just missed the fence her last time up by foot!!!

any one of of those hitter could and would of made it happen!!!
we had our best hitters up!!!! 4 hitters w/ batting avgs 4.21- 5.23 that's AWSOME !!!! WHAT WAS THE COACH THINKING !!!! runner at 2nd and 1 out hit ,hit! and with the DH with 500 +avg. and next girl went to the fence last time!
!! in the car ride home I said why did u bunt ? she said coach give 1 pitch mom, I fouled it off and then I had to bunt her to 2nd ! i'm fine with my dd did her job!!! but bunt the DH and send the runner at 2nd home!!!! and it was over 3 outs .!!!! and we still had 2 more power hitters up !!!
after the game my dd had travel practice and she took the lose like champ but I just want to tell coach!! that she pounded 7 over fence at 250 ft right after that COACHING DISGUST !!!!!! She ask to hit away but no !!!!

Funny how the coaches were able to get this team a couple games from a state championship. A team made up of primarily underclassmen? Just 2 games from state? Wish I was that incompetent! Unless the players you mention were a combined 12-12 that day already, back off the cheap seats coaching evaluation.

You mention bottom of the 7th. So even though you claim the coaches blew this call, game, chance for state, there was nothing that any of the players could have done differently during the preceding 6.5 innings to win the ball game? The only play that mattered was the final play? Typical parent.

Your dd with the fabulous BA had her chance. What happened? She failed to produce. So the coach bunted her. The coach let her hit. She failed by fouling. Did the coach call for her to foul the ball? Why is it the coaches fault when they gave her the opportunity and she didn't come through?

You mention the 4 players are batting near .500. You know what that means? They make outs more than half the time. The reason there is a runner on base? Error. Not because of something glorious your player did. The tying run was on base because the other team made a mistake.

Perhaps the #3 batter had hit the ball hard the first 3 times up and 1B was playing a little deep as a result. The coach thought the player would see that and bunt to 1B for a single and to advance the runner. Instead the player bunted hard to 3B and an out was made instead.

There are any number of possible reasons that the coaches did what they did. I'm prone to believe that they had more information than a parent in the stands. Did it work? No. Was it the wrong call? Nobody knows becuase there is no guarantee that the #3 and #4 batters would have been any more successful hitting than your dd was.

There is a lot that goes into coaching. Putting up with parents with selective memories is just part of it.

 

[Eric F]

1. The coach without high-level credentials got a team within reach of a State title. Props to the coach.
2. The coach made a strategic decision, played it out, and came up a few feet short. Sometimes strategic decisions work, sometimes they don't. Welcome to the game. If you can't handle it, find another sport or do the coaching yourself.
3. You have no way of knowing with absolute certainty that the big hitters would be successful. The averages you listed indicate that they actually fail more than they succeed. With it being a 1-run game, I'm guessing the opposing team was playing a good game. It could have just as easily ended with those hitters getting out and leaving the running at first.

 

[sluggers]

Why don't you throw your hat in the ring?

Perhaps because the exclamation mark on his keyboard broke...

I agree, the bunt of the runner to 3B was a little strange...but, I've seen that same play work before.

With a fast runner on 2B, the defense has to properly field the ball and then make two good throws AND the catcher has to get in position to block the plate. The defense has to do a lot of things right to get the runner out at home. A high level 16U TB defense can make that play 90% of the time. A HS team could probably make the play less than 50% of the time. If the opposing pitcher was good, it might have been worth a shot.

My DD#1's team was playing in conference championship, the score was tied in the bottom of the 7th, and her team had a runner at 3B with no one out. Guess what the next three batters did? Strike out, ground out, fly out. They went on to lose in the 11th.

 

[Greenmonsters]

One other point to consider, which maybe the coach did or did not, the runner they tried to score from 2B on the second bunt was a JV player pinch running for the injured starting who reached on the E6. Typically JV and V games are played at different levels and move at different speeds. As a coach, I wouldn't send a base runner in a critical, game-deciding situation unless I had complete confidence in them. Maybe the coach forgot who the runner was?

PS I'm curious to know what the game score was.

 

[Rocketech1]

There is a lot that goes into coaching. Putting up with parents with selective memories is just part of it.

Quote of the day!

 

[CoogansBluff]

... the whole team is softmores and freshmen, 3 seniors& 1 only plays . we need to start finding better coaching at the high school level. every single member of this hs team is playing travel ball, some play more competitive but it the parents that made these kids the team they r and we get dad and teacher to lead then to next season !!!!!

Are you saying that the parents have made the kids great and therefore they deserve a great high school coach? With the challenges that public schools are having these days, providing quality coaching to non-revenue sports is the least of their worries, as it should be.

High school softball coaches are required to be full-time teachers in most cases. That's 90 percent of their job. A principal's priority in hiring is to build a strong academic faculty. Being able to coach a softball team is just a bonus. Parents and kids are entitled to a good education, but they are not entitled to ASA gold softball coaches. I understand the frustration as a parent/fan if you don't feel the team is well-coached, but you can't judge high school coaches in the same 'it's-all-about-winning' way that people critique college and professional coaches. I'd just be happy that your daughter plays for a state-contending program. I'd be thrilled if my daughter started for a state quarterfinal team some day. That would be as fun to her as anything she's ever done.