- Apr 17, 2014
- 8
- 1
I am writing this as an educational piece that will give college coaches insight into improving their collegiate team.
First there is an improvement in vocabulary that has to be made before any great success can be obtained. The word and any association with “CAN’T” must be removed. That thought destroys innovation and success more than anything else.
Currently, the majority of coaches want to have a winning record and finish high in their conference or win its title and qualify for the NCAA tournament; end of story.
Once they qualify and play a few games, they return home after meeting one or more of the power conference teams. This is a fact of life for about 95% of the collegiate teams every year without change.
First you have to understand softball in its simplest terms. The championship team is built on “Power Pitching” and hitting.
Unfortunately, a number of years ago the NCAA made a change that seriously damaged or destroyed the chances of the mid-collegiate teams to compete at the national level; they moved the rubber back to 43 feet. With that 3 foot move, about 95% or more of all the collegiate pitchers became what we call “thumbers.” They had to rely more on movement, location, changing speeds, and a lot of praying. The problem is that each year, maybe 2 or 3 true power pitchers come out of high school and the chances of the smaller name universities recruiting one of them are pretty slim at best. The big boys grab up the #1 asset for a championship team. When a coach is looking to recruit a pitcher, the number one criteria they look for is velocity, no matter where the ball goes; then they hope to teach what’s needed.
The men’s major championship teams were built on pitching, catching, and beef on the hoof (hitting).
With the changes in bats and balls over the years, the change to the woman’s game that was needed the most was ignored! The woman’s collegiate game needs to go to the old men’s 250’ around fencing. You are playing in a phone booth; take advantage of that.
Positional players need to be big and take full swings. I have seen many mis-hit balls leave the yard in the woman’s game. In the old days the Dudleys and Harwoods (softballs) would soften up after about 3 innings; today you have a golf ball to the end.
Hitters need to be taught to hit away, up the middle. (check your physics department on how far a ball will travel % wise if hit straight ahead rather than pulling) All of the greatest men softball home-run hitters, hit away and were not pull hitters. Potentially, with today’s dimensions and equipment, almost every player in your line-up should be able to hit the ball out. The more big ladies with one eye in the middle of their forehead that you can put in the line-up, the scarier it becomes for the opposing pitcher. Some positions should be defensively sacrificed for the player that consistently makes good contact when batting.
The importance of the catcher being able to call a game without the coach relaying pitch selection is very important to the stability of the pitcher and getting into a good rhythm. Outside of the pitcher, the catcher is the most important position on the field. The catcher is the only player that has the whole field in front of them and giving signals and calling plays should be one of their responsibilities. The catcher has to be a take charge type of person. Pitcher, coach, and catcher should go over the opposing hitters and decide the general approach in pitching to them.
Back to the power pitching: Stop and think, where do the woman’s pitchers come from and how were they developed? It is totally different from what the men’s game used to be. Today, fewer girls go into softball unless there is a history or involvement in their family. Pitchers start because a parent can afford to pay for lessons and want their child to pitch/star; so that is what you get to pick from coming through high school. Many times the best “potential” pitcher never gets the coaching or encouragement growing up.
Traditionally and there are exceptions, pitchers are the biggest and tallest players on the team. The taller pitcher has a higher release point that is more advantageous when throwing both the drop and the rise. They also have the potential to throw the ball a lot faster. When the men’s world teams come onto the field, you can pick out the pitchers; almost all are in the range of about 6’4” and 230 lbs plus and there are also the exceptions. For a pitcher, Chuck D’Arcy was relatively short and an exception, but he had an exceptionally live arm, perfect mechanics, control, and threw in the low 90’s. Men became softball pitchers when they were already athletes and exposed to fastpitch. The learning curve is a lot faster when one is already an adult and an athlete.
Don’t believe the speed BS you hear and read about. The “top” woman pitchers “should” throw in the 80’s; it’s just that they have not been developed yet. A few of the top men pitchers from the heydays broke 100; Ty Stofflet at 104; Roy Burlison 105+; KG Fincher 100+. Not to knock Eddie Feigner (the King and His Court) who could throw hard, but a number of pitchers threw harder than he did.
Unfortunately, of the major attractive sports for women to compete in, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball, Softball comes in at a distant 4th in attracting the athlete/participant. It is easy to say that the “potentially” greatest pitchers have never played softball as a primary sport. If you watched the NCAA Woman’s Basketball Championships and saw the 6’7” BYU center and volleyball player, Jennifer Hamson, how would you like to see her as a pitcher? There’s more to it than that; flexibility, coordination, and explosiveness of action and willingness to work to achieve success all go hand in hand to create a pitcher. That’s an “extreme example,” but put thought into it. An athlete is usually at a college/university for “4+” years.
Now there is a drawback, the most difficult thing in teaching a non-softball playing person to pitch is not the pitching, that’s easy; the most difficult is in fielding the position and the mental grasp of what’s going on that takes more time to learn than to pitch.
To get an idea of learning how to pitch for those that coach pitching or throw batting practice, try an experiment; teach yourself to pitch left-handed (or from the opposite side). For a while you should feel like a complete klutz. That will open your eyes and cause you to focus on the mechanics and difficulties involved in developing the underhand muscle memory to start the learning process. That will also give you a personal firsthand account of what the learning pitcher is going through.
Work with some of the incoming freshmen volleyball or basketball players that have “size” and athleticism that are willing, on the side. Just being big and athletic is no guarantee of success. It will be a hit and miss scenario. See what becomes of it.
Without the necessary power pitching, the most you can hope for is conference success and an occasional cup of coffee at the nationals.
Honestly, you will not be able to recruit the top power pitchers to come to your average college or university. They belong to the “big boys.” If you want to compete to win at the national level, you will have to build your own.
For position players, a hitter should always set up next to the catcher when a pitcher warms up or throws. The player needs to “SEE” as many live pitches as possible. Batting practice should be taken against “live” pitching as much as possible. Bring in men pitchers, if there are any left, to fill in; the more live batting practice, the better. Eyesight is very important and diet and exercise for improvement of sight is necessary.
BUT coaches, look at your team today, and 5 years from now, change the names, and the team will probably look the same; the problems will be the same. And, that Monster U alumnus will probably take away another recruit that you were hoping to sign. You “have” to be a superior teacher of the game. You have to recruit the “biggest” best athletes and coach, coach, coach. “Hitting and fielding” are learned disciplines that can be taught. You can’t teach size or natural athleticism, and most important, the player “must” be willing to work to get better. Every position has its own separate mechanics that have to be drilled into the player, so that when it’s 105 degrees in the shade at 3 in the afternoon, the learned basic mechanics of fielding and throwing at their position lead to fewer errors.
I know what I have said will seem like fantasy to some, but how many in this forum have seen the game at its peak. Who have seen the old Raybestos Brakettes, the Clearwater Bombers, Guenella Brothers, and other championship teams.
The Mavin,
Recreational pitcher for 38 years; observed the woman’s and collegiate game through the 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s; observed the men’s championship and contending teams from the mid 60’s through the 90’s.
First there is an improvement in vocabulary that has to be made before any great success can be obtained. The word and any association with “CAN’T” must be removed. That thought destroys innovation and success more than anything else.
Currently, the majority of coaches want to have a winning record and finish high in their conference or win its title and qualify for the NCAA tournament; end of story.
Once they qualify and play a few games, they return home after meeting one or more of the power conference teams. This is a fact of life for about 95% of the collegiate teams every year without change.
First you have to understand softball in its simplest terms. The championship team is built on “Power Pitching” and hitting.
Unfortunately, a number of years ago the NCAA made a change that seriously damaged or destroyed the chances of the mid-collegiate teams to compete at the national level; they moved the rubber back to 43 feet. With that 3 foot move, about 95% or more of all the collegiate pitchers became what we call “thumbers.” They had to rely more on movement, location, changing speeds, and a lot of praying. The problem is that each year, maybe 2 or 3 true power pitchers come out of high school and the chances of the smaller name universities recruiting one of them are pretty slim at best. The big boys grab up the #1 asset for a championship team. When a coach is looking to recruit a pitcher, the number one criteria they look for is velocity, no matter where the ball goes; then they hope to teach what’s needed.
The men’s major championship teams were built on pitching, catching, and beef on the hoof (hitting).
With the changes in bats and balls over the years, the change to the woman’s game that was needed the most was ignored! The woman’s collegiate game needs to go to the old men’s 250’ around fencing. You are playing in a phone booth; take advantage of that.
Positional players need to be big and take full swings. I have seen many mis-hit balls leave the yard in the woman’s game. In the old days the Dudleys and Harwoods (softballs) would soften up after about 3 innings; today you have a golf ball to the end.
Hitters need to be taught to hit away, up the middle. (check your physics department on how far a ball will travel % wise if hit straight ahead rather than pulling) All of the greatest men softball home-run hitters, hit away and were not pull hitters. Potentially, with today’s dimensions and equipment, almost every player in your line-up should be able to hit the ball out. The more big ladies with one eye in the middle of their forehead that you can put in the line-up, the scarier it becomes for the opposing pitcher. Some positions should be defensively sacrificed for the player that consistently makes good contact when batting.
The importance of the catcher being able to call a game without the coach relaying pitch selection is very important to the stability of the pitcher and getting into a good rhythm. Outside of the pitcher, the catcher is the most important position on the field. The catcher is the only player that has the whole field in front of them and giving signals and calling plays should be one of their responsibilities. The catcher has to be a take charge type of person. Pitcher, coach, and catcher should go over the opposing hitters and decide the general approach in pitching to them.
Back to the power pitching: Stop and think, where do the woman’s pitchers come from and how were they developed? It is totally different from what the men’s game used to be. Today, fewer girls go into softball unless there is a history or involvement in their family. Pitchers start because a parent can afford to pay for lessons and want their child to pitch/star; so that is what you get to pick from coming through high school. Many times the best “potential” pitcher never gets the coaching or encouragement growing up.
Traditionally and there are exceptions, pitchers are the biggest and tallest players on the team. The taller pitcher has a higher release point that is more advantageous when throwing both the drop and the rise. They also have the potential to throw the ball a lot faster. When the men’s world teams come onto the field, you can pick out the pitchers; almost all are in the range of about 6’4” and 230 lbs plus and there are also the exceptions. For a pitcher, Chuck D’Arcy was relatively short and an exception, but he had an exceptionally live arm, perfect mechanics, control, and threw in the low 90’s. Men became softball pitchers when they were already athletes and exposed to fastpitch. The learning curve is a lot faster when one is already an adult and an athlete.
Don’t believe the speed BS you hear and read about. The “top” woman pitchers “should” throw in the 80’s; it’s just that they have not been developed yet. A few of the top men pitchers from the heydays broke 100; Ty Stofflet at 104; Roy Burlison 105+; KG Fincher 100+. Not to knock Eddie Feigner (the King and His Court) who could throw hard, but a number of pitchers threw harder than he did.
Unfortunately, of the major attractive sports for women to compete in, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball, Softball comes in at a distant 4th in attracting the athlete/participant. It is easy to say that the “potentially” greatest pitchers have never played softball as a primary sport. If you watched the NCAA Woman’s Basketball Championships and saw the 6’7” BYU center and volleyball player, Jennifer Hamson, how would you like to see her as a pitcher? There’s more to it than that; flexibility, coordination, and explosiveness of action and willingness to work to achieve success all go hand in hand to create a pitcher. That’s an “extreme example,” but put thought into it. An athlete is usually at a college/university for “4+” years.
Now there is a drawback, the most difficult thing in teaching a non-softball playing person to pitch is not the pitching, that’s easy; the most difficult is in fielding the position and the mental grasp of what’s going on that takes more time to learn than to pitch.
To get an idea of learning how to pitch for those that coach pitching or throw batting practice, try an experiment; teach yourself to pitch left-handed (or from the opposite side). For a while you should feel like a complete klutz. That will open your eyes and cause you to focus on the mechanics and difficulties involved in developing the underhand muscle memory to start the learning process. That will also give you a personal firsthand account of what the learning pitcher is going through.
Work with some of the incoming freshmen volleyball or basketball players that have “size” and athleticism that are willing, on the side. Just being big and athletic is no guarantee of success. It will be a hit and miss scenario. See what becomes of it.
Without the necessary power pitching, the most you can hope for is conference success and an occasional cup of coffee at the nationals.
Honestly, you will not be able to recruit the top power pitchers to come to your average college or university. They belong to the “big boys.” If you want to compete to win at the national level, you will have to build your own.
For position players, a hitter should always set up next to the catcher when a pitcher warms up or throws. The player needs to “SEE” as many live pitches as possible. Batting practice should be taken against “live” pitching as much as possible. Bring in men pitchers, if there are any left, to fill in; the more live batting practice, the better. Eyesight is very important and diet and exercise for improvement of sight is necessary.
BUT coaches, look at your team today, and 5 years from now, change the names, and the team will probably look the same; the problems will be the same. And, that Monster U alumnus will probably take away another recruit that you were hoping to sign. You “have” to be a superior teacher of the game. You have to recruit the “biggest” best athletes and coach, coach, coach. “Hitting and fielding” are learned disciplines that can be taught. You can’t teach size or natural athleticism, and most important, the player “must” be willing to work to get better. Every position has its own separate mechanics that have to be drilled into the player, so that when it’s 105 degrees in the shade at 3 in the afternoon, the learned basic mechanics of fielding and throwing at their position lead to fewer errors.
I know what I have said will seem like fantasy to some, but how many in this forum have seen the game at its peak. Who have seen the old Raybestos Brakettes, the Clearwater Bombers, Guenella Brothers, and other championship teams.
The Mavin,
Recreational pitcher for 38 years; observed the woman’s and collegiate game through the 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s; observed the men’s championship and contending teams from the mid 60’s through the 90’s.