My daughter and I got to see two of the 3 games on championship Sunday for the NCAA regional.
Susquehanna defeated DeSales. Virginia Wesleyan defeated Susquehanna and Montclair defeated Virginia Wesleyan in the finals.
I had to leave to do Mother’s Day events (thanks to my dear wife for letting us go). Wish I could have stayed for the third game where Montclair won 3-2 in 8 innings
The games were really well played.
It was so much fun to sit in the stands behind the catcher to see the ball movement – which was really very good. There were a lot of rise balls and screw balls. But the most movement was on curve balls and drops – sharp breaking pitches. I don’t think I saw many drop curves. There were a lot of hard grounders and balls off the end of the bat. The pitches were kept low and were very effective.
The Va. Wesleyan pitcher (game 2 against Susquehanna) grunted very loudly during each pitch – you could hear it outside of the stadium. It was a lot like tennis’ Monica Seles. As a spectator it was disconcerting at first, but soon it faded into the background. She threw very hard and occasionally dropped in a changeup. She was the fastest pitcher of the day and didn’t employ pitches with much left/right movement. She didn’t seem to throw a drop ball either. She kept the ball at the knees or up just out of the strike zone.
Many of the pitchers threw screwballs in on the hands that produced a lot of weak pop flies to short. The rise balls produced a lot of foul balls straight back.
The pitchers did a great job of keeping the out of the middle of the plate.
I didn’t see much movement on the screwballs. They seemed to be effective because of placement in on the hands. I could see the spin – just didn’t see much movement.
Montclair did a great job hosting the tourney. I wish the nationals could be there like 2010.
Susquehanna defeated DeSales. Virginia Wesleyan defeated Susquehanna and Montclair defeated Virginia Wesleyan in the finals.
I had to leave to do Mother’s Day events (thanks to my dear wife for letting us go). Wish I could have stayed for the third game where Montclair won 3-2 in 8 innings
The games were really well played.
It was so much fun to sit in the stands behind the catcher to see the ball movement – which was really very good. There were a lot of rise balls and screw balls. But the most movement was on curve balls and drops – sharp breaking pitches. I don’t think I saw many drop curves. There were a lot of hard grounders and balls off the end of the bat. The pitches were kept low and were very effective.
The Va. Wesleyan pitcher (game 2 against Susquehanna) grunted very loudly during each pitch – you could hear it outside of the stadium. It was a lot like tennis’ Monica Seles. As a spectator it was disconcerting at first, but soon it faded into the background. She threw very hard and occasionally dropped in a changeup. She was the fastest pitcher of the day and didn’t employ pitches with much left/right movement. She didn’t seem to throw a drop ball either. She kept the ball at the knees or up just out of the strike zone.
Many of the pitchers threw screwballs in on the hands that produced a lot of weak pop flies to short. The rise balls produced a lot of foul balls straight back.
The pitchers did a great job of keeping the out of the middle of the plate.
I didn’t see much movement on the screwballs. They seemed to be effective because of placement in on the hands. I could see the spin – just didn’t see much movement.
Montclair did a great job hosting the tourney. I wish the nationals could be there like 2010.
