How much has the game changed in 20 years?

[Eric F]

The other major change that I have noticed is the pure lack of respect for high school coaches. Everyone has their expert and that HS Coach is the dumbest thing around. Few parents want to admit that that expert may or may not be knowledgeable about the game. Heck, they are paying money and would be embarrassed if they admitted that they were scammed by an expert. If you haven't noticed, I'm an ex expert. If you like what I coach, great. If not, great.

How about this?...I don't care for the hitting instruction of my DD's HS coach, and I take my DD to a HS coach for hitting instruction.

(True story)

 

[justanotherguy]

Another change that is slowly happening is that as schools build new fields, they are increasing the distances. Our field is 200 down the line and 205 to center. However, it has an 8 foot fence.

Our local high school is 210 all the way around. Not a very high fence though.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Slight correction. Catchers called the game.

I think it’s made our game poorer not having catchers call the game. I’ve had this argument many times on this board, but the job of the catcher is to call the game. No one else. (Pitcher cal shake off but it’s not common)

It’s a disservice to the catchers not to be taught and you’ll see a lot of top itching coaches calling for it to come back.

When they start attaching ERA to the catchers they can call the game.

 

[Tatonka]

When they start attaching ERA to the catchers they can call the game.

I'm sure quite a few would improve if they did that. Of course, there would be some that wouldn't do as good of a job also. But isn't that why some are saying to coach the catcher in this aspect when they are young and playing these "meaningless" games?

Also - don't you mean the FIP rather than the ERA? ;-) Thank you for bringing that back up the other day, I like it!

 

[Lozza]

When they start attaching ERA to the catchers they can call the game.

Pitchers NEVER call the game. In softball or baseball. I’m not sure where you’re getting this idea that pitchers have ever called a game from?

 

[OK04dad]

Slight correction. Catchers called the game.

I think it’s made our game poorer not having catchers call the game. I’ve had this argument many times on this board, but the job of the catcher is to call the game. No one else. (Pitcher cal shake off but it’s not common)

It’s a disservice to the catchers not to be taught and you’ll see a lot of top itching coaches calling for it to come back.

No, no,no...as a parent of a pitcher I have too much fun blaming every lazy pitch and missed location on the coach calling pitches. There's no way I could start blaming a 14 year old catcher for that.

 

[marriard]

I'll add a few...

Country-wide strength
It used to be California and everyone else. Now California likes to pretend they are still way out in front... and they are probably still in front... but the gap is much. much smaller than it used to be and Texas, Florida and Georgia in particular are not far behind. In college it was PAC and no one else. This has changed very, very fast.

The Slow and Painful Death of SlowPitch
Thankfully this is almost fully gone. In many areas we are only on the third or fourth full generation of only fastpitch players coming through the system. We have mom's of current players who played slow-pitch for their college and high school.

TV & ESPN & Streaming
Even 5 years ago you were lucky to see a game on TV beyond the Super Regional games. Now my DVR can't keep up, I can watch DIII and NAIA games for most colleges live, travel tournaments are streamed... and so on. Access is rocketing and that can only help

More and More College Programs
If you look through the NCAA records, the number of programs is on a strong growth path. We are right now at +74 D1 teams from 20 years ago. The numbers are higher in other divisions. I know of at least 15 programs that started this season - and I am sure I don't know them all.

The Loss of the Rec/Travel Season
It used to be 'rec' season was at the same time HS season. There wasn't any weekend tournaments basically until HS finished. Now it is just travel 12 months of the year and just no HS division in the travel tournament during HS season. This has happened really in the last 10 years.

Big Orgs & More Sanctioning Bodies
And yes DD plays for one of the 'good' teams in the 'big org'. Say what you want, but these are now dominating the scene at the top end. Some exceptions apply - but not many. Sure there are watered down teams... but the top teams in the big orgs are monsters. It has become stupid in some cases...

It also used to just ASA dominated good travel and then rec was often included in Little Leegue/Pony/etc. Now nationally there is USA/USSSA/PGF/TCS and in some areas NSA/USFA/ISA/etc, etc...

Numbers
Numbers are up across the country because it is now popular nationwide. I think there may be some leveling of # of teams, rec/travel balance, money, recruiting,etc... but overall numbers seem good. We have as many girls in our travel program now as we used to in rec and rec is a litte down for a variety of reasons - which is probably both good and bad

Skill Level & Depth
Despite memory of the 'old times' and even with the 'better' equipment, the focus on skills development & focus has changed the game. Lots more time in the weight room as well. Just to have the talent to fill all the good softball teams - it just wasn't there 20 years ago. There is also greater understanding - slow motion video doesn't lie. And so on.

Opportunity
As others have said, there used to be ONE national championship. That was good and bad because how you got there was very restrictive and was run by way too few people. Basically it was an 'old boys club' and you had to be invited to join - and that wasn't going to happen and it was very stagnant. Now there is too many orgs, too many showcases, too many nationals and so on - but that also creates LOTS of opportunity and forces innovation and change.

... and lots of other things...

 

[marriard]

I'll add one more.....

Fastpitch is relatively new in terms of age, and as the money/opportunity has gone up, there has been a lot of baseball experience coming across into the game.

Especially for batting this has been good - the loss of the 'softball swing' has been great for the game.

While I want to see more woman coaches/instructors/etc - and there are in terms of raw numbers - there is a lot to be pulled skill wise inthe long history of investment in baseball skills development.

 

[Bob516]

'softball swing'

I'm curious, what is the 'softball swing'?

 

[FP26]

There are coaches out there that believe a hitter needs to utilize different mechanics in softball than in baseball. The assistant coach at DD's high school during her senior year is one of these people. His focus was a downward barrel path with a goal of hitting hard ground balls. DD was also the pitcher... This same coach asked her to keep the ball low in the zone, with the goal of inducing ground balls. The irony of these two goals was not lost on my DD. We spoke of it often... While I am not one that typically tolerates ignoring your coach, DD did her best to pretend like she was agreeing with him, and then did her thing.