Your also facing the most dangerous hitters in the order they want them. Any time you get out of the first without giving up a run is a good inning.
Removingthe starting pitcher
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- Feb 7, 2013
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Not an easy answer but some factors that go into whether or not to pull the pitcher:
- is she hitting her spots?
- what is her strikeout to walk ratio?
- is she hitting batters?
- what's the score?
- is it the 1st inning or last inning?
- is she facing the line-up a second time?
- what is the strength of the competition?
- is it a scrimmage, friendly, pool play, championship game?
- how many games will you be playing that day?
- is the other team hitting the ball hard or weak grounders/pop-ups?
- is her defense letting her down (errors)?
- is she making physical (e.g. overthrow first base) and/or mental errors (e.g. not backing up throws)?
- what's the talent of the other pitchers on the team?
- do you feel she can get out of the jam or is she losing it?
- what's the catcher's opinion when you visit the circle?
As you can see, it's not an easy question to answer and the coach needs to weigh the pros and cons of the decision to let her stay in or to pull her for someone one.
There is a classic example of a coach not pulling his pitcher. Last May in the NCAA tournament, ULL vs Auburn, ULL up 10-5 in the 7th, Jordan Wallace (P) was allowed to continue to pitch after struggling mightly and they ended up losing 12-11 in 8 innings. Jordan gave up 13 walks, 9 hits, 1 HPB, and 1 WP before she was finally pulled. It was a trainwreck. Sometimes coaches have blinders on and are reluctant to make the switch even when faced with overwhelming factors to the contrary.
- is she hitting her spots?
- what is her strikeout to walk ratio?
- is she hitting batters?
- what's the score?
- is it the 1st inning or last inning?
- is she facing the line-up a second time?
- what is the strength of the competition?
- is it a scrimmage, friendly, pool play, championship game?
- how many games will you be playing that day?
- is the other team hitting the ball hard or weak grounders/pop-ups?
- is her defense letting her down (errors)?
- is she making physical (e.g. overthrow first base) and/or mental errors (e.g. not backing up throws)?
- what's the talent of the other pitchers on the team?
- do you feel she can get out of the jam or is she losing it?
- what's the catcher's opinion when you visit the circle?
As you can see, it's not an easy question to answer and the coach needs to weigh the pros and cons of the decision to let her stay in or to pull her for someone one.
There is a classic example of a coach not pulling his pitcher. Last May in the NCAA tournament, ULL vs Auburn, ULL up 10-5 in the 7th, Jordan Wallace (P) was allowed to continue to pitch after struggling mightly and they ended up losing 12-11 in 8 innings. Jordan gave up 13 walks, 9 hits, 1 HPB, and 1 WP before she was finally pulled. It was a trainwreck. Sometimes coaches have blinders on and are reluctant to make the switch even when faced with overwhelming factors to the contrary.
For me it often comes down to how the pitcher is reacting to the situation. Is she still battling and working to get players out, or has she given up and just going through the motions. In the first case, you may give her a little more leeway to work through the trouble, but in the latter you probably want her on the bench as quickly as possible.
A good manager/coach knows their pitcher. I am sure Bobby Cox gave Tom Glavine more pitches than most to work through his issues because Bobby knew that if Tom could get out of the first he would cruise for the next 6-7 innings.
This past.weekend it was just the walks. U can not defend against the walks. In the past I have seen game lost b/c of one or two runs that were given away on walks.
This past weekend it was just the walks. U can not defend against the walks. In the past I have seen game lost b/c of one or two run that were given away on walks.
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This is irrelevant to fastpitch softball.
MLB teams have pitching staffs .... it is extremely rare to see anything resembling a pitching staff in our game.
- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,188
- 48
You bring up a good point that in fastpitch you might only have 1 or 2 decent pitchers and a total of maybe 3 to draw from. With that said, one season we were very successful with using two pitchers each game. In timed pool and bracket games, The first three innings #1 pitched, the last 2 or 3 innings, the #2 pitched to close out the game. This way the line-up only really faced the same pitcher once and the pitchers didn't get too tired since they only pitched half the game. The caveat here is the #1 and #2 pitchers were both equally competent. The #3 pitcher who was significantly behind the other two, didn't see much circle time.
I have no idea what all this stuff about "not having an adequate warm-up" has to do with a pitcher being off her game. If you pitch on my team, you need to be ready to go whether you've had your normal warm-up for a game you've known that you were going to starting for two weeks or if you haven't warmed up at all and the pitcher in the circle gets hurt and you have to go in for her or if she gets in trouble and there is no time for you to do your usual ritualistic one-hour warm-up.
And no, you aren't warming up for an hour before every stupid pool-play game just in case you might have to pitch. I don't need tired pitchers by the end of the day when the most important games are usually played.
You better be able to pitch after throwing only what the umpire says are the allotted number of pitches you have when you get put into a game.
And no, you aren't warming up for an hour before every stupid pool-play game just in case you might have to pitch. I don't need tired pitchers by the end of the day when the most important games are usually played.
You better be able to pitch after throwing only what the umpire says are the allotted number of pitches you have when you get put into a game.
- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,188
- 48
Walks are ok sometimes and they will happen to even the best pitchers. You need to evaluate the situation and have trust in the process.
Heck, one time in the last inning we were up by two runs with two outs and walked a batter with bases loaded so we didn't have to pitch to the other team's best batter. She was 3 for 3 (all doubles) before we walked her! BTW, the next batter grounded out and we won the tournament. After the game, the other coach even acknowledged that it was the right move in that situation.
