School coach doesn't understand the game

[radness]

Maybe she has a 'win this inning' style to build competitiveness.

Nice suggestion!

With so many runs being scored earlier, what changes did coach make to strategize better say by 3or4th innings?

Thats a big score gap!

 

[GoGamecocks]

Coach might be bad, might not, but (1) giving up 14 runs is rarely just an issue of pitch-calling, and even if the OP is correct, he's also biased; he wants his catcher to call the pitches; so I can't judge that (2) talking baseball is fine, depends on the context; I once had a player who loved the Braves far more than college or pro softball, and I liked talking baseball w/ her; (3) stealing bases while down 9 runs in the bottom of the 7th, while not the best move if you're trying to win, might still be the best use of time if it's being used to assess/develop your talent. So who knows. Need more data.

I don't care whether my daughter calls the pitches or not. In fact, I assumed she DIDN'T call them and only recently learned that she had any input in the pitch-calling at all. If she started calling pitches in this game when she said she did, the shellacking did abate quite a bit after that. We were playing a very good team, and our pitcher just sent too many pitches right down Broadway. Five of those 14 runs were on HRs. The team is very good defensively, but they got rattled and started making errors. I didn't keep the book, but I'd guess 3 or 4 of the runs were unearned.

And I should point out that more than half the girls who answered "Who's your favorite baseball player" answered Dansby Swanson. I asked my daughter about this after the Zoom call, and she said "He's hot." Okay - there you go. I guess if that's your standard, my favorite softball player is Jenny Finch.

And while I appreciate your willingness to give the coach the benefit of the doubt, I would suggest to you that ending a game with two runners on base with a caught-stealing out is going to have a huge impact on team morale. I'm calling it a bad coaching decision. If the coach was assessing or developing talent with the steal attempt, it was still a horrible coaching decision to do it at that point in the ball game. You've got cheering in the dugout. You've got cheering in the stands, and after that out everyone went quiet.

By the way, I completely forgot this little nugget. At our first scrimmage, the coach took our starting pitcher out and desperately needed to put her back in the game. And that's how we learned she didn't know the substitution rules or how the DP/Flex worked.

 

[Nimrod]

I guess if that's your standard, my favorite softball player is Jenny Finch.

Mine is Jessica Mendoza, but Finch is an excellent choice by any standard.

I'm not saying you're wrong. In fact, chances are you're right. I didn't care for my DD's high school coach, either. I'm only saying that nothing you said proved it to me. There might be a good explanation for all of it. Or there might not.

 

[thecat]

A few things stand out. Yes stealing was a dumb move. No justification except maybe she wanted a bullet to the head. I always want to try and win.

If the pitchers gave up 5 long balls the team was out classed. Every team is loaded until to play "that team". I doubt the coach called anything down the middle

What happened to your team's bats? You didn't have any answers for their runs

No comment on the scrimmage game they're dumb to begin with

 

[Orange Socks]

With HS ball it is typically The Haves vs The Have Nots. My DD's team was a Have Not. We typically lose good players to school's across the freeway where they have more resources within the same district. But I see this across the many school districts across the state. My DD had 3 different HS school in 4 years, and it was horrible at best. When I hear parents start complaining about what the coach is doing or not doing, I tell them that this is coach's team and they are doing the best they can with what they have. There were games where a certain good player was not starting, I found out much later that she was having academic troubles. We were all wondering why isn't she starting! Our best year we were .500 and were one game away from making the playoffs. Of Course, a coaching error prevented us from winning that game. We won some games that we should not have lost, and lost games that we should have won.

If you don't have a lock down pitcher, it makes for a long year. When I hear that a team bangs out 5 HR's in a game, then kudos to that team. Sounds like they can rake. If your pitchers give up that many HR's, that is not a result of bad pitch calling. That is just great hitting. Most of the time they are not hitting there spots anyway.

Use HS softball as a way to get reps to prepare for TB season. I found out last week that my DD admitted that she got kicked out of practice because my DD was complaining about the Asst coach lack of skills to hit OF. She yelled out This is a waste of time, What am I even doing here! Not her best moment. She was pretty an asst coach for the JV team to help develop their skills, which helped in developing some leadership skills.

 

[Eric F]

Okay...so you have a coach who is new to the game and has some things to learn. Deal with it. Better yet, find a way to help her improve her knowledge. Were there other well-experienced coaching candidates that were passed over? In my limited observation, there generally isn't a long line of people hungry to get paid almost nothing to coach HS softball. Do the players like the HC?

 

[625ender]

Dansby is hot 9 out of 10 high school girls will agree. You've got to move past that. Seriously. That has 0.00 to do with the problem.

You have systemic issues now and I promise it will continue if yall don't get your minds right. All of the parents talking is a vibe killer. This team will continue a downward spiral unless something happens today! Not tomorrow

 

[_MIA_]

I started on my Varsity baseball team for 3 years. Almost 30 years later, I remember almost zero from that time (other than taking a groundball to the mouth in a playoff game, staying in the game and then having to get stitches after the game..I played with gauze in my mouth the rest of the game LOL)...just saying While it may not seem like it now for her (or you perhaps), it isn't that important in the big picture. Stay positive, tell her to have fun..she is playing a game.

 

[erniekru]

Bummer, pack it in... Season's over. All we can do it bitch about it! Totally kidding!

Anyway, morale is up to the team to maintain, it was down because they were in the middle of a good old fashioned beatdown. No big deal. But the team will have to learn how to get some grit, that is not the coaches fault. Don't get down 9 runs then you won't have to sweat getting picked off.

Remind your kid to stay positive, remind her to keep her teammates positive (especially at catcher) and work through the adversity of a coach who's made some mistakes. The result (win or loss) is earned by the team.

It's early in your season and its HS ball, life's good! out here in CA, our team is still not playing. We've only practiced 3 times since Mar!

 

[radness]

Pitch calling and/or noticing pitchers control on any given day if not working adjustment needs to be made. Should be recognizable certainly by 3rd inning.
If your not changing the pitcher...deffinetly need to change sequence of whats being called, locations, speeds.

At that age group all can see somethi g needs to happen.
Bad sign to not do so.
Learning Curve!

To what orange socks commented doing the best they can...AND another commented you get what you get in h.s.
Think this is where a coach opens thier mind to include the talents on the team as assets to communicate with. Use resources.

Learning the players includes knowing their college goals.
Learning there travel levels and years previous they bring to their h.s. program.
Learning by asking the pitchers and catchers feedback.
Learning is growing.
To know the players to make better coaching decisions.

Some coaches run the game in their head, not the game on the field.