Slap Hitters

[uncdrew]

I am frequently asked if men's fastpitch has slap hitters. I bow my head and just sigh out loud. Yes, we have uniforms and everything!!

The guy who is practically credited with being the godfather of slapping was a man named Chad Corchran. He was originally from California somewhere and was an incredible shortstop. He played near flawless defense, the kind of player who you wondered "How did this guy not make it in MLB??" It goes to show you how good those players in MLB actually are, even on teams like Oakland. There's some guys who I just can't understand how they didn't make it to MLB. It goes to show you that skills in softball don't always translate to baseball, and vice versa.

Anyway, Corky was slapping as far back as the late 1970's, I wasn't even born until 1972. (I'm 51 for all of you doing the math at home!!!). Slapping took off in the '80's and while there's less of it today in the men's FP world, there's less of EVERYTHING in the men's FP world these days. Corky is the type of guy who probably wouldn't take credit for introducing slapping if he did create it. I'm not saying he did invent the artform, I'm just saying he's the guy that most recognize as the first of the kind.

A former opponent and teammate in Seattle named Bill Boyer was the biggest "triple threat" I've ever seen. You had no ide if he'd bunt (lightning fast), slap, or take you out of the yard with the long ball. Boyer is on almost everyone's Mt. Rushmore of all time greats.

Both Corky and Boyer are in nearly every Hall of Fame. And the ones they aren't in, they should be.

I'm so jealous of RAD, where she grew up, the teams, games, and players she'd have got to watch back then. California, particularly SO CAL, was once the country, possibly North America's, hotbed for men's FP softball back in the day. Today there's not a lot left there. The top team that remained in CA eventually merged teams and sponsorship with my old team from New York. Kind of a weird combo for sure but, it's worked as they've won 6 or 7 Nationals (I was on 3 of those teams luckily!) and 3 World championships (I didn't get any of those but finished 2nd place 3 separate times, ugh). Anyway, I bet RAD got to see Corky play there at some point.

When I was in Southern California, OTL (over the line) was huge.

Seemed pretty intense, with some great athletes and big tourneys. Wonder if that's where some of men's FP went...

 

[RADcatcher]

When I was in Southern California, OTL (over the line) was huge.

Seemed pretty intense, with some great athletes and big tourneys. Wonder if that's where some of men's FP went...

Multiple options in softball. Even the smaller ball slow pitch league has a big following. And age brackets like over 50 separate the crowd.

Over the line played at the beach has gathered a following.

 

[Hillhouse]

Bill this can't be true. Men can't slap. Slapping only worked when girls didn't play defense and throw well enough to defend it. Good defense like how they play it in baseball eliminates slapping. Changing the rules in a way that contradicts every other rule in the sport has nothing to do with it.

I wish it wasn't true, it'd have saved me a ton of aggravation when I had to pitch to them. lol

Also, I can assure you, men can play just as sloppy of a defense, and make equally horrible of throws as a team of young ladies learning the game!!!! Bad defense knows no gender!!!! lol. Bad pitching knows no gender. Bad mechanics knows no gender.

 

[Hillhouse]

When I was in Southern California, OTL (over the line) was huge.

Seemed pretty intense, with some great athletes and big tourneys. Wonder if that's where some of men's FP went...

I never heard of OTL

 

[RADcatcher]

https://www.ombac.org/over-the-line/

Check out the official OTL bats in the article.
* premium Wood softball bats

...

I never heard of OTL

Well apparently LOL it's older than both of us...

 

[Rolling Hard]

Multiple options in softball. Even the smaller ball slow pitch league has a big following. And age brackets like over 50 separate the crowd.

Over the line played at the beach has gathered a following.

In Bueno Park California they have a 65 and 75 and older softball leagues. They play on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I stumble across it when checking out fields we were going to be playing on that weekend.
Funny story:
They play with 4 outfielders and the left center fielder made a full on running catch on a ball that was practically hit directly at the left fielder(who hadn't moved an inch).
Some of the players started hollering, "need to check that guys ID."

 

[Agbracing]

Interesting thread to hear everyone’s thoughts on slapping. It seems to me the game has evolved and changed over the years. Several brought up the rule changes that effected slapping and for several years that has had an impact. But I feel with new rule changes the younger players get trained differently to maximize their ability with new rules.
For years now in pitching the riseball has been king for most teams. With the ball up in the zone it made it harder for slappers to get the ball down. Along with better training for defense it made slapping much harder to get a single. This along with baseball influences has changed the game to all about homerun hitters. Defense while important has changed to big hitters get the nod over faster girls as in the past.

Now my prediction in the next several years is that drop ball pitchers are going to become a very hot commodity. It’s harder to hit homeruns against a great down ball vs a rise ball. So to combat the homerun hitter some teams will go back to the speed never slumps mindset. In football for example the sport has changed many times over the years from triple option to air raid type offense. The games are always changing and the old normally always comes back.