Ugliest Power 5 DI Softball in Years!?

[black17]

Congrats on having an unbiased view of the situation.

But its an "educated opinion".

 

[_MIA_]

But its an "educated opinion".

I am fine with them keeping everything the same tbh..I just like arguing

If I was going to be biased, my 11 YO kid is 5'3" and 90 lbs and will likely always be on the thin side, so I say move them in so she can get a few homers in her career

 

[Rolling Hard]

"That article was written in 2001."
The softball world moves very slowly.

 

[John 800]

You guys probably need to watch something other than top of the top P5 softball. Outside of that talent concentrated view, girls with 10 season HRs isn't common at all even with the harder NCAA ball.

And as a Dad that sees the fast girls barely make contact and still bat .600, while my DD is a classic, stand in the box hitter that will never beat out a hard hit infield grounder, 220 which is the norm most places, is far enough. Running fast is a natural skill. Hitting balls far in the air off of someone trying to make you miss is not. I'd rather see HRs, then bloop 'duck farts' over the second baseman for a triple.

I am not very familiar with ncaa softball but One thing that crossed my mind is the home run numbers are lopsided for a few teams. To me that seems like a parity in recruiting issue, not a dimension of the park issue. We saw numbers on wcws home runs, does anyone have numbers on d2 or d1 leauge wide? Forgive me if i missed it

 

[_MIA_]

I am not very familiar with ncaa softball but One thing that crossed my mind is the home run numbers are lopsided for a few teams. To me that seems like a parity in recruiting issue, not a dimension of the park issue. We saw numbers on wcws home runs, does anyone have numbers on d2 or d1 leauge wide? Forgive me if i missed it

See chart on last page of below pdf for HR per game in D1 since 1982 (through last year). Looks fairly constant for the last 10 years or so.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/SB_Records/2021/D1.pdf

 

[schwabach]

The WCWS will be interesting. I rather doubt that Oklahoma will look so hot if they encounter an top SEC pitcher having a decent outing.

 

[_MIA_]

The WCWS will be interesting. I rather doubt that Oklahoma will look so hot if they encounter an top SEC pitcher having a decent outing.

They won't be scoring 10 runs a game for sure..I still think they will fare better than any other team (hitting wise) against said pitcher. The question mark for them will be their pitching...

 

[kibadbo]

What's next? Purists might quiver, but Candrea suggests another tweak.

"We need to move the fences back," he said.

Currently, NCAA guidelines mandate fences be 190-225 feet from home plate. The average distance is about 200 feet.

"I think you can afford to move the fences to 220 down the lines and 240 in center," Candrea said. "Then, you bring in the gaps and the triple. You bring in more emphasis on outfielders that are very capable.

"That might be something in the future."


That article was written in 2001.

I don't know if I'm missing something, but this seems like a no-brainer to me. I've seen several 12 year olds go yard on 210ft fences. I watched a HS game where one team hit 5 at 220ft down the lines. Yet the best players in the game play with similar distances? It doesn't feel special to see homers at the collegiate level.

 

[Orange Socks]

I am not very familiar with ncaa softball but One thing that crossed my mind is the home run numbers are lopsided for a few teams. To me that seems like a parity in recruiting issue, not a dimension of the park issue. We saw numbers on wcws home runs, does anyone have numbers on d2 or d1 leauge wide? Forgive me if i missed it

For some reason I can get the D1 HR for teams.

Here is a link for D2 HR's by team.
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/softball/d2/current/team/1228
Link for D3 Team HR's
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/softball/d3/current/team/1228
George Fox wow! I was surprised that they didn't get an At large bid for the Regionals.

 

[black17]

I don't know if I'm missing something, but this seems like a no-brainer to me. I've seen several 12 year olds go yard on 210ft fences. I watched a HS game where one team hit 5 at 220ft down the lines. Yet the best players in the game play with similar distances? It doesn't feel special to see homers at the collegiate level.

My DD plays D1 signees every single game in travel. Our main fields are 250 to CF, 235 on the lines. I assure you, the number of home runs actually goes up! The only thing that changes is who hits them.

Home Runs aside, it is how larger gaps affect the rest of the game that I would worry about most. While it seems people think its easy to hit home runs, getting a hit in general isn't. Small gaps and quick play are what make the game great and stay watchable. The fast kids have their style of play. The power hitters have their style. Bigger outfields would really just take from the power hitters and give it to the speedy kids. A double to an average speed kid is still a double on a huge field. While the same double on a 200 ft field for a speedy kid is an inside the park HR now at 250.

Again, a biased opinion here but it does suck to face Keegan Rothrock or similar type pitchers and get 2 or 3 over the fence HRs in a tourney, then turn around and play a regional tourney on a huge field and the speedy leadoff slapper gets 6 HRs in a sinlge weekend simply because she blooped a hit over second base consistently. (And no, my DD hasn't hit an HR off of Keegan. But that doesn't mean we aint tryin.)