Hmmm, egregious is a strong word. Those pitchers in the Olympics were not getting called for crow hopping and neither will anyone else pitching in a similar fashion. Egregious crow hopping is what Men's Fastpitch does. Those pitchers shown in the Olympics are literally the Gold standard of what the current pitching rules will allow.
Well, here it is...
- Thread starter LEsoftballdad
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As for the question "Will leaping help pitchers" Of course it will. I doubt it will affect the velocity much but it will mess with timing. "Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing" You have added more Variables for the pitchers to control. An added bonus each pitcher's style will have a greater difference from each others which will mess with the timing. Different body types are going to be leaping differently. It was the change in timing (from what was normally seen) that helped Kelly Barnhill's effectiveness.
Less and less with the changes to the slapper rules, and yes as the parent of a slapper I am biased but hate to see them taking something unique to softball out of the game.
I agree the rule wasn't being enforced uniformly and it drove me crazy when an ump would decide he/she was going to call that to the letter of the rule while ignoring other rules that are often broken like runners leaving early. By this logic they should have not just rolled back the slapper out of the box rule to the entire foot being out but just eliminated the rule completely as it is also not enforced uniformly.
- Jun 8, 2016
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How long have composite bats been around?? 10-15 years? The reason things are changing more now is
a) hitters are getting better and better and
b) coaches are figuring out (with a boost from Patty) that extra base hits are more effective at scoring more runs…
That said, there is still a time and place for small ball…you just don’t want to build your team full of one-dimensional slappers..
Agree which is all the more reason it seems strange the committee felt a need to alter the rules to reign in small ball
Agree with this also, I view small ball players as complimentary pieces to an offense especially at the highest level.
What I do think is small ball is a way for mid majors or P5 schools without significant tradition of success to compete as power hitters tend to do be more highly recruited and therefore often not available to these types of schools. A good example is in your home state of Massachusetts. Boston University was 52-10 last year with wins against USF, Georgia Tech, Penn St. X 2, Baylor, BC while featuring 3-4 slappers in the lineup every game.
- Jun 8, 2016
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No problem with any of this. I actually applied to BU but there was a rumor (that proved true) that they were going to cut baseball so I didn’t end up considering them.
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How long have composite bats been around?? 10-15 years? The reason things are changing more now is
a) hitters are getting better and better and
b) coaches are figuring out (with a boost from Patty) that extra base hits are more effective at scoring more runs…
That said, there is still a time and place for small ball…you just don’t want to build your team full of one-dimensional slappers..
I also think as we are seeing better athletes playing the game so more hitters are able to play small ball with their speed and still hit for power.
I did my MBA there and my DS is going into his senior year so I feel comfortable saying the athletic facilities, other than for hockey, are pretty bad, making it all the more impressive what the softball team has accomplished over the last 5-7 years.
Some of the facilities we've seen over the last two years have been gorgeous. Others, not so much.
It's really shocking, the differential in facilities at the mid major D1 level even amongst teams within the same conference. Including some of the schools with HUGE endowments.
