What do you call it?

[bobbyb]

I see that you fathers out there are worried about the "smiles" and the "feel good" stuff. The game is about competing and winning not getting those unforgettable smiles. Forget stats like 21 strikeouts unless it is against a team that is of high quality relative to your daughter's level of achievement. True top level players and coaches get this concept. The ones who believe in trophies for everybody don't.

This is almost laughable!

Of course us booby dads/moms are concerned with our daughters ENJOYING the game and having success. To jump from the context here.... to the context of "trophies for everyone" is laughable.

I suppose if we play B level ball and go to a tournament where the other teams aren't up to snuff with us....when they get that little ribbon or trophy...we should tell our dd's to...lower their head and walk away with a frown because it didn't REALLY mean anything....because TOP LEVEL PLAYERS AND COACHES ...know your competition was bad.

If true top level players and coaches would take the joy out of a kid for accomplishing that...regardless of the situation that kid was in. I surely wouldn't want to be a TOP LEVEL coach.

What do you do when your team comes in second? CRY? Our girls take it harder than they should imo.

 

[Sweet Lou]

If you are playing a team and you are striking out 21 batters and the team is lousy, what sort of accomplishment is that? When Angela Tincher no-hit the USA team, now that was an accomplishment. It depends on the quality of the competition whether you leave the pitcher in to achieve a personal record.

Depends. Remember these are kids we are talking about and 20 years from now when her daughter starts playing softball she'll be able to tell her about the time mommy struck out all 21 batters she faced. It won't really matter then what the competition was.

I agree if a pitcher is just destroying inferior competition it may not be a big achievment for the pitcher and it is just demoralizing to the other team. But we really don't know the relative skill levels from the intial post. Who knows maybe the game was 2-0.

At any rate 21 Ks and no batters reaching is still pretty impressive.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

At any rate 21 Ks and no batters reaching is still pretty impressive.

You better believe it. At some point the other coach is just going to tell his batters to start looking for the walk, or a batter is going to get HBP.

Cudos to the catcher, too, for hanging on to all of those strike outs.

 

[CoachFP]

Come on guys. 21 strikeouts against an inferior team is nothing to crow about. Bobbyb why would you play in a B tournament anyway if you had a higher level team? If you did win it, you were supposed to so I wouldn't want the ribbons or trophies anyway. Sweet Lou, man you are taking this to a new level. Little Sally bragging about mommy's 21 strikeouts 20 years from now? You got to get better material than that. The fact remains that people who are really committed and successful in this game don't get caught up in this petty kind of stuff. They play to win and not get dubious awards and records.

 

[2bucketdad]

Even at 10U they know if they are playing a bunch of tomato cans, especially the most competitive kids...I saw a middle school game this year where the home team scored like 14 runs r more in the top of 1 and then the pitcher got 3 K's in the bottom of one and came in the dugout and told the coach he could probably let someone else pitch...

 

[Sweet Lou]

Come on guys. 21 strikeouts against an inferior team is nothing to crow about. Bobbyb why would you play in a B tournament anyway if you had a higher level team? If you did win it, you were supposed to so I wouldn't want the ribbons or trophies anyway. Sweet Lou, man you are taking this to a new level. Little Sally bragging about mommy's 21 strikeouts 20 years from now? You got to get better material than that. The fact remains that people who are really committed and successful in this game don't get caught up in this petty kind of stuff. They play to win and not get dubious awards and records.

Not everyone plays softball to try and make the USA Olympic team (assuming softball gets added back to the olympics at some point).

The girl probably was at the wrong level but maybe it wasn't her fault. Possibly the team she was playing had a coach trying to play up and that just wasn't ready. That's not her fault.

Now if this was a top A team going to a B tournment trophy hunting, sure it's not as impressive. Everything is relative.

 

[SoftSocDad]

The fact remains that people who are really committed and successful in this game don't get caught up in this petty kind of stuff. They play to win and not get dubious awards and records.

Again, 'the game' is different things to different people. Other people get to decide what it means to them, just as you do. You may have a tremendous knowledge of fastpitch softball, but you have no clue what - if anything - her performance meant to that girl. Your passion for softball is admirable, but if this is such petty stuff, one might wonder why you have multiple posts in this thread.

Maybe that sounds like a personal attack, but it's my opinion that you're attempting to denigrate those readers who either disagree with you or who merely do not share your absolutist philosophies on sporting competition. You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but it's my opinion that you seem like an internet bully.

Edit: maybe it's not nice of me to lecture other adults here, so I'll apologize to the forum for getting caught up in this 'petty stuff' and will bow out of this thread

 

[CoachFP]

I guess calling me a bully is ok and not rude at all. Not sure who I am "bullying" nor who I have denigrated. It seems like people only want to hear things said by people who agree with them. When they don't hear that, they resort to calling them names. Like, let's say "bully". All I did was counter the discussion of how great 21 strikeouts was in a game that was meaningless. So SoftSocDad you should be apologizing to me instead of others who read this thread.

 

[Axe]

One person's "meaningless" game is another's prized memory. Because my daughters play Rec ball most people on this board would say that none of them should ever care whether they win or lose and if god forbid they win a trophy it should be thrown in the trash or they should feel bad for trying to win even though they aren't competing "at the highest level"

 

[CoachFP]

Wrong Axe. Rec ball vs rec ball is good. B ball vs B ball is good. And so on. Playing down and whipping up teams and then bragging about it is for insecure people.