The Fastpitch Chronicle

Uh, Oh, Don’t Let the Rain Come Down!

 

Hello Fastpitch Enthusiasts,

 

It’s a Sunday morning and I have been busy manufacturing items all morning. The items I am manufacturing are all headed for Kaukauna High School and the Kaukauna softball programs in general (both high school and summer teams). They’ve been waiting for more than a year for me to come through for them. Jim Jellish got it all started by obtaining one of the items a number of years back. He discovered that the item is a great time saver, great teaching and coaching tool and Kaukauna just wants more of them. I will elaborate more about the item later in this bulletin. Kaukauna is getting a lot of them.

 

 

Once again it’s Sunday and that means by midnight tonight I will have to post the latest statewide Fastpitch Chronicle Softball Rankings. Many of the rankers are still waiting to see games, to see teams play while others have had opportunities to see “Watch List” teams in action. Former coaches, current coaches, umpires, media personnel and others have been chiming in with text messages, e-mails and phone calls. Many of the Fastpitch Chronicle rankers are still feeling a bit uncomfortable actually doing a by-the-number rankings but have offered some great insight into what is happening out there.  

 

Here’s an example of what has to be noted. Mineral Point, the reigning WIAA Division 3 State Champion, according to wissports.net dropped a game to Iowa Grant on April 8^th. Yesterday the Pointers played a twinbill at McFarland where they won 2-1 in 11 innings and collected 10 hits (4x5 game for Beth Wood at the plate) and then lost the second game 10-1. However, Beth Wood did not pitch the second game for Mineral Point but neither did the same two pitch for McFarland (all this from the State Journal line scores). In game one, Beth Wood fanned three Spartan batters.

 

Rankings objectively as possible means rankers must do some research and not simply look at wissports.net for a team’s record or at game scores. Most coaches do not submit game summaries on wissports.net or to me here. Too many of them still, in this day and age, like to try to hide from the coaches who know how to gain the information they need about your team anyway. That’s another issue for a separate Bulletin though (and it will be soon).

 

It looks like the week may start out wet around the state. Here’s hoping your infields can absorb some moisture or did last night in this part of the state. I hustled down to our fields at 7:00 am this morning and what I discovered gave me a warm fuzzy feeling all over. We could have been playing on all of our fields at that time. They had no standing water on them and were solid all the way around.

 

If there are teams looking to get some games in somewhere, you can use our fields this week as we do not have a home game the entire time. We’re on the road Monday and Tuesday and off the rest of the week. We do not have lights (yet) however.

 

That’s about it for now.

 

Errr, wait, I said I’d tell you about the coaching item that I am shipping to Kaukauna tomorrow.

 

I call it Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo.

 

First of all you should know what fungo is or what it means. Many do but in the past couple of years I’ve learned that most young coaches and players have no idea there is such a word.

 

Here is a link that will offer some thoughts from where the word fungo originated.

 

http://www.bostonbaseball.com/whitesox/baseball_extras/fungo.html

 

So now that you have a better understanding of what fungo is you can better understand what Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo is.

 

Many of you have seen and many own a product known as Accubat. I own three of them. I never use them and I never have my assistants use them. Instead we all use Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo – a racket looking device that beats the heck out of having to hit fly balls, ground balls, pop ups, liners etc. with a “fungo bat” or any bat for that matter. All that bending over to pick up a ball, toss it into the air, swing at it, hit it and hit it where you want it to go is time consuming and energy demanding.

Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo is a racket that I’ve been improving over the years and have finally gotten the best model developed (to date and that’s why Kaukauna has waited a year). A new and improved handle offers a better grip. A new and improved trampoline system within the framework of the racket means fewer times it needs to be attended to. If you’ve been to a game that Poynette plays in anywhere you’ve seen the racket in use. With it, an experienced operator can increase the number of repetitions that your players get during a practice session. Personally, while working with a group of outfielders I can keep six to 10 outfielders moving at the same time and all are getting fly balls, liners, bounces, rollers etc. hit to them. If you want your players to work on catching balls on the dead run, after just a little bit of practice your practices will become more efficient and so will your players.

 

I will be doing a YouTube video soon that you can watch. Or better yet, come to a Poynette practice or have me come to yours and I’ll put your players, all of them by position through a workout that will keep them all moving and working on great stuff.

 

The item is like an assistant coach but requires no salary. I’ve had several male team managers that actually became my outfield coach. After learning how to use the racket they learned the drills and techniques and just took over.

 

For a look at Tomlinson’s Ultimate Fungo (Racket), go to the home page of this website and look at the pictures that scroll through therein.

 

Have a great day!

Keep it Rising!

Bob