The Fastpitch Chronicle

Here is the first Fastpitch Bulletin in Year 15. So it's Volume 15, Number 1.

I'm sure there are many of you that are counting down the days to the first "official" day of softball practice in March. 

The WFSCA Coaching Clinic is coming up on Saturday and Sunday at Chula Vista just north of Wisconsin Dells so be sure to check that out on that website if you are a coach. There are some good presenters on tap this year.

Bill Hillhouse is a personal friend of mine. I can well remember the day that Bill burst upon the International Softball Congress Men's World Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was 1992 at the Cottonwood Complex. He impressed everyone that attended that event. Over the years he made a name for himself not only as a pitcher but as an international ambassador and actually was an international director for the International Softball Congress. He now is a renowned pitching instructor and international speaker and presenter at clinics such as the one coming up in at Chula Vista just north of Wisconsin Dells.

John Tschida and I go back to men's fastpitch days prior to him also becoming a renowned collegiate coach and clinic presenter. He has been one of the featured clinicians for the WFSCA prior to this year.

I will be at the clinic this year. As of today I have no conflicts in my role as grandfather (transported my grandson to a hockey tournament in Hayward on the weekend of last year's clinic). 

I read with interest the items included in the email that went out to the coaches statewide. I found a couple of those articles very interesting. 

One issue written about was that of picking signals.

I'll be writing about that one in a future bulletin.

Up in Pepin the Eagles (Pepin/Alma Coop) will showcase new "in-ground" dugouts this season. Matt and his crew up there have been working diligently to get them finished. They will include reserved seating above the dugouts (ala The University of Iowa diamond). Of course fans also sit above the dugouts at Goodman Diamond in Madison. I think Matt was inspired by the "in ground" dugouts at Diamond of Champions in Poynette, which in the past two years have been renovated as well. 

In 2015 Poynette will also "break in" the new covered bench areas on the Junior Varsity field. That project was completed around December 1. It is the result of an Eagle Scout project by a Poynette High School Boy Scout in conjunction with the Poynette Fastpitch Organization.

I found the survey conducted by the WIAA surrounding seeding regionals vs half sectionals to be interesting. The results are really interesting. As I looked at the brackets on the governing body's website recently is was easy to note that only one half sectional in all of Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4 voted to see the half sectional. That one is in Division 3 in the Boscobel Sectional where the teams that funnel into the sectional semi-final in Poynette will be seeded one through 13. Those schools are: Belleville, Brodhead, Cambridge, Deerfield, Lakeside Lutheran, Marshall, New Glarus, Palmyra-Eagle, Pardeeville, Parkview, Poynette, Waterloo, and Wisconsin Heights.

For me it would be interesting to see the numbered results of all the voting by school in Divisions 2, 3 and 4.

What does seeding a half sectional do that differs from two regionals? Several things of course. 1) It should insure that the top two teams in the half sectional don't meet in a regional final with one being eliminated by the other prior to the sectional semi-final 2) probably creates some extra travel distance for lower seeded teams if they are pitted against a higher seed that would have been in a different regional than they are 3) could reduce the amount of "conference loyalty" in seeding proceedings (an issue that I hear takes place every year in every sport that seeding is used) 4) cause teams to step out farther when scheduling non-conference games whereby they can play teams from what would have been the other side of the sectional bracket at the regional level, thus creating more head-to-head comparisons 

There are more I'm sure.

I know how the school I coach at voted. I have no clue how any other schools voted on this issue. 

On March 28th Poynette has agreed to host an event which includes at least two teams from the north - if your teams is interested in joining up just contact me. You could get one, two or three games that day.

EZ-Slider/Big Stick Sports is offering coaches and players some great deals on great equipment. Take a look at that website at www.ezslider.com. Another item soon to be listed on the site is the Ultimate Fungo now used by many coaches throughout Wisconsin and the midwest. The Utlimate Fungo brings an entirely different aspect to softball and baseball pracitces. Look for a video on Youtube soon to see some of the things that can be done with the UItimate Fungo.

The Fastpitch Chronicle will continue to rank high school softball teams in Wisconsin. Look for the Pre-Season rankings to be posted mid-week.

Coaches across the state will be receiving a communication from the office in an attempt to put together some pre-season outlooks. 

That's it for Volume 15, Number 1

Keep it Rising!

Bob