Let er' Rip!
Hello fastpitch softball fans. Tuesday will be a special day in Cedarburg where the school and community will honor former softball coach and WFSCA Hall of Fame member Rod Wilterdink by naming their new softball facility after him.
Rod was a fixture in the state of Wisconsin throughout his fastpitch coaching career and remains so to this day. Inducted into the WFSCA Hall of Fame with the second class of inductees in 2010 Rod won more than 350 games. When we take a look at when he won all those games we learn that they occurred back in the early days of the sport within the WIAA when we were limited to just 12, yes just 12 regular season games. It took some years before the WIAA bumped it to 14 and more years to get to 16. Rod retired when it was still at 16 or 18 games as opposed to the 26 game regular season limit now. Imagine where his totals would be if the limits were not so small back then. Rod won nine conference championship, won nine sectionals thus advancing to the Elite 8 (State Division 1 Tournament) and made three Final Four appearances. He was also a hard-working Coaches Association Board of Director member for quite a few years. Congratulations to Rod Wilterdink.
Tonight, I posted the five team previews I received today. That makes 10 so far out of 420+ or 2 percent of the programs in the state that have submitted previews. The games start tomorrow so pre-season is over but we will post any and all other previews we get. We can call them "A Look at __Youor Team Here____________".
Today I had a question from a head coach in the state wondering if there is a list of the top players in the state of Wisconsin. My answer was no but that is exactly what I'm trying to offer or create by inviting coaches in the state to submit team profiles where they mention their top players. My experience throughout 33 years of publishing fastpitch news is that responses such as receiving team updates or profiles or selling subscriptions to the old newspaper form of The Fastpitch Chronicle is, at best about 10%. That's it -- 10%.
The deadline for nominating seniors for the All Star series is May 21st. Coaches should be thinking about that early on so as not to experience issues at the last minute with the nomination process. While you are at it make sure you are a WFSCA member as well. I urge all coaches to join the organization. In order for players to receive any WFSCA recognition their head coach must be a member and there is a hard deadline to get on board the organization membership list. Don't delay, get it done.
I am banking on the weather holding out on Tuesday and someplace where a high school fastpitch game hears the umpire yell, "Play Ball" I will be there.
Have a great day and as always,
Keep it Rising!
Bob
