Weather permitting, optic yellow softballs will be popping into catcher's mitts and gettting pounded off high tech bats on Tuesday. The second round of D-2,3 and 4 regionals, for the most part, pits the #1 seeds against the #4s or 5s while the #2 seeds play the #3s and sometimes the #6. That second level tends to produced some lopsided scores as the top seeds work their way to the regional final on Thursday.
Many readers have e-mailed to me with thoughts about why there are so many or what seems like so many more home runs this year than in previous seasons.
I have never kept track of the number of home runs hit in the state throughout the season and trying to do that would be a monumental task as it's darn tough to get most coaches and I mean most to report scores to anything other than their local newspaper. Asking them to report any and all home runs in their games would be an unachievable goal. It just will never happen.
I do know this however. If we were able to get those kinds of numbers from years gone by there is no doubt that we'd find a marked increase in automatic home runs due to 1) more and more facilities with outfield fences set at 185-225 feet and 2) more than #1 the pitcher's plate got moved back to 43 feet. Number two has had a profound effect on the number of hard hit balls in games compared to years gone by.
There are pitchers, of course, who still strike out a lot of batters. The power pitchers are still there coming in at 58-59 and 60+ mph. Most of them can make it move up or down and have worked hard on changing speeds. The good ones have at least two good pitches and many a third. Few have more than three. They may think they have four, five or six pitches but in reality they don't. A few can make it break sideways (often called a curve ball) and a few can make it go up pretty sharply (commonly referred to as a rise ball or raise). All can make it drop if they keep it low enough because all pitches will drop sooner or later. The good ones can make it drop sooner and sharper and that's what makes them more successful than the late droppers (those pitchers tend to see their drop balls drop over the fences). Then there is the change of pace (commonly called a change or change up). This I know about a change up, a good one will get you out of trouble and keep you out of trouble while a poor one will get you a stiff neck as you watch the ball sail over the fences too often.
On a day when a kid with a nice drop ball gets and umpire with a low strike zone, she can beat just about anybody. On a day where an umpire doesn't give that low strike, she might have to get some early relief (if there is any to be found).
I know this as well. Pitch counts mean something many times. Hang around and force lots of pitches and you can give yourself a better chance of beating a good chucker. Get taken down early in counts and pitch counts become meaningless.
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I've posted a couple of pages for the teams that play in the Capitol Area Summer and Fall Fastpitch Leagues to check out. They can be found on the top line of this website. Teams planning on being part of the summer leagues should contact me immediately. Teams that have leaders who are forward minded can even contact me about the fall league (begins on September 9th).
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob
Tag(s): Bulletins
