The Fastpitch Chronicle

Let er' Rip!

Hello Fastpitch enthusiasts!

The dust has settled after the final game of the 38th Annual WIAA State Tournament.

Wait a second! There was no dust to settle.

That's correct. Dust is impossible when the dirt on the infield isn't really dirt!

That's right the infield dirt is not dirt at all. It's synthetic dirt!

The playing surfaces at Goodman Diamond have changed since last year's WIAA state tournament. After the tournament the outfield was completely torn up, a drainage tile system was installed and the infield dirt was replaced with -- yes, Synthetic Dirt. The new Irwin and Robert Goodman Diamond also has the same synthetic dirt in it for the Badgers to practice on and perhaps beginning next year, the teams about to play games will take their pre-game infield practice in that indoor facility instead of on the old baseball infield beyond the leftfield fence. Oh yah, for those young people reading this. Goodman Diamond sits upon the same piece of real estate as the Wisconsin Badger baseball field did before Pat Richter dropped the Badger baseball program a couple of decades ago. Yes, at one time Wisconsin did have a baseball team. As a matter of fact the early days of Wisconsin softball and prior to Goodman Diamond being built, that practice infield was the actual infield for the softball team.

I arrived on Thursday morning, entered the stadium under the Press Box and noticed that things had changed in the infield. It was a different color and it appeared to have a glaze on top of it.

It had rained the day before and that moisture was sort of "wicking away" as the first game got underway. The color slowly changed and I noticed right away that the infield played harder and faster than I had ever seen it.

I didn't get a chance to attend any Badger home games this spring so I was not aware of the change but I noticed it in the first well-hit ground ball. I even commented to a couple of friends that it seemed to be playing like artificial turf.

I inquired and learned that it was "artificial dirt." My question was, "From what is artificial dirt derived?" There were no answers until Nor Durst from the Wisconsin Sports Network did some online research on his laptop on Friday night. We learned that is actually called Synthetic Dirt and that there might be a plant that manufactures the stuff in Mosinee, Wisconsin. Of course, I started wondering if it is then a by-product of the paper industry.

Hard-hit balls were hard to handle for some infielders. They got "eaten up" by some of them and some of those misses resulted in errors, costly errors. Germantown lost a heartbreaker on a hard-hit ball that was pretty hot. There were quite a few high choppers. It was somewhat difficult to slow down a bunt as those seemed to roll faster and die slower than "real dirt."

Calling the old surface "real dirt" was not exactly correct either though. That surface had a "Magic Mix" feel and look to it and looked like Soil Master.

In the Division 4 semi-final between New Lisbon and Wausau Newman, both pitchers were clicking along at 57-58 mph with some 59 mph slants from New Lisbon's Michaela Vinz. That does not happen very often in the D-4 games. The Newman pitcher was Brianna Jankowski.

The long-time baseball and softball axiom of "walks and errors" kill was certainly driven home at Goodman Diamond. The first five and maybe even first six leadoff walks in the tournament scored. In one game the leadoff batter of the game was issued a free pass and so were the next two batters. The fourth batter hit a single to right that got through the outfielder and all three runs scored. Later the same team walked another leadoff batter and she wound up scoring. In one of the championship game, what seemed like a sure 1-0 victory turned into disaster when a two-out walk was issued, followed by a flair out over the head of the second sacker allowing the kid who drew the free pass to go to third. A stolen base on a 0-1 pitch moved the count to 0-2 and it didn't look good for the team at bat. On the next pitch the kid who walked scored when the #8 batter "tomahawked" a high-hard one (62 mph) into rigthcenter field, knotting the score but when the kid who hit the flair touched home, the "what appeared to be a victory" turned into defeat. That was not the only no-ball, two-strike or one-ball and two strike pitch that caused tears to be shed in the end, however. There were others.

Throwing balls to the wrong bases and allowing trail runners to go the next station was also a common occurrence in the tournament. Failing to use cutoff people by throwing over top of them. Or trying to cut down lead runners who were going to easily beat even a ball shot out of a cannon resulted in many runners moving up and then scoring on a wild pitch, bloop single, sacrifice fly or by other means. Perhaps we noticed so much of that due to the fact that teams just didn't get much practice time this season. Those aspects of the game could have been covered once the tournament series began, however as there is plenty of days of practice once that started.

There were quite a few plays that involved obstruction too. In each case the fellas in blue shirts or jackets got it correct. There was one situation where a girl rounded second base quite a ways and it resulted in a throw from the first sacker in attempt to pick her off going back to the bag. The runner had enough time but could get all the way to the bag because the second sacker had her right leg and foot in the way. The runner's foot stopped up against the fielder's foot, the ball was caught and a tag placed on the runner. It was clearly obstruction and they got it correct.

A nicely bunted ball rolled into a bat that was right out in front of home plate but the plate umpire didn't see the second contact because the catcher was "cat quick" and on that ball and in the ump's line of vision. The fella at third base saw it though and made the correct call by calling that batter out.

A ball hit back to the pitcher on a game's first pitch was botched by the home team's pitcher and allowed a runner to be safe. In the end that play reminded one of the C.C. Sabathia play where an official ruled was obviously and error a base hit. CC thus was credited with a one-hitter instead of a no-hitter. That same fate befell Sarah Fonk in the game vs Menomonee Falls. That was the only hit she allowed.

Westosha Central's freshman phenom, Kayla Konwent was, well she was just what I said about her after the Poynette Jamboree and kept typing about her -- a player I'd not pitch to in tight games and tight situation. As a matter of fact, I would intentionally walk her whenever the situation called for it. Actually I did exactly that when my team played them in the Jamboree. I have a hunch some other teams might be thinking that practicing issuing intentional walks might be something they've added to their "Be sure we work on this next season" list. I'd intentionally walk her with the bases loaded if I thought we stood a better chance of driving in more than one run if pitched to. Those that follow us, know that's true as does the shortstop from Watertown Luther Prep who got intentionally walked with the bases loaded early this season. Instead of a three run lead we wound up with a two run lead and retired the next batter for the third out of the inning.

There were so interesting plays right around first base. A runner ran into a first sacker making a catch on a pop up. A runner who had just touched first base collided with the first sacker who caught the ball right after the runner had touched the base.

In one game, there were two plays where the batter-runner got tagged out by the first sacker well before she reached first base In both cases the tag was aggressive that the batter-runner were not only stopped dead in the tracks but wound up sitting on their behinds between home and first.

In Division 4, the municipalities playing against each other had a huge differential in terms of population. Algoma, population 3,167 took on Wausau, population 39, 127. However, Algoma's high school enrollment is 156.

In Division 3, it was very similar when it comes to population and enrollment numbers. Mineral Point, population 867 played Kenosha St. Joseph, population 99,379. St. Joe's enrollment is 300 while Mineral Point sports 230.

The population totals of those municipalities do not include the suburban areas of Wausau nor Kenosha and of course do not include the suburban areas of Algoma nor Mineral Point either.

A few years ago Newman had trouble winning games and now they have a silver trophy for softball in their trophy case. Here's a salute to whomever or whatever made that possible. I'd guess it's more concentration of summer travel ball or just plan summer fast pitch being played more than in the past. That's great because softball you see, is a sport commonly played in the summer months. Wisconsin softball players do not play much softball in October, November, December, January, February or March. My hat is off to Newman. The more teams we can get to improve like they have, the stronger the state's fastpitch scene will be. Two huge hand claps for Newman.

As for Mineral Point, perhaps the school's first taste of gold will open the door to more girls from there playing more summer fastpitch as well. The strength of a program is not measured in the success of one or two years. It's measured over the course of many years. Hopefully this year's success will be a huge boost to more young girls choosing to play more fastpitch softball.

I listened in on a post-game interview with Algoma's Taylor Schmidt who answered the reporter's question of "What is the key to Algoma's success?" with this answer - "We all start when we are very young. When we are 7 or 8 and we just keep working to get better and we give back to the future by coaching young kids. I'm now coaching an 8 and 9 year old team this year in Algoma."

That's the present preparing the future!

In general I thought the umpiring was very good. It some games is was excellent and a few perfect. I choose to sit in the media chairs up behind home plate. I call it the "catbird seat." I can see the plate and the pitches as they cross the plate. Sometimes I think I have a better view of the plate, "the river," and "the bank" better than the plate ump does. They're always set up looking down the bank on one side of the river and can't see the bank, river or the bank on the other side. I can from my vantage point above them. I don’t’ really enjoy games where an umpire’s idea of the strike zone is out of line with what needs to be done to balance the battle between the pitcher and the batter. It ought to be even. I know it seldom will be but it ought to be. From up there, I not only can take mental and written notes on players, tendencies, etc. I can take notes on umpires and their ideas of what constitutes a strike. In one game on Friday the strike zone was "consistently" 29 inches wide. That made for some tough hitting and some low hit numbers, and only three total runs being scored in the game. Those pitchers were sending them right down the river and over the banks and getting strike calls.  However, that game was an exception to what I thought were some excellent ideas of what constitutes a strike.

See, a pitch is not a strike until the umpire yells out, "STRIKE!" The sooner coaches and players get the feel for what a strike is during a game, the smoother the game rolls along. It is just is what it is!

I noticed all season-long a lack of young umpires. The game needs more young umpires. In Poynette we know have several young people who have started to get involved. More coaches need to help start out new, young umpires. It will ensure that the game stays strong.

Here is my last thought in this diatribe on umpiring. Ranking them is a tough job because, unlike most other sports there are two different sets of things to watch when ranking an umpire in a softball game. Only one of the umps calls balls and strikes. The other one or two or three call mostly safe and out. If an umpire works one game for a coach in a season and that umpire works the bases, the ranking coach has no clue what kind of job the person does when behind the plate and vice versa. When not working the bases a ranker has no idea about that umpire’s hustle, patience in calling safe or out in order to get it correct. Does that umpire pay attention to detail between pitches, between innings or during the action? A ranker would have no idea. Rankers ought to be able to rank umpires as a plate umpire and as a base umpire. I sure don’t have the answer on how to go about that. Perhaps there are even more efficient ways to rank umpires to begin with? There probably is, but that’s not an area I need to delve into. It’s for others with much more influence. If you are a coach, get those rankings done. Not doing so is a disservice to the game and affects the smoothness and quality of the competition in every game played statewide. Perhaps not ranking should have a negative effect on seeding or hosting?

The views from the bleacher areas at Goodman are excellent. A bit more seating behind home plate would have been good but the overall design of Goodman is fantastic. During the Thursday morning session I sat on the top row of bleachers between home plate and the first base side dugout. It’s a great seat but not quite as good as the one the red tailed hawk took just up and to my right. It swooped over the infield, looked down upon the game, liked what it saw so much it pulled up and landed on the light pole just to my right. It stayed for nearly half an inning and decided that a view atop the light pole down the leftfield side and right up on top of the lights would be better. It stayed there for a full inning and was joined by some smaller birds that were apparently rooting for the opposite team for they were really chattering at the Hawk. In another game a flock of geese flew over the infield. One goose got so excited about the action below that it dropped a huge, white viscous dropping and it landed on the synthetic dirt just in front of the third sacker. The white mark remained there throughout the game.

Flyovers were very frequent by man-made fly machines too. The UW Hospital Med-Flight helicopters were constantly leaving and returning. One return trip was apparently timed perfectly to fit in with the playing and singing of the National Anthem. It surely wasn’t an F-16 flyover but a flyover it was and added to the day.

The price of parking on Thursday and Friday increased to eight bucks. Whew!  For full-day fastpitch watchers, that means packing a lunch and heading back to the car to tailgate etc. or eating ball yard food inside the stadium. Unless, however one is with his son who said, “Let’s go eat the cafeteria in the hospital.” So we did and for $3.15 I had Salisbury Steak (glorified ground beef of course) and a huge serving of dressing along with a complimentary cup of water. Leo Kalinowski (Head Softball Coach at Madison College) and I hiked back over there (less than five minute hike from Goodman) and had dinner again on Friday evening. Keep that in mind for next year’s 39th Annual State Tournament. The Saturday parking fee was a bargain at --- no charge! Yipee!

I know this is not possible, but if I were the King of Fastpitch (believe me when I say I am not) I’d require the home team to wear light colored jerseys and the visiting team to wear dark colored jerseys. It would look more, more, well it would just be a better display of color and it makes for a better show. That is true especially when New London plays Monroe the next time. They were wearing the exact same shade of red and darn close to the same jersey style. Darks and lights would be the way any King or Queen of Fastpitch would go. It could even be done with an alphabetical assignment – first team alphabetical wears white, second team wears dark.

The pitching speeds statewide have really increased. There is some great teaching going on out there. From Division 4 up through Division 1 the speeds were from 50 mph to 63 mph. Some of those pitchers could make it move up and down and some others could actually make it move off a straight line of travel. I had my radar device with me right behind home plate throughout the weekend. Here is a rough breakdown of the speeds of the pitchers on each team. Keep in mind that these speeds are shown on the device when the ball is about 1 foot out of the pitcher’s hands. Most pitches slow down 4-8 mph hour depending on the velocity at release. To get average speed we’d have to go back to my old method of using a stop watch.
Division 4
Algoma - used two pitchers in each game – top speeds for them were 53 and 59. Both had deceiving change ups and using them both in the same game, going from 53 to 58 caused lots of issues for the opponents.
Pacelli – Pitcher hit speeds up to 55 mph and did a great job of moving the pitches in and out, up and down in and around the strike zone.
Newman Catholic – Pitcher hit speeds up to 58 mph. Most of the heaters were in the 55-57 mph range. A nice change up down around 44-46 worked well for her.
New Lisbon – Pitcher was consistently at 57-58 and had a few 59 mph lazers I there. Change up was good in the 42-44 mph range. She spotted it well too.

Division 3
Mineral Point – Top speed in two games was one pitch at 54 mph. Consistently at 52-53 mph. Change up in the 43-46 mph range. Used various speeds in the 50-52 mph range and great control.  She has a delivery that is a bit unconventional and creates a different visual than opponents commonly see. That really helps her. Great demeanor in and around the circle.
Kenosha St. Joseph – Before I type about pitching speeds I want to type about this kid. She’s a remarkable young lady! She’s a competitor! I’ve seen male pitchers lose their cool and actually quit when getting called for one or two illegal pitches. I’ve seen female pitchers break down and cry when getting called for one or two and I’ve seen pitchers from both genders completely lose their poise after just one. I've seen kids start crying when getting called for a series of illegal pitches. Not her! Nope! She just hung right in there! She gets the Fastpitch Chronicle Award for Mental Toughness. She kept her composure better than many people in the stands. So did her teammates. I’d go to battle with her any day. With that said, it had been 40 years since I had watched a delivery similar to hers. Tommy’s Angels of Oshkosh had a pitcher whose “slingshot type” delivery just before release, looked like hers back in the 60s and early 70s. Ole “Diz” was quite the character and always created pitching rule controversy. Old timers reading this well remember those bruhahas. Maddy’s pitches were in the 55-57 mph range and she had a nice change that floated in there between 44-46 mph. She’ll be a force to reckon with in 2014.

Division 2
Monroe – I nearly wore out the batteries on my Pocket Radar I the game between Monroe and New London so I had lots of data in this one. Speeds here topped out at 55 mph with a change up in the 44-47 mph range.
New London – To prove that top flight heat isn’t always the definitive factor, this pitcher could be used as a demonstration. The data shows that 55 mph was her top speed. She seldom threw it that speed two pitches in a row. She fluctuated between 53-55 and mixed a variety of more off speed stuff down in the high 30s and low 40s. She also tossed a few in the 48-51 mph range, inducing lots of pop ups and lightly hit ground balls. She’d be my pick for MVP of the Division 2 Tournament. As a matter of fact she is my pick so look for that news release later.
Baldwin-Woodville – Pitcher tops out at 62 mph. Most of the heaters are 60 or 61. Moves it around well. She threw 17 shutouts during the season and was one strike away from an 18th one. The pitch that caused the loss of the 18th one was a good pitch, up in the zone and just got hit. I’ve been there before (regional final in 2004 among others).
New Berlin West – Had a top speed of 57 mph and was at that speed on most of her faster pitches. She mixed in some 55 and 56ers in there too. Had a change of pace down in the mid-40s.

Division 1
Germantown – We dinosaurs refer to a pitcher like this one as “Sneaky Quick” or “Sneaky Fast.” Her arm circle camouflages just how explosive she is at release. I’ve faced dozens of pitchers like her in my 47 years of playing this game. They’re tough to time. Her arm circle isn’t as fast as others but just as she passes the ¾ mark her hand really gets going. She was in the 60-62 mph range with the downer but her best slant was a 54-56 mph raise that had SPASH’s hitters really out of time and they struggled to let it go by and not swing. She had a nice change of pace at 46 mph most of the time. She deserved a better fate. That’s they way the ball bounces from time to time.
SPASH – This girl is a warrior too. She battled an injury and just kept going back out there. When some wondered if she could endure during a second game in two days, she held the opposition to two runs and one was unearned. She was consistently in the 59-61 mph range with a great change up down in the 44-46 mph range. She spotted the ball well.
Oshkosh West – This kid was the victim of “”little offense” in a big game. She was in the 58-60 mph range throughout that game. She had a nice change of pace in the mid-40s. More of a finesse pitcher than strikeout she averaged just under one strikeout per inning in the season.
Kenosha Bradford – Don’t let the outcome of the finale cloud your view of good this kid is. She threw five straight shutouts in the post-season. She was moving her slants along at 60 mph and had a change up in the mid 40s. She pitched her way out of trouble numerous times at Goodman.
Sun Prairie – A 58-60 mph heater and a change up in that mid 40s range. Was named Big 8 Most Valuable Player this spring.
Appleton East – Here is another workhorse in the circle and one that deserved a better outcome than she got. Throws in the 59-62 mph range with a nice change in the low 40s. Moves the ball in and out, up and down into unhittable places for most batters.
Menomonee Falls – This kid reminded me of the great Jimmy Moore from Pay n’ Pak days. Neither throw missiles but neither ever throw pitches that get hit very hard. Like Jimmy, she pitched and didn’t just rare back and throw. She had a 1.24 ERA on the season. She kept her composure in tight situations and beat one top notch opponent and got nipped by the state champion. She threw in the 55-57 mph range with a few that made it up to 58. She spotted that thing all over the place and kept batters off balance with a variety of speeds when throwing her change up. They were in the 43-45 mph range.

Westosha Central – Top speed was one pitch that hit 64 mph. Consistently had the gas going at 63 mph. Mixed in 60-62 most of the time. Change up was 44-46 and used enough to keep batter’s guessing and not being able to just dig in. Held off the Menomonee Falls line up and could have been credited with a no-hitter. Officially it will go down as a one-hitter though. A fantastic athlete and The 2013 Fastpitch Chronicle Wisconsin Pitcher of the Year!

By now, if you have stayed with me this long, you’re getting bored of this diatribe. So, with that in mind,

Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob