The Fastpitch Chronicle

Hello Fastpitch Fans of all kinds

It’s been a busy couple of weeks to say the least. Tournament games, all conference selection meetings, all district selection committee meetings, graduation celebrations and more have taken up a great deal of my time.

Congratulations go out to all the teams that won conference championships in 2015. Winning a conference title is surely on every team’s mind when the season begins. If your team won a conference title it’s time for the coach to take a look at the Fastpitch Chronicle Coaches Honor Roll and make sure that the information therein is correct. If it is not correct just send me and email and I will get it updated.

The Coaches Honor Roll is full of other information on coaching success. In addition to conference championships won ther eare categories for career wins beginning with 100 and going on up to 200, 250 300, 350, 400, 450, 500 and 550. Take a look at that page and get your name on the appropriate list. State Tournament appearances and Final Four appearances are also on the Coaches Honor Roll Page. I try to keep those up to date once the state tournament field is set. For Final Four appearances I wait until the Division 1 quarter-finals  have been played on Thursday morning and afternoon.

I will be at Goodman Diamond on Thursday morning and into the early afternoon. I will have to leave part way through the afternoon’s first game. If you see me be and would like to chat just stop me and the chat will begin. Look for a fella in a Fastpitch Chronicle cap and T shirt. I won’t be wearing any school identification clothing.

On my way to Lancaster on Sunday to participate in the All District Selection process I stopped in Montfort to see if there was a men’s fastpitch game being played. I had heard that the annual Montfort Chicken Bar-b-que was going to be going on as well as the annual men’s fastpitch event. There was chicken being grilled and sold but the first men’s game of the morning had not started yet.  I chatted with a couple of fastpitch guys for a few minutes then headed for Lancaster. I was going to stop back in and watch a bit of the championship game but the meeting in Lancaster took longer than usual due to a coaching clinic session afterwards and a phone call from another high school coach elsewhere in the state.

I was able to get up to Marathon on Friday to watch the Division 3 sectional final between Oconto and Laconia and bumped into a few longtime friends while there. It was good to see them and get a chance to chat about fastpitch as well as other things.

Getting back to the all district selection process. Sitting around a group of tables with coaching colleagues who are also passionate about the game, the players etc. and attempting to separate this player from that player, this conference from that conference etc. is not an really very easy. Depending on which district a conference is in often times makes it tough to actually see teams from the other conferences within the district a conference rep selects. It was easier in past years to get out and see other teams, other conferences etc. but the current 26-game schedule means teams are playing all the time and on the same days that other teams are playing.

The all district teams are not easy to select, that is for sure. Selecting the all state lists is even tougher.  This year, for the first time the WFSCA Board of Directors chose to change the all state selection process.

Here are some of the guidelines and rules that dictate the selection process.

1. This is a steadfast rule. The Head Coach of a given school must be a current member of the WFSCA and must have the dues paid by a certain day in April. If the dues are not paid, and they must be paid online with a credit card (that way nobody can say it got lost in the mail) by the deadline all the players on that coach’s team instantly lose any chance of WFSCA all district or all state recognition.
2. Once a coach is a member, to be nominated for all district and more a player must have been named First or Second Team all conferenc e in her conference. The nomination for all WFSCA post season awards is also required to be done online and there is a deadline. This year it was Friday June 5th. If a coach failed to nominate by that date all players who were eligible for recognition instantly become inelligible.  The number of good players whose coaches fail to nominate is incredibly high. It’s a head shaker for me every year. It even happens from within the conference I represent and it happens after every coach in the conference has been told to get the nominations in.
3. The nomination must be done by general  fastpitch positions – Pitchers, Catchers, Infielders and Oufielders. There is no longer a Utility Player Position.
4. Each District selects 12 all district players according to a formula that  includes a low number of pitchers, catchers, infielders and outfielders. The district then selects 10 At Large players who then get added to the list by their position. Making those selections take about 3 hours at the district level.  If interested in who represents each conference within a district just go to the WFSCA website and browse around. Some of the conference reps are also district reps or WFSCA officers so there are times when a conference has two voices at an all district meeting. From years of experience that is not a bad thing because it gives another voice whom may have played against a team with players who have been nominated but no other selection committee coach has seen that kid play.
5. The 22 player list of All District players then gets passed ahead to the WFSCA Executive Board and its District reps and officers. They meet on the Sunday following the state tournament and haggle over the district lists. If interested in the members of the WFSCA exectuive board and what schools they coach at just go to the wfsca website and read all about it. The conference reps, for the most part are not members of the all state selection committee.

Here is a breakdown of how many players from each Division of play were named to the all state lists in 2014. In my humble opinion, there is little difference between the skilll levels of a kid who is named honorable mention and one who is named First Team. Getting on any one of those lists is something.

There are 19 catchers on the list with 9 having played on Division 1 schools, 4 from Division 2 schools, 3 from Division 3 schools four from Division 4 schools. There are 27 pitchers out and 15 are from Division 1 schools; there are 5 from Division 1 schools; 5 from Division 3 schools and 1from Division 4 and she won the state title. In the infield there are 32 players on the list with 17 from Division 1 schools; 9 from Division 2, just five from Division 3; and only 2 from Division 4. Out in the outfield there are 20 in all with 10 being from Division 1 schools, 7 from Division 2 schools, 3 from Division 3 and 1 from Division 4; On the Utility list there are four players: 3 are from Division 1 and the other is from a Division 2 school.

So there you have it – a quick look from the outside at the inside of the 2014 WFSCA All State lists. The 2015 breakdown will be posted as soon as I see the lists on the WFSCA site.

There are just 20 high school teams practicing this week in preparation for a high school game to be played. The state tournament begins on Thursday with the Division 1 teams playing quarter-final games in the morning or afternoon. There are four Division 4 teams that will play on Thursday night. The Division 4 and Division 3 semi-finals are on Friday morning and afternoon.

The senior all star games will be played just north of Wisconsin Dells off Highway 13 next Tuesday. This year’s games will be played on the new artificial turf at the venue owned and operated by Woodside Ranch. Last year’s games were played north of Highway 82 east of Mauston. Don’t go there this year to watch.

More to come this week.

Keep it Rising!
Bob