Since my girls are so heavily into softball, I've spent a fair amount of time the last few years watching softball at various levels of competition. And as a baseball history buff, one of the things I can relate to about softball is the old-timey feel of the way they use their pitching staffs. There are no pitch limits, no innings limits, no major studies suggesting that throwing underhand has near the effect on the arm as overhand pitching does (although I have read about a correlation between pitching and back injuries in women in their 20s). So softball pitching staffs are basically built like baseball pitching staffs from the pre-1900 era. You've got maybe 4-5 girls who can pitch, and 1-3 of them who pitch the majority of the innings. And usually, 1 girl is the ace and starts 50-70% of the games. And the ERAs are absurdly low (at least for the good teams).
I am reminded of this today after reading the following:
Quote:
In the first game of the doubleheader that saw Alabama’s win streak end, After throwing nearly 200 pitches in the contest sophomore Jackie Traina took matters into her own hands as she belted a two-out, walk-off home run to lead Alabama to a thrilling, 3-2, 11-inning victory.
Traina (16-0) muscled her way to the complete game victory, allowing two runs — one earned on nine hits while tying a career-high with 15 strikeouts. The extra-inning win is the second of the season for Traina and the Tide as she went all nine innings in the win at Kentucky.
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Alabama's played 27 games, and Jackie Traina is 16-0 with a 1.03 ERA. She and the other starter have combined to pitch 142 of the team's 178 innings. I feel like Old Hoss Radbourn should be coaching this team.