RL: Softball Dynasty

[primelord]

I liked reading AE's softball dynasty and I thought I would write one of my own. I don't know how in depth I will be. We'll just see how it develops as I go. I will be keeping track of my "batting average" here. For the sake of simplicity I will be counting any time I hit the ball and reach safely a hit. No worrying about whether or not the defense made an error or not. I have learned over the years that hitting the ball hard right at the 3B is very viable strategy for reaching safely.

I am currently playing in two leagues. A Tuesday night single game league on a buddy's work team and a Sunday double header league which I am the "coach" of. FOFC's own WSUCougar also plays on that Sunday team. We will likely also be adding another night in the 2nd session soon. If it were up to me I would play softball every night.

We are a few weeks into the season so I will get everyone caught up to where we are now. Hopefully it makes for an enternaining read and as always suggestions are welcome.

[primelord]

Before we get into the game results I wanted to take a moment to proudly show off our bat arsenal. At one point I posted a thread here asking if anyone had any advice on a decent softball bat. Since then I have done a lot of research and my buddy and I have gone a bit bat crazy. We now own 6 top shelf softball bats. We are insane.

Here is the lineup:

2004 Easton Synergy 2

This is the original bat I bought. Like all composite bats it takes some breaking in before it really gets hot. Myself and most of our team have become much better hitters since I first bought this bat so I don;t think we full appreciated how good this bat really is. It has a knock for having a smaller sweet spot then a lot of the top quality bats and the fact that we weren't hitting the ball hard enough to really brake it in led us to believe the bat was not that great. I have recently been hitting with it a lot in batting practice and it is starting to open up and may be my 3rd favorite bat now.

Miken Maniac 585

I bought this bat at the beginning of our 2nd season after I decided I didn't like the Synergy 2. This one quickly became a team favorite. It has a more end loaded feel than the Synergy 2 and has a bigger sweet spot. Combine that with the fact we had begun learning to hit better and we had some real success with this bat. It developed a surface crack right above the handle early this year and it has been sent back for replacement. Each of these bats have a 1 year warranty on them and can be retuened once if cracked.

2006 Easton CNT Flex

Despite the fact the Maniac was going strong I decided to buy this bat because we play in a fall league that goes loosely by ASA rules. It is not techinically an ASA league, but if someone wanted to challenge the legality of a bat they would go by ASA standards. The Maniac was not an ASA approved bat (it is approved in our other leagues.) The CNT Flex was the hottest ASA bat you could buy at the time. (Some people still like the Synergy 2 better for ASA play and techincally the Freak 100 is the best ASA bat, but it is hard to find now at least at a decent price). This bat has a huge sweet spot on it. Up until recently it was my favorite bat and several of our players still use it. However it has a very balanced weighting to it and I have grown to like end loaded bats much better.

2004 Miken Freak Plus

This is the point where my buddy started getting interested in the bats too. I was originally going to buy this bat, but could not find anyone who had it in stock and ended up buying the Synergy 2 instead. When my buddy wanted to buy a bat I suggested he look into this one. It's one of the hotter bats that have ever been made. You will find plenty of people who will even argue it is the hottest bat you can find that is still legal in any association. To ease the pain of buying this bat I agreed to split the price of it with him. I used this bat for the first few weeks, but have moved on to some other ones in our arsenal. This bat doesn;t get much use now which is ironic because it might be the best of all the ones we have.

Worth May120 Mayhem

Before the Freak+ was even shipped to us, my buddy was back jabbering to me that we should buy another bat. He liked what he was reading on the Mayhem and wanted to buy it as well. I am a sucker for softbakll bats so I again agreed to split the cost of this bat with him and we had it bought before even swinging the new Freak+ we bought. Like I said we are crazy. This is currently my gamer. It was the first 26 oz bat we bought. All the ones previously were 27 oz. I really like the lighter bat much better actually and this bat is heating up quite nicely now.

2006 Easton CNT Plus

This is the most recent addition to the bat rack. Ironically after buying the Freak+ and the Mayhem my buddy didn't like either of them. His favorite bat was still the CNT Flex. He preferred the balanced feel of the Flex and even liked swining the Synergy 2 better than the other bats despite the fact it is slightly end loaded. So he decided the CNT+ was probably the sweet spot for him. It is essentially the non ASA version of the Flex. It feels a lot like the Synergy 2 to me when I swing it, but it has a much bigger sweet spot. It has only seen one games worth of action so far and I may have been the only one to even swing it in a game so far. It has also seen a few BO sessions, but still has a lot of breaking in to do. The ball already really jumps off this bat though and it wouldn't shock me if it was my regular choice real soon. I will say I drew the line at this bat and told my buddy if he wanted it he would have to buy it on his own.

So there you have it. We aren't as carzy as it gets. There are guys on some of the softball forums that have far more bats than this that they use exclusively. All of our bats are for the team to share. So we aren't as crazy as it gets, but our wives would be thrilled if we didn't buy any new bats.

The 07 Easton Synergy Stealths are out now. I can't make any promises.

[WSUCougar]

Boo-YA!

[primelord]

Also a quick note on WSUCougar. We had never met in real life before I asked him if he wanted to join our team. He and I had always gotten along well on the boards and I figured it was a fairly safe bet that as in to sports as he is he would be at least a passable softball player. It looked like we needed one more regular to play so I took a shot.

Let me just say I have been more than pleasently surprised. Chris can really play ball. He has great range and hands in the outfield, has a strong throwing arm and can hit real well too. He is a very complete player and has been a huge addition to our team. On defense our OF is really the strength of our team and he is a major part of that.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Boo-YA!

Heh I was just talking about you.

[Dutch]

Wow, that's not fair, ya'll can just chill out and talk about IHOF whenever you want. I'm jealous.

[primelord]

Game 1: Tuesday night league

This team is an interesting one. They really don't have a ton of talent on the team and have trouble getting guys to regularly show up. Which is why I am playing with them. My bat crazy buddy plays on this team and the left center fielder (who is very good) also plays on my Sunday team. The team fits well in the league they are in though. There isn't a ton of talent on the opposing teams (at least the ones I have seen so far). They are all good guys, but on the field I think our SUnday team would have no trouble with them.

The first game was a wild one. We were the home team and we managed to give up 10 runs in the first inning. Now I am all for just going out and giving your best and having a good time, but if this was a glimpse of things to come this could be a VERY long season.
However we managed to put up 11 runs in the bottom of the 1st and we were back on top. I have been in some fairly high scoring games, but I have never been involved in a game with 21 runs in the first inning.

Things settled down on both sides after that. We put up a pretty decent effort, but the other team had perfected hitting the short line drive right over the infield. They just kept playign station to station ball and we couldn't keep up

I had a fairly good day. In my first at bat a roped a very hard line drive down the left field line for a double and ended up scoring on hit by the next batter. In my second at bat the defense shifted me way to the left. I decided if I got an outside picth I would try to drive it the the other way. The first pitch I saw was on the outer half and I hit it hard, but I got bit too much under it and the right center fielder was able to run it down. In my final at bat of the day I hit a ball right off the handle that managed to float over the short stops head and fall in for a single.

Tuesday Team Record: 0-1
BAtting Average: .667 (2/3)

[Poli]

Need a player for say...next year?

By the way, it looks like I'll be finishing this season with a perfect 1.000 batting average....2 for 2.

Unless I get into a game next week while I'm on the base. Not sure I'm going to, but I'll probably be bored sitting around the base while I wait for Africa.

[Dutch]

I hope you have enough folks in Africa to play. We played in Saudi all the time after work. Of course, the field, including the outfield was make out of hard dirt and rock which makes ESPN catches and slides kind of tricky.

[primelord]

Games 1 and 2: Sunday Afternoon League

I am of course a bit biased, but I think our Sunday afternoon team is awful good. We have 12 guys on the team and with the exception of maybe one of them they all hit well. Our outfield defense is fantastic. They all have great range and good to great arms. The infield defense (where I play of course) is not quite as stellar, but certainly good enough to get the job done. Our picther is very good at consistently throwing stirkes too. Walks will kill you in slow pitch.

We led off the season against the team that finished in 1st place last year. The top of their lineup well and their SS and LC are very good defesively. We don't get along with this team really at all. They seem to complain to the umps every time a call doesn't go their way and they just carry themselves in a really cocky way. We exchanged heated words with them multiple times last season. Their pitcher was convinced one of our better hitters was trying to hit him when two straight hard line drives went back up the middle. We ended up losing all 4 games to this team last season, althugh they were all close. I was really looking forward to beating this team.

We came out firing in the first game. It has been a few weeks so I don't remember exactly what the score was, but we put up several runs early in the game. Coug can correct me if I get anything wrong. The other team came back strong and we spent the last couple of innings trading the lead back and forth. We managed to take a one run lead in the top of the 7th and headed into the bottom of the inning with a chance to start the year off 1-0. In the bottom of the 7th we quickly got two outs, but the other team was able to put several runners on. They had 2nd and 3rd with two outs when the guy at the plate hit a hot shot to short. Our SS made the play and came up firing. The throw was a rocket right at our first basemans feet. Our first baseman made a fantastic dig and the throw beat the runner by a heart beat and we won game 1!

I however did absolutely nothing to contribute to our teams' victory. I made my only contribution in my first at bat of the day when I hit a medium depth fly ball to left that scored a runner from 3rd. So I got a sacrafice in that at bat. In my next 3 at bats I grounded out weakly to short and 3rd and flew out to left center. So I took an 0/3 collar in game one.

Game 2 was a different story. Our 3B, who may be our overall best offensive player, had to leave and we seemed to fall apart on offense. The defense still played well, but the other team was very surgical with their hits. A lot of hard line drives right over the infield, lots of hard ground balls up the middle and some occasional deep shots that got over the OFs heads. There really wasn't a lot we could do to stop them. We needed to slug it out with them and our bats just went to sleep. I believe the fional score was something like 15-3.

Rather than my bat going to sleep, it just stayed asleep. In my first at bat I again grounded out weakly to the SS. I finally hit a ball hard in my final at bat when I saw the RC playing me very shallow (and rightfully so). I took an outside pitch the otehr way and hit a hard line drive, but it was right at him. So I finished the day a combied 0/5.

The seocnd game was a bit unfortunate, but managing to at least split the first two games was huge for us. The other two teams in our division are both new. I watched them play int he games before ours and one of them looked really good and one of them looked really bad. So assuming we can play with that other good team I think we will have a real shot at first this session.

Sunday Team Record: 1-1
Batting Average: .250 (2/8)

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Dutch

I hope you have enough folks in Africa to play. We played in Saudi all the time after work. Of course, the field, including the outfield was make out of hard dirt and rock which makes ESPN catches and slides kind of tricky.

I'm bringing my glove. I may bring a ball, a bad ball.

I've already loaned out my bat to a friend for the summer.

[primelord]

Game 2: Tuesday Night League

So coming off of my terrible Sunday performance I was really looking to get back on track in this game. There are a few key differences between the Tuesday and Sunday league. The Tuesday league is a called strike zone with a 12 foot max arc. Our Sunday league is a carpert league and has a 10 foot max arc. I am used to carpert leagues so adjusting for what the ump calls as a strike and the higher pitches has been something I have had to work on. In general I am not a very patient hitter. I will take pitches that are very obviously balls, but if it is close I am hacking.

This was another back and forth game from the beginning. One problem with this team is they throw the ball around too much. They try to make very difficult throws and catch guys who are mere steps from the base. It's kind of surprising that they do that since they have been playing together for a few years now. We gave up several extra runs in this game by doing that. Still going into the top of the 5th we were only down by 2 runs.

The 5th is when it all fell apart for us. The other team had spent most of the night nickle and diming hits on us. They were hitting a lot of ground balls through the infiled and little flairs into the OF. If they were doing that on purpose to draw the OF in then more power to them because they spent the entire 5th inning crushing the ball. Two guys hit home runs over the 302 fence and several others hit one hoppers to the wall. In total they put up 10 runs that inning and we couldn;t recover.

I again had an awful day at the plate. I had a sac fly in my first at bat. After that I had two more flyouts and a ground out to short. I was really having trouble with the higher arc on this night. At this point I wanted to hang myself. I had just gone hitless in 3 straight games in slow pitch softball.

Tuesday Team Record: 0-2
Batting Average: .182 (2/11)

[Poli]

Not sure where you're standing in the box, but to adjust for 12 foot I usually try to get as deep as I can in the box. Heck, sometimes I'm in the far corner.

From that spot, especially in 12 foot, I feel I have a better shot at the ball...and if it even looks close to inside I can let it fall. I do like to hit to right field and if they pitch outside I can take a step to right field and drive it that way.

If they pitch a nice flat ball you can always "walk the box" and mash the ball that way as well.


By the way, I like the bats you're using...it's a pretty darn good collection. I did get a homerun last year...and it was with a Freak. Incredible bat.

[primelord]

Games 3 and 4: Sunday Afternoon League

We were rained out of what was supposed to be our first match up against what appeared to be the bad team in the league. So that matchup gets moved to the end of the season and our 2nd set of games was against another good team. When I watched them play before our first week the one thing that was clear was that they could hit. They had one guy who hit home runs over the 300 foot fence in consecutive at bats and they were constantly peppering the gaps. I figured if we could hang with these guys we would be in very good shape this season.

We were the away team in game 1 and we really put the pressure on in the first inning. Everyone was hitting the ball hard. Even the outs that were made were hard line drives that were unfortunately hit right at someone. When it was all said and done we batted around in the first inning and put up 7 runs. In the bottom of the first the defense was great. We had one miscue when our SS threw an easy double play ball into RF and that led to a run. He was gone the first week and I think nerves got to him a bit there. That first inning foreshadowed how the rest of the game would go. We never let up on the gas and when the dust cleared we won 23-6. One thing that wasn't very clear when our opponents were playing the bad team was that they couldn't field real well. We hit very well this game, but they helped us out as well by booting some very playable balls on the infield etc.

So we were feeling pretty good about ourselves after game 1 and were ready to put a beating on our opponents in game 2. Things didn't quite work out that way though. Just like the previous week our bats went to sleep in the second game. Overall we didn;t hit the ball that poorly, but most of the good hits we did have were right at people. We also had multiple innings where we got 1 or 2 runners on and then the next 3 batters would fly out. The other team remebered how to hit as well. We still played well defensively, but they were doing a good job of hitting low line drives and just kept putting the pressure on up and down the lineup. We ended up losing this game 20-3. I have never seen such lopsided scores with each team winning one game before.

The good news for me was that I had a great day hitting the ball. Coming into the game my confiudence was quite low, but I was determined to do better today. In my first at bat I hit a rope over the 3rd basemans head for a single. In my second at bat the outfield was playing me in and a crushed a line drive in the left center gap that went to the fence for a double. In my 3rd at bat I heard the left center fielder tell the OF to play deep and I ended up hitting a low line drive that dropped in front of the OF for a single. Again the defense adjusted to my last at bat and were playing me shallow when I came up for the 4th time and I ripped a ball over the left fielders head for a double. So I ended the first game 4 for 4.

In the second game I kept my hitting streak alive with a single between short and 3rd and I only got one more at bat in the second game and again I got a single down the left field line. So 2 for 2 in the second game and 6 for 6 total on the day. I can't tell you what that day did for my confidence.

Sunday Team Record: 2-2
Batting Average: .471 (8/17)

[primelord]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Not sure where you're standing in the box, but to adjust for 12 foot I usually try to get as deep as I can in the box. Heck, sometimes I'm in the far corner.

From that spot, especially in 12 foot, I feel I have a better shot at the ball...and if it even looks close to inside I can let it fall. I do like to hit to right field and if they pitch outside I can take a step to right field and drive it that way.

If they pitch a nice flat ball you can always "walk the box" and mash the ball that way as well.


By the way, I like the bats you're using...it's a pretty darn good collection. I did get a homerun last year...and it was with a Freak. Incredible bat.

Obviously I haven't gotten there yet in my posts, but FWIW I actually made that adjustment last night. I generally like to stand up in the box because I like to hit the ball high in the zone. In the 12 foot league though it was just way too high in the zone up there. So I did move to the back of the box and had some godd success with it. I appreciate the tip.

One thing I have never been able to do is "walk the box". I see a lot of guys do it and be very successful with it, but every time I have tried I fail miserably with it.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by primelord

Obviously I haven't gotten there yet in my posts, but FWIW I actually made that adjustment last night. I generally like to stand up in the box because I like to hit the ball high in the zone. In the 12 foot league though it was just way too high in the zone up there. So I did move to the back of the box and had some godd success with it. I appreciate the tip.

One thing I have never been able to do is "walk the box". I see a lot of guys do it and be very successful with it, but every time I have tried I fail miserably with it.

I don't seem to generate the power I see others display by walking the box, but I have hit some very hard line drives with it. The key is getting your weight level again, IMO. That said, if I walk the box once, I usually end up screwing the rest of my at bats. I know on more than one occassion I've chopped my feet when I had no intention of moving anywhere.

Good job in those last at bats.

[primelord]

Games 5 and 6: Sunday Afternoon League

Between rainouts, bye weeks, and Mother's Day weekend it had been a couple weeks since we last played softball. I had been hitting in the cage a lot between then so I was still feeling good though. These games took place just this past Sunday so we are almost up to today. We were up against the same team we played in week 1 and 2. They put a beating on us last time and we were once again without two of our better players because they were out of town. Picking up two games from them today would be huge. IT would give us a fantastic chance to win the division.

Game 1 started out in similar fashion to the last game 1 we had against them. Their starting pitcher is frankly just not very good. He throws probably 65-70% of his pitches short of the plate and throws a lot of pitches inside as well. Overall we are a pretty aggressive team so that can actually hurt us when we aren't patient and swing at bad picthes. In game 1 we did a great job of taking walks when he wouldn't throw a strike and hammering the picthes when they actually were strikes. Several things went very right for us in this game. Everyone was hitting. I don't think there was a single person on the team that didn't have a multi hit game.

The key to our opponents defense is their SS and left center fielder. Both of these guys are very good defensively. Everyone else on the team is average at best. Unfortunately for them their backup pitcher is also their SS when it became very obvious their picther was not going to be able to throw strikes they moved their SS in to pitch. The guy that replaced him at SS was not very good and at one point they moved their LC in to play SS. These defensive changes ended up giving us multiple extra opportunities. We steadily socred all game and played great defense. The game was called after the 5th inning with us up 18-6.

Game 2 started out as much of the same. In both games the defense was playign us ridculously shallow. I am a firm believer in positioning the defense to force the other team to try and hit it over your head, but the depth they were playing was assinine. We have several guys on the team who can really hit it deep. In the first couple of innings we took advantage of that positioning and had several balls hit over their heads. MY favorite moment of the day was when I pulled our left fielder aside before he went to the plate. He probably has the most pure power on the team and I pointed out to him that they were playing him insanely shallow and he should just unleash one. He hit the first pitch over the fence about 320. It didn't really matter where they were playing him with that one.

Also in the first inning it should be noted that WSUCougar made a spectacular sliding catch in the OF that saved at least one run. After two innings we were up on them 8-0 and it appeared we were cruising to another 10 run rule game. For some reason we lost our hitting mojo again though. Guys were gitting on here and there but we couldn't string together a series of hits and we just stopped scoring. However our defense kept playing very good ball and the other team was failing to take advantage of opportunities when they did have guys on. At one point they suddenly claimed they scored a run in the 1st inning. I am 99% certain they didn't score that run, but I wasn't interested in getting into a huge fight over something that was going to be very difficult to prve so I conceded the run to them. So we went into the bottom of the 6th up 8-1.

In the 6th our pitcher ended up on 2B with one out. There was a groundball hit in front of him and when the SS made the throw to 1st he took off for 3rd. The 1B made the out at first and fired a high throw to 3B. The 3B jumped to catch the ball and brought the tag down square on our pitchers head right as was coming into the bag. I saw the ump make the call for the 3rd out and looked back down to continue stretching my calves. That is when I heard our pitcher start to scream.

We all rushed over to the bag and the first things I heard were the other team's pitcher say he heard a loud snap and our pitcher say I broke it. Apparently the tag on the head knocked our pitcher to the ground and the 3B landed on his wrist. It was very obvious from looking at it that he had broken his wrist. We ended up calling an ambulance and after getting him taped up in a splint they took him to the hospital. To be honest I don't know exactly how to put the scene in to words. You never want to see anyone get hurt like that and it's that much harder to see when it is a good friend of yours. I'll go a little more into his condition now at the end of the post.

So once the ambulance arrived the ump had us go back out to finish the game. It was the top of the 7th we were up by 7 runs and we just needed 3 outs to win the game. Unfortuantely we were down to 9 players now and our pitcher had not pitched a game in well over a year. He is actually a pretty solid pitcher, but coming in cold like that it was expected he would probably struggle a bit to find the strike zone. That is exactly what happened. His first few pitches were off the mark by quite a bit and the entire opposing team decided to take the approach that they would not swing at a pitch until they had seen at least one strike. Due to some cramps in my calves I was catching the last couple of innings and sitting there watching them take close pitch after close pitch and keep walking I was getting very angry. It's one thing if the opposing pitcher just can;t find the strike zone, but given the circumstances of why we had someone else in there pitching I thought the least they could do was swing at pitches that were just barely balls and try to hit to actually beat us.

In the end it didn't they scored 4 runs to close the gap to 8-5, but their best hitter came up with the bases loaded and two outs and flied out to RF to end the game. So we took two games from a good team who we don;t get along with. THat was obviously a great feeling, but the injury to our pitcher dampened that quite a bit.

I continued to hit well in these games. MY first at bat I hit a rocket line drive right at the 3B which actually hit him in the glove, but he dropped it and I reached safely. I walked in my second at bat. My first walk of the year. In my third at bat I hit a sac fly to left. And in my final at bat of the first game I hit a hard line drive right back up the middle to go 2 for 2 for the game. In the second game I got a single between SS and 3B in my first time up. In my second at bat I hit a hard ground ball to short and as I was running up the line I felt my calves start to cramp up. This happens to me a lot when I get dehydrated. I was thrown out at first and I went back to the bench to start heavily drinking fluids and stretching hoping to get through the game. However when I tried to run it was pretty clear to me that if I went hard they were going to knot up. So I was essentially shot for the rest of the day.

I told Coug as I was coming up for my final at bat that if I got on I would need him to pinch run for me. I don't think anyone on the team really understood the situation though. I hit a rocket into the left center gap in my last at bat. IN a vain attempt to cut the ball off the left fielder dove for it but missed and it went to the wall with no one anywhere near. I am probably the slowest guy on our team, but I think everyone thought I would have a shot at a triple on that hit. Unfortunately when the left cewnter fielder picked up the ball and threw it back in I was still hobbling to 1B. If I tried to run at all I would have just collapsed to the ground. So I ended up with what will liekly be the longest single of the season. Still I finished the day 4 for 5. Not too shabby.

Sunday Team Record: 4-2
Batting Average: .545 (12/22)

[primelord]

Sorry for the book like length of the last post. A lot of things happened this past Sunday.

As for our picther Bill I talked to him this morning after he got out of surgery. The damage to his wrist was a little more severe than they initially thought. If I understood him correctly the radius bone snapped right at the wrist and the ulna was fractured. The ended up having to put a metal plate and 9 screws into his wrist this morning. The good news is he is actually in good spirits all things considered. He will be in a hard cast for the next couple of weeks and then soft cast for 4 weeks after that. The doctors told him they expect it will be 3 months before he can play softball again. That hopefully means he will be able to join us in our fall leagues. I know he is already ready to get back out there and we are all hoping he has a speedy recovery.

[primelord]

Game 3: Tuesday Night League

We had a bye week and then two straight rainouts so it has been a month since we last played in this league. We are playing the same team that we played in the first week. I forgot to mention that almost the entire team is made up of guys I went to high school with. Over the last few years I have constantly run into teams full of guys I went to high school with. It seems guys in my high schoo and specifically in my graduating class don't like to move out of St. Louis.

This game started out in similar fashion to the last one we had with them. They put up on 9 runs on us int he first inning. UNfortunately we didn;t respond and by the 5th inning it was 12-0 and we were on the verge of having the game called. We came roaring back in the bottom of the 5th though and put 9 runs on them to make it a game again. Both teams traded runs in the 6th and we went into the bottom of the 7th down by 5.

In the 7th we managed to get two runs in and had 1st and 3rd with two outs and my bat crazy buddy up at the plate. He is really a very good hitter and the guy behind him is a very good hitter too so we were in very good shape to tie the game. Much to everyone's shock my buddy fouled two pitches straight back and struck out to end the game. Talk about anti-climactic. He actually did the exact same thing in his first at bat which led to one of the strangest lines in softball history. He hit tow balls that were both a couple feet of going out of the park. One led to a triple and the other was a double only because the guy running in front of him missed 2B and had to go back to touch it. So he had a double and a triple both one hopping the wall and two strike outs. That is just odd. Generally someone capable of striking out twice is not capable of crushing the ball tot he wall and vice versa.

I had a pretty solid night overall. I had actually decided to make the adjustment that AE was talking about above and I moved farter back in the box. In my first at bat the picther served up the mother of all beach balls to me. It was right at letter high, dead center, and right at the back of the plate. My eyes lit up... and I hit a towering fly ball that dropped right into the left fielders glove. I can't believe I missed that pitch. In my second at bat I hit a real hard ground ball that the SS made a pretty great play on and threw me out. So I was 0 for 2, but I felt like I hit that ball well. In my 3rd at bat I hit nice hard line drive double over the 3B head and in my final at bat I again hit a hard line drive right past the 3B for a single. So I finished the night 2 for 4 and hit the ball well 3 times. I vats improvement for me in this league.

Tuesday Team Record: 0-3
Batting Average: .538 (14/26)

[Travis]

Great read so far man, nice to see the batting average skyrocketing up the charts

If you find yourself ever looking at picking up another bat, I'd highly recommend the Anderson line. I've got a Rocket Tech and the thing was on fire straight out of the wrapper, and if I can ever find a Rocket Tech Composite Killer it will be added to my collection immediately. Both are ASA approved if you enter into any tournies that require that.

I'm curious to know though, in a self analyzed style, what you think of your batting stance/swing. I've played with a lot of different approaches since making the switch from baseball to slowpitch and have settled on two different styles depending on what I'm looking to accomplish at the plate. But always looking for more ideas, I always like hearing other people's approach, what they focus on for their own style and how they try to implement their own strengths and cover any potential weaknesses.

[Poli]

After watching my church get lit up last week, I was thinking about my own softball progression.

I was a baseball player before, but hadn't played competitively in about 6 years before I started playing with them. I had a few pick up games in Harrisburg, Arkansas (very interesting how those games come together) and I found hitting a softball to be incredibly hard.

Simply put, my baseball skills made me a good fielder but a horrible hitter for some reason. Turned out I had been so out of the game my hitting mechanics were all out of whack.

I split time with another guy in right field and usually batted at the bottom of the order. It was frustrating, because I knew I was much better than that.

It wasn't until I was playing ball for my ship and church in Norfolk that people started helping me with my hitting mechanics. I was literally swinging flatfooted and just trying to push the ball to third. I was fast enough pre surgery to just beat out a ground ball to the 3rd base side...regardless of a bobble or not.

I don't know why or how I picked that up.

That and other advice really helped me get my swing back in shape. Last year and in my short season of this year I've hit the ball better than I have ever in my life.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Travis

I'm curious to know though, in a self analyzed style, what you think of your batting stance/swing. I've played with a lot of different approaches since making the switch from baseball to slowpitch and have settled on two different styles depending on what I'm looking to accomplish at the plate. But always looking for more ideas, I always like hearing other people's approach, what they focus on for their own style and how they try to implement their own strengths and cover any potential weaknesses.

Essentially everything I have changed to better my softball swing has come from www.swingmechanics.com

That's a dedicated site specifically for the softball swing and the differences between it and a baseball swing. Most of our team has migrated towards hitting that way. I still haven't incorporated all the things he suggests into my swing, but I have made 3 changes that have made a tremendous difference.

1) My grip was completely wrong. A lot of former baseball players grip the bat with the middle knuckles on their top hand in line with their top knuckles on their bottom hand. This will cause you to cast in your swing and will rob you of a lot of your power. It forces you to roll your wrists over too early. By lining the 2nd knuckles of your top hand up with the 2nd knuckles on your bottom hand you will be able to create a whip motion in your swing that will generate far more power. This grip felt very uncomfortable for me the first few times out, but now it feels weird holding the bat the way I used to.

Another thing I do in my grip is I drop my pinky over the knob of the bat. This also was quite uncomfortable at first but it is a key change to the swing. When you release the top hand (which I will get to next) it allows your hand to work as one with the bat and for your wrist to roll over much easier right after you make contact with the ball.

2) Releasing my top hand from the bat right before contact is made. Any time you see someone somplete their swing with both hands on the bat they robbed themselves of bat speed. The onger you make your swing arc the more bat speed you can generate. If you keep the top hand on the bat then the length of your swing is limited by your back shoulder. By releasing your top hand right before you make contact you can continue to accelorate the bat through the ball.

3) Throwing my hands at the ball. There are two ways to swing a bat, casting and whipping. In order to hit the ball as hard as you can you want to whip the bat. When you cast you lead with your bottom hand and drag the bat at the ball. To whip the bat you want to use your top hand to throw the barrell of the bat at the ball. A good way to practice how this should feel is to turn your top hand upsaide down in BP and just push the handle of the bat with your top hand as you swing. You will immediately see what the whip is supposed to feel like.

Those are the 3 big changes I have made and they have made a world of differnce. They do take some time to get used to though if you don;t already swing like that. There are some other things I still don;t do well. I don't get my hands back far enough before the swing which would again help me to lengthen my swing arc and generate more bat speed. I also don;t use my lower body enough I don;t think in driving into the ball, but just those 3 changes alone have helped me a great deal.

[Travis]

Good stuff man, I'm going to take a tour through that site after work tonight (well okay, maybe during intermissions), but it's nice to see that I'm already doing two of those three (knuckle lineup and the top hand release). I had a few *discussions* with some batting coaches along the way in baseball about the release, but strangely enough, the part about the knuckles is how I've always been taught to hold a bat. Never specifically explained that well, but it gives me some ideas on how to possibly help a few players on my team now who are rolling their wrists way too early (or at least one more thing to look and see if it's part of the problem).

Again, this is without looking at that site, so I'm not sure what they suggest for incorporating your lower body into your swing more, but a few things to try would be starting with more weight on your front foot when you set up, forcing yourself to get your weight back as you prepare to swing which should result in more drive through as you swing, or to even try alternating your stance from what you're using now to the opposite style (ie: if you stand spread out, try standing more straight up with your feet close together ala Ken Griffey, of if that's how you stand now, spread it out and see how that works). I've been experimenting with three styles personally, I call them my Molitor (feet quite far apart, front foot picks up and sets back down in the same spot), Bagwell (shoulder width apart, front foot has a small stride) and the Griffey (nearly standing straight up, quite a long stride during the swing). I've found each gives me a lot of different things I can do while still letting me be pretty solid against any pitcher type. I generate the most power from my Bagwell stance for hitting home runs, the Griffey is 90% line drives with the occasional moon shot or sky fly ball, while the Molitor is one I can pretty much place things for a single if that's what the situation calls for.

Some food for thought, and definitely something to try in practice for a while first.

[Icy]

Sorry for threadjacking but what are the main differences between softball and baseball?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Icy

Sorry for threadjacking but what are the main differences between softball and baseball?

Are you asking what the difference in the swings are or just the sports in general?

[Icy]

Originally Posted by primelord

Are you asking what the difference in the swings are or just the sports in general?

Sports in general, of course i know about baseball and i have heard about softball before but never saw a game myself and don't know the differences between them.

[Travis]

Biggest difference is diamond dimensions and pitching style. In softball, there are different variations with anything from full windmill style pitching, to modified rules where it's still underhand, with no full windmill, to slowpitch which has two different pitching styles, a strikezone or mat. Pitching in this is an underhand lob that generally has to reach at least 6 feet in height, and each league has their own rules on maximum height, usually ranging from 12-18 feet if it's not unlimited. Strike zone leagues require the ball to come down through the classic strikezone while mat leagues are just that, a mat placed behind home plate, and the ball must land on the mat (in some leagues home plate is considered a strike, in others a ball) to be a strike.

Field wise, I'm not sure what most softball leagues are, but for any slowpitch league I've been in, it's 60 feet to each base with the mound anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of the way between second and home.

There are lots of rule changes from baseball/softball to slowpitch (mostly safety related and to avoid collisions), but I'll leave those out of here for now

[WSUCougar]

Of course the ball is much bigger in softball. And the defense fields 10 men rather than nine, moist commonly four outfielders or a "short fielder" who usually plays short left center.

As a generalization, slow-pitch softball emphasizes hitting and defense. Although there are definite exceptions, the main goal of the pitcher is to get it over the plate where it's hittable.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Of course the ball is much bigger in softball. And the defense fields 10 men rather than nine, moist commonly four outfielders or a "short fielder" who usually plays short left center.

As a generalization, slow-pitch softball emphasizes hitting and defense. Although there are definite exceptions, the main goal of the pitcher is to get it over the plate where it's hittable.

And when playing co-ed, some leagues/tournaments use a different size ball for female hitters than they do the guys to even out the hitting a bit.

[Dutch]

Wow, I'm gonna try to work with some of those batting suggestions. I've never considered that stuff before. Thanks Primelord.

[Vince]

Excellent idea -- I had considered doing this for my softball league, but our team has been so horrible that I shudder to think of what the recaps would look like. Imagine the frustration of relaying a perfect throw from the outfield to home plate as a cut-off man, only to have the catcher be standing in the completely wrong place, and missing the tag completely even though the throw beat the runner by a good 5 or 10 feet. We've won 1 game and lost 5 -- and each of the 5 losses were by the 10-run mercy rule. Last Tuesday, however, I was 4/4 with a triple, a three-run HR and some fantastic defensive plays at 2B...made me think about starting it up again

As for the changes between a baseball and softball swing...Rick, have you noticed that it really makes THAT much of a difference? I still bat exactly the same way I did in hardball back in the day, and I'm a pretty good softball hitter. I can hit it out (~300 foot walls at our complex) occasionally, and am also able to push it to Right Field (I bat righty) if I need to. I'm always looking to make myself better, though -- and I definitely don't hold the bat like you describe. Imagining it now (I don't own my own bat yet...only recently started playing softball regularly), and holding an imaginary bat in that grip feels awkward as all heck. I might have to try it in the cage next time I go.

[Dutch]

You may not be in need of any more assistance, Vince. Sounds like you have tremendous bat speed as it is. And if you are hitting HRs and going 4-4, chances are something in your mechanics is working just fine and shouldn't be messed with.

My problem is that I tend to hit line-drives or grounders somewhere in the 3B/SS range. But my intent is to drive it in front of the LCF.

If I am batting opposite field (when I believe the gloves are too good or the RF is really bad or I get a really juicy outside pitch), I tend to bloop it over the 1B's head. But it's not uncommon for the ball to be within range of a shallow RF or a quick 2B.

I find limited success either way. I've never been a distance hitter.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Vince

As for the changes between a baseball and softball swing...Rick, have you noticed that it really makes THAT much of a difference? I still bat exactly the same way I did in hardball back in the day, and I'm a pretty good softball hitter. I can hit it out (~300 foot walls at our complex) occasionally, and am also able to push it to Right Field (I bat righty) if I need to. I'm always looking to make myself better, though -- and I definitely don't hold the bat like you describe. Imagining it now (I don't own my own bat yet...only recently started playing softball regularly), and holding an imaginary bat in that grip feels awkward as all heck. I might have to try it in the cage next time I go.

The changes really do make a very significant difference. A baseball swing is all about quick movements and a good deal of the power is generated from the pitch speed. In softball you are having to provide all of the power. Now there are certainly guys, like yourself, who hit just fine using a regular baseball swing. If you are comfortable and happy with the way you are hitting then you certainly don't need to change anything.

However I will say that making these changes will lead to you hitting the ball harder than you do now. I think the goal whenever you get up to the plate in softball should be to hit the ball as hard as you can every time. When you hit the ball hard good things happen. If you can hit a home run now I think you will find that if you made some of these changes you would be able to do it more consistently than before.

With that being said only make the changes if you are going to actually commit to doing it. The grip is going to feel weird at first as will releasing the bat with the top hand. When you first hit in the cgae like that it is very unlikely you will hit well and you will be tempted to ditch the new changes. It takes some time to get used to it, but I really do think it is very worth it even for guys who already hit well.

[Icy]

Ok thanks guys, i underestand now. It reminds me a variation of baseball we played in spain when i was a kid. Not sure who imported that to my city as nobody here plays baseball in Spain. The thing is that the pitcher threw the ball without any speed, just a lob over the strike zone. Years after that, when i learned about baseball, i always asked myself why we played with that pitching rule of slow pitching. Now i think i know the answer, whoever imported the game to Spain, imported Softball not Baseball.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Need a player for say...next year?

Sorry AE I meant to respond to this and forgot. Are you going to be back in the St. Louis area next year? If so get in touch with me. We play in a lot of leagues. So I would imagine we could use you.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by primelord

Sorry AE I meant to respond to this and forgot. Are you going to be back in the St. Louis area next year? If so get in touch with me. We play in a lot of leagues. So I would imagine we could use you.

Yeah, absolutely. I should be closer to the city than I currently am as well.

[Vince]

Originally Posted by primelord

The changes really do make a very significant difference. A baseball swing is all about quick movements and a good deal of the power is generated from the pitch speed. In softball you are having to provide all of the power. Now there are certainly guys, like yourself, who hit just fine using a regular baseball swing. If you are comfortable and happy with the way you are hitting then you certainly don't need to change anything.

However I will say that making these changes will lead to you hitting the ball harder than you do now. I think the goal whenever you get up to the plate in softball should be to hit the ball as hard as you can every time. When you hit the ball hard good things happen. If you can hit a home run now I think you will find that if you made some of these changes you would be able to do it more consistently than before.

With that being said only make the changes if you are going to actually commit to doing it. The grip is going to feel weird at first as will releasing the bat with the top hand. When you first hit in the cgae like that it is very unlikely you will hit well and you will be tempted to ditch the new changes. It takes some time to get used to it, but I really do think it is very worth it even for guys who already hit well.

I think I'll definitely try it. While I can and do hit the ball quite well as is, I'm not as consistent as I was when I was playing hardball. For instance, before last week's 4/4 game, I was something like 2/14 on the year (yes, we are so bad we only get about two at bats per game). Thanks for the tips (and that website, I'm going to have to bookmark that) -- I'll have to let you know how the changes go.

[Travis]

Just as an attempt to clarify (in case I'm the one going totally off the mark here), I'm associating the actual dynasty going on with slowpitch, not softball. Am I correct in this reading or are you playing a form of softball (and if so, what pitching style)?

Reason I ask is because the swing difference between baseball and softball would be minimal, while the change from either to slowpitch will be much more pronounced, and from the contents of Vince's post, I'm assuming he's playing softball, not slowpitch, as most slowpitch leagues that I've heard of don't allow tags at home plate.

Please let me know if I'm way off base on this as I'm going to be following along and want to picture the right style game in my head

[primelord]

The leagues I play in are all slow pitch leagues. Most leagues you know of don't allow you to tag someone out at home plate? How would you evre get them out?

[Poli]

I've seen the site you mentioned before as well. I should probably go to a cage and try the grip out. I've only seen one guy use it before, and he wasn't a very powerful hitter.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by primelord

The leagues I play in are all slow pitch leagues. Most leagues you know of don't allow you to tag someone out at home plate? How would you evre get them out?

The leagues/tournies up here for the most part use a commitment line. Usually 1/3 to 1/2 way from home to third, and as a runner, once you cross that line, you're committed to going home. To score a run, you're not allowed to touch home plate, instead you cross the plane by running behind the plate. The catcher has to possess the ball and touch home plate (not including the mat) prior to you crossing the plane to get you out. Regular run downs can occur prior to the commitment line.

Just to cut down on potential collisions at home plate and to get a bit of seperation between where the throw is going and where the runner is with none of the leagues or tournies I've been in requiring you to wear a batting helmet, so coming home is usually your most vulnerable time from any angle to see the ball come at you.

As an additional question, I don't suppose you guys (or know anybody) who comes up for the Edson Slow Pitch tournament in August? It's the biggest tourney in North America for Slow Pitch, and there are always a bunch of American teams up for it. If any of you are, we'll have to meet for a beer or two.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Travis

The leagues/tournies up here for the most part use a commitment line. Usually 1/3 to 1/2 way from home to third, and as a runner, once you cross that line, you're committed to going home. To score a run, you're not allowed to touch home plate, instead you cross the plane by running behind the plate. The catcher has to possess the ball and touch home plate (not including the mat) prior to you crossing the plane to get you out. Regular run downs can occur prior to the commitment line.

Just to cut down on potential collisions at home plate and to get a bit of seperation between where the throw is going and where the runner is with none of the leagues or tournies I've been in requiring you to wear a batting helmet, so coming home is usually your most vulnerable time from any angle to see the ball come at you.

As an additional question, I don't suppose you guys (or know anybody) who comes up for the Edson Slow Pitch tournament in August? It's the biggest tourney in North America for Slow Pitch, and there are always a bunch of American teams up for it. If any of you are, we'll have to meet for a beer or two.

Interesting idea on the committal line...though it appears to take what little strain I've seen in catching out of the equation.

Part of my first softball dynasty was an inept catcher. You simply could not hand him the ball and expect him to hold on to it. I think he was afraid of a collision and would almost always miss the tag and or the ball.

That first season I also knocked over a catcher who was in fact blocking the plate.

Last year, I played some catcher for the first time in...years. One game was particularly crazy in that I made three outs at the plate. Knowing I shouldn't stand in the basepath I took different stances depending on the throw.

From left or center, I put my back to right and tried to catch the ball at the basepath in front of the plate. On a throw from the right, I adjusted more to my right and was about parallel to the basepath.

It worked for me. I didn't get run over.

[Travis]

As the threadjacking continues

I should also clarify that any slowpitch leagues I've been a part of have been coed, and usually either a 6 male/4 female or 7/3 split, and 95% of the time, it's the weakest female playing catcher, so I'm guessing that's a large part of why the rule was brought in. I've never played in any men's leagues, so I don't know if it's a common rule around here or if it's not heard of.

[Poli]

Mixed leagues...yech. Saw a few mixed league tournaments in Wisconsin. Not a fan.

Guy walks, the girl behind him walks. Puts a runner in scoring position automatically. Not a fan.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Mixed leagues...yech. Saw a few mixed league tournaments in Wisconsin. Not a fan.

Guy walks, the girl behind him walks. Puts a runner in scoring position automatically. Not a fan.

There's some variations for that rule. Generally the situation you describe requires the male batter to be walked without getting a strike. I've played in some tournaments where any male being walked with a female following gets to go to second, while only if it was 4 straight balls does the girl get the option of hitting or going to first. Personally, I like the rule if it's 4 straight balls to get the option for the girl, and as a coach on my team, I encourage the girls to hit rather than take the free pass.

Essentially mixed leagues come down to the home runs rules (cap/differential and what happens when one or the other is reached) and how good your girls are. If you have a bunch of home run mashers, that can make up the difference in itself, but most leagues/tournaments have some sort of limitation rule to even that up some. Having 3 solid girls rather than guys dragging out their girlfriends gives your team a big edge.

[primelord]

Ah I have never played in a coed league before. In all the mens leagues I have played in you make the tag at home. However there is a rule in plce that you either slide or give yourself up. There is no running over the catcher or they will throw you out.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by primelord

Ah I have never played in a coed league before. In all the mens leagues I have played in you make the tag at home. However there is a rule in plce that you either slide or give yourself up. There is no running over the catcher or they will throw you out.

I was surprised that I stayed in the game where I knocked the catcher over. As I was running home I figured he'd eventually get out of the way. I knew there wasn't much of a chance he was going to make a play on me...but he was planted there. I really didn't have much of an option to slide around him.

[Vince]

Yeah, I'm playing slowpitch too -- but there are tags at the plate. As a matter of fact, last week I juked the hell out of a catcher who already had the ball and made a pretty impressive dive across the inside part of the plate to score

We're also allowed to have collisions at the plate, you just can't lower your shoulder (I've never seen a collision at this place, and I don't know how exactly it would work without lowering your shoulder, but...it's supposed to be legal). Co-ed leagues are also make-the-tag-at-home leagues at this complex -- my mom was a catcher, and was taken out more than a few times at the plate (by men as well as women). I don't think she ever dropped the ball, and she's 5 feet nothing, 130 pounds dripping wet

The commitment line thing sounds exactly like what we used in intramural softball at UCSB -- no sliding allowed at any base, and at home plate there were no tags.

Interestingly enough, our men's league has a cap on HR's -- 2 per team per game (and that's more than the league we were in in the Fall, where you only got 1 per team per game). After that, any HR is an out for your team, and a run for the other team.

[Poli]

I'll stop with this story, I promise.

Hit one over the centerfielder's head and to the fence during a tournament last year. Went sprinting over to third figuring I had a triple. Base coach waves me through and I take off for home.

You know it's bad when you hear the other team saying "we got him!" before the ball is at the plate and you're halfway there. I get close and the catch gets the ball on the fly.

I haven't slid face first since sometime in the late 80's. I pinched a nerve in my neck when I did it and I don't think I'll ever do it again.

Anyhow, he's blocking the plate and has every right to do so, but I'm not going to walk into a tag either. It's too late to turn around, I've got too much momentum. I dove out into the field and slid my right arm on the ground around the catcher to touch the plate. He gets my side on the tag as he dives out to get me, but his body blocked the umpire's view.

I got called safe.

[Vince]

Beautiful