Fall Drafts Tonight
My old league used to place fall players based on who they played with the prior season. This league puts all returning majors, juniors, and seniors on the same team they came from and drafts the balance. I don’t know which is better, both ways seem to work. At least if it’s a draft, nobody can complain.
Some people get too competitive in the fall. The fact is, winning is insignificant in the fall. Look at it as spring training. Get as many players as many reps as possible. Then, when you are in the championship game next year, even your 7,8,9 hitters will have loads of experience. That’s how to approach the fall season.
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What Ever Happened to Taking a Strike?
Image by williamhartz via Flickr Last night in the Little League Softball Championship game, down by 4 runs, w/ the 7,8,9 batters up New Jersey went out there hacking??? This is not to single them out, I have seen this in just about every game that is close in the late innings. Baseball/Softball 101 says "Take a strike". For some reason, this isn’t the case any more. I have had coaches tell me "I don’t like to do that because it doesn’t teach anything". Huh?
Of course it does. It teaches kids THE RIGHT THING!
Why do we take a strike?
1. You only have about a 30% chance of getting on base swinging the bat . That means that if I swing and make contact, 2 out of 3 times I am going to make an out. Doesn’t sound like good odds to me. Do you think a professional gambler would play w/ these odds?
2. The last 3 outs are always the most difficult to get. How many times have you seen a team blow a 2,3,4 or more run lead in the last inning? I am beginning to think it happens more often than not.
3. Taking a strike eliminates any chance of your player swinging at a ball. Remove the pressure from your player, they already have enough stress on them. Let them take a strike and settle in. You might get a walk out of it.
4. You need baserunners! You can’t win if you don’t get players on base. Remember the objective is to get the tying run to the plate. You can’t do that if you ground out, fly out, or strike out.
Not only should you take a strike. If you get to 3-1 you should consider taking that pitch as well. If you have a great hitter up let them rip, but any player that is even slightly shaky should be taking 3-1 as well. Once you get up your power hitter as the tying run. Let ‘em rip! But until then. TAKE A STRIKE!
Can you think of another time you should take a strike?
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Championship – The Little League Mom
Image by bensonkua via FlickrGuest Post for The Little League Coach
by Little League Mom (AKA E. Peevie)
Here’s the thing. We’re leaving for vacation today. Unfortunately—well it’s actually great, but the timing is unfortunate–C. Peevie’s team, the Brewers, starts the league championship tournament today.
I’m sure this happens all the time to teams and kids and coaches. I remember missing my team’s trip to the state championships when I was playing varsity softball as a sophomore back in the Mesozoic era. My parents made the executive decision that my cousin’s wedding was more important than the state championships. I’m still not sure I agree with them—even from the perspective of a parent facing a similar dilemma.
Actually, it’s not really a dilemma. We’ll leave a few hours later than planned so that C. Peevie can play in his first-ever championship tournament. But the Brewers will have to field a different first baseman for game two of the series, and game three if they split, because C. Peevie will be hitting the beach, not the ball, in South Haven, Michigan.
I’m sure that C. Peevie is disappointed. Whatever. He’s young. He’ll get over it.
But this is really about me, the Little League Mom. What about my feelings? I’m the one whose feet swelled to clown size, whose ankles disappeared, and whose belly was sliced open to get that ball-player on the field today. That’s MY boy out there, pointing to the left field fence and smacking one into the bleachers. Or not—but it’s still my boy making his championship appearance.
I’ve watched him learn lots of life lessons in five seasons of little league baseball—but I’ve never gotten the chance to see him get this close to a league crown and team glory. It’s the right decision, to head up to South Haven after game one. It’s not really much of a choice—the reservations are made and paid, the extended family will be there—but still. The heart breaks.
TTFN, readers, and I’ll catch you on the flip side of the tournament.
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Just Got In!
Image via Wikipedia It’s after midnight and I just got in! Umped major championship after getting field ready. Well, the city guy did most of the work and he wasn’t even supposed to be there! Learned a pretty cool trick w/ a pump to get rid of water, but that will have to save that story for later.
Anyway, losing team was up by 8 in going into the bottom of the 5th and lost on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth. Amazing. I think we will see more of this with the new pitching rules. Teams are on their 5th and 6th pitchers this late in the tournament.
Sectionals tomorrow have to be there at 7:30! Gotta run!
What’s the greatest ending to a game you have ever seen?
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Hitting Fails You More Often than Pitching
Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr
Tonight we played in the championship game of our Tournament of Champions tournament. We came out of the loser’s bracket so we had to be a very good opponent twice before they beat us once. This would have been a major feat, but we were up to it.
We started out good, up 5-1, but I knew that was not enough. They had pitched their ace in the last game to assure they stayed atop the winner’s bracket, so she was not available. The pitcher they pitched was very good, but we usually kill good pitching. Unfortunately, our bats went quiet.
We didn’t hit solid and they have good defense, so we were unable to produce enough runs. We lost 8-5. We should have scored at least 10 or more, but unfortunately, we did not.
Relying on hitting to win games can be fun, but it is a recipe for disaster. Great hitting like we have will fail you much faster than great pitching. Give me a team w/ great pitching that can’t hit any day. All I have to score is a few runs then. When we have to score 10 every game to win, it is difficult.
Oh well, it was a fantastic season, we won our League’s top team title for the second year in a row and played in the tournament of champions championship game for the second straight year. That is something to be very proud of.
My first season coaching these very girls we were 0-18. The last two years we have played the best in our district and found ourselves in the championship each year. I am proud of what they have accomplished and look forward to next year!
What is the proudest you have ever been on a field?
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