Walks Kill
Image by StuSeeger via Flickr
We all know that walks are never a good thing , but in Little League they are particularly bad. This was never more true than in the 19-9 trouncing our team major softball team received tonight. We walked 16 batters and 14 of them scored. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how we lost.
The team we played was very good, and I am not saying we would have won even had we not walked their girls so often. But a team doesn’t give itself a chance if it doesn’t throw strikes. At least throwing strikes you give your defense a chance, walking pretty much eliminates that opportunity.
The bright side of this equation is that we can only improve. We have worked our pitchers very hard and will continue to do so all year. They will only get better. Our defense and our offense is sound, hopefully our pitchers will be just good enough to get us by.
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O how true… Minor League Softball – the same applies. Throwing strikes gives the other team a chance to make an out, whether by strikeout or by hitting to a defensive position. Our team walked 8 in the last two innings of play, and in effect handed the other team 8 runs in a close and nail-biting 11-12 loss this past Monday.
We’ve implemented a rule in our five-lady pitching rotation: Walk three in a row and the next pitcher in the rotation takes over. Walk four in an inning and walk a run in (assuming the walks were spread out over more than five batters), and the next pitcher takes over. Hopefully that gives a little incentive to pitch better. We also leave the same pitcher in place for the balance of the game (typically two innings) for good pitching performance.
With one exception, we have no one with any accuracy/velocity on our team, but still – allowing the other team an opportunity to hit makes them work for each and every run, and exercises our defense.
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Adrian,
I think in minors throwing strikes are even more important! I bet if you look over your book about 75% of the walks actually score. Just a guess.
I love your rotation, saw that in your email last night. We do the same thing in majors in the fall. My favorite part of your rules is:
1. They are clearly defined and everyone understands them.
2. They put pressure on the pitcher to focus and perform.
When pitchers fail, it is easy to pick them back up w/ a few encouraging works, when they succeed, they gain confidence for life!
New pitchers really don’t need velocity or accuracy, they just need to get used to the mound and the mechanics. Pitching in softball is very difficult to teach and requires practicing just about every day. Unfortunately, we as coaches don’t have that much time to dedicate to it. It is up to the girls to work at home.
Great comment and please keep them coming!