| SOFTBALL TIPS |
|
|
|
| SITE STUFF |
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
| • |
June 26, 2005 |
| • |
July 03, 2005 |
| • |
July 10, 2005 |
| • |
July 17, 2005 |
| • |
July 24, 2005 |
| • |
July 31, 2005 |
| • |
August 07, 2005 |
| • |
August 14, 2005 |
| • |
August 21, 2005 |
| • |
August 28, 2005 |
| • |
September 11, 2005 |
| • |
October 02, 2005 |
| • |
October 09, 2005 |
| • |
October 23, 2005 |
| • |
October 30, 2005 |
| • |
November 06, 2005 |
| • |
November 13, 2005 |
| • |
December 04, 2005 |
| • |
December 18, 2005 |
| • |
December 25, 2005 |
| • |
January 08, 2006 |
| • |
January 15, 2006 |
| • |
January 29, 2006 |
| • |
February 05, 2006 |
| • |
February 12, 2006 |
| • |
February 19, 2006 |
| • |
February 26, 2006 |
| • |
March 05, 2006 |
| • |
March 12, 2006 |
| • |
March 19, 2006 |
| • |
March 26, 2006 |
| • |
April 02, 2006 |
| • |
April 09, 2006 |
| • |
April 16, 2006 |
| • |
April 23, 2006 |
| • |
April 30, 2006 |
| • |
May 07, 2006 |
| • |
May 14, 2006 |
| • |
May 21, 2006 |
| • |
May 28, 2006 |
| • |
June 04, 2006 |
| • |
June 11, 2006 |
| • |
June 18, 2006 |
| • |
June 25, 2006 |
| • |
July 09, 2006 |
| • |
July 16, 2006 |
| • |
July 23, 2006 |
| • |
July 30, 2006 |
| • |
August 13, 2006 |
| • |
August 20, 2006 |
| • |
September 03, 2006 |
| • |
September 10, 2006 |
| • |
September 17, 2006 |
| • |
September 24, 2006 |
| • |
October 01, 2006 |
| • |
October 08, 2006 |
| • |
October 15, 2006 |
| • |
October 22, 2006 |
| • |
November 12, 2006 |
| • |
November 26, 2006 |
| • |
December 31, 2006 |
| • |
January 14, 2007 |
| • |
January 21, 2007 |
| • |
January 28, 2007 |
| • |
February 04, 2007 |
| • |
February 11, 2007 |
| • |
February 18, 2007 |
| • |
February 25, 2007 |
| • |
March 04, 2007 |
| • |
March 11, 2007 |
| • |
March 18, 2007 |
| • |
April 01, 2007 |
| • |
April 08, 2007 |
| • |
April 15, 2007 |
| • |
April 22, 2007 |
| • |
April 29, 2007 |
| • |
May 06, 2007 |
| • |
May 13, 2007 |
| • |
May 20, 2007 |
| • |
May 27, 2007 |
| • |
June 03, 2007 |
| • |
June 10, 2007 |
| • |
June 17, 2007 |
| • |
June 24, 2007 |
| • |
July 01, 2007 |
| • |
July 22, 2007 |
| • |
July 29, 2007 |
| • |
August 12, 2007 |
| • |
August 19, 2007 |
| • |
September 02, 2007 |
| • |
September 16, 2007 |
| • |
September 30, 2007 |
| • |
October 07, 2007 |
| • |
October 14, 2007 |
| • |
October 21, 2007 |
| • |
November 04, 2007 |
| • |
November 18, 2007 |
| • |
November 25, 2007 |
| • |
December 02, 2007 |
| • |
December 09, 2007 |
| • |
December 16, 2007 |
| • |
January 13, 2008 |
| • |
February 17, 2008 |
| • |
February 24, 2008 |
| • |
March 02, 2008 |
| • |
March 09, 2008 |
| • |
March 30, 2008 |
| • |
April 06, 2008 |
| • |
April 13, 2008 |
| • |
April 20, 2008 |
| • |
April 27, 2008 |
| • |
May 04, 2008 |
| • |
May 11, 2008 |
| • |
May 18, 2008 |
| • |
May 25, 2008 |
| • |
June 01, 2008 |
| • |
June 15, 2008 |
| • |
June 22, 2008 |
| • |
June 29, 2008 |
| • |
July 06, 2008 |
| • |
July 13, 2008 |
| • |
July 20, 2008 |
| • |
August 03, 2008 |
| • |
August 10, 2008 |
| • |
August 17, 2008 |
| • |
August 24, 2008 |
| • |
August 31, 2008 |
| • |
September 07, 2008 |
| • |
September 14, 2008 |
| • |
September 21, 2008 |
| • |
September 28, 2008 |
| • |
October 05, 2008 |
| • |
October 12, 2008 |
| • |
October 19, 2008 |
| • |
October 26, 2008 |
| • |
November 02, 2008 |
| • |
November 09, 2008 |
| • |
November 16, 2008 |
| • |
November 30, 2008 |
| • |
December 07, 2008 |
| • |
December 21, 2008 |
| • |
December 28, 2008 |
| • |
February 15, 2009 |
| • |
February 22, 2009 |
| • |
April 12, 2009 |
| • |
April 19, 2009 |
| • |
April 26, 2009 |
| • |
May 03, 2009 |
| • |
May 10, 2009 |
| • |
May 17, 2009 |
| • |
May 24, 2009 |
| • |
May 31, 2009 |
| • |
June 07, 2009 |
| • |
June 14, 2009 |
| • |
June 21, 2009 |
| • |
July 05, 2009 |
| • |
July 12, 2009 |
| • |
July 19, 2009 |
| • |
August 02, 2009 |
| • |
August 30, 2009 |
| • |
September 06, 2009 |
| • |
September 20, 2009 |
| • |
October 04, 2009 |
| • |
October 11, 2009 |
| • |
October 18, 2009 |
| • |
November 08, 2009 |
| • |
November 15, 2009 |
| • |
November 22, 2009 |
| • |
November 29, 2009 |
| • |
December 27, 2009 |
| • |
January 03, 2010 |
| • |
January 10, 2010 |
| • |
January 17, 2010 |
| • |
January 24, 2010 |
| • |
January 31, 2010 |
| • |
March 14, 2010 |
| • |
March 21, 2010 |
| • |
March 28, 2010 |
| • |
April 04, 2010 |
| • |
April 18, 2010 |
| • |
April 25, 2010 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
Catch A Game
by Dave
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
I've always been a huge advocate of taking the kids out to see high quality softball games. Watching players play the game the way it is intended to be played provides an invaluable lesson to young aspiring softball players. They can get similar experience playing high level competition but one's attention is distracted when trying to survive a game against a really good team. Many of the lessons are lost as a girl tries to get on against an overwhelming pitcher or not make the error which leads to her team being run-ruled. Besides, girls are far more likely to take lessons learned from older girls. If they are comfortably watching the action from a decent vantage point, they can watch the whole field and see that, yes, the left fielder actually does move on a grounder to second or that, yes, the SS and/or 2nd baseman really does run to back up the pitcher on every pitch return from the catcher. They can watch good base running, solid defense, and perhaps how pitchers deal with adversity in tight games. The everyday lessons learned by watching good players are invaluable and should not be missed.
I like to try to keep my daughters' attention focused on the game when we are spectators but that's not always easy. If they get fidgety, I encourage them to go run off some steam. They can't always sit still for the whole seven innings especially when the game drags on. But for at least some of the game, I try to make them watch so I can point out things. As long as I can get three or four pointers out of a game, I figure I've been successful. Years later I find myself saying remember how Sally J. reacted to such and such play or remember how Jane K. deliberately hit a sacrifice fly instead of looking for a pitch she could hit over the fence. I remember picking things up as a young baseball player by watching high school and college players on the field. I still retain most of those lessons all these years later. I want no less for my daughters.
If we can, we try to get over to see a really good local junior college team play but often their schedule doesn't fit ours. The other college action can be fairly poor except in particular years when they manage to draw good players. An alternative is the local high school scene which includes some outstanding, some very good , some OK , and some pretty bad teams. I am a softball junky so I regularly read about all the local action in the morning paper and to the extent that coverage is incomplete, I consult several web sites of other papers in the general area. I like to keep abreast of all the big time teams and players in my state so that if they are playing a game within a reasonable driving distance and our schedule permits, we go to see a game where we can learn something.
Finding high school games can be somewhat difficult and frustrating but there are more of them than anything else this time of year. Our local paper does an adequate job of reporting results of games and a just OK job of providing the coming schedule. Usually they only give yesterday's game results, sometimes the standings in local conferences, and generally only the games scheduled for today. If today happens to be Friday and what I am trying to figure out is what to do tomorrow because we have a break in our schedule, I'm out of luck until tomorrow morning. Often that means we'll plan to go to "some game" tomorrow and we'll figure that out in the morning. Then we'll get up on Saturday morning and discover that this week the local high school schedule is empty. Once we checked the paper and found there was a game at "X" high school but not "Y" so we took a drive past the area of "Y" and arrived at "X" to find no game. It turned out that the paper had been wrong. That game had been scheduled at a high school outside our area. So we got back into the car and headed home. On a whim, we decided to at least stop by high school "Y" since it was on the way home. Of course, the paper was wrong again. There was a game going on so we stopped and watched. This can be very frustrating.
Fortunately, I recently discovered HighSchoolSports.net. This web site provides pretty much data as everywhere else, combined. If I were to purchase every newspaper in my state, every day, I might be able to get the same information this site provides. They don;t cover every high school today but apparently they are able to gather information regarding a large number of them. And they provide the complete schedule as it stood whenever they gathered the information. If you know for example that you have no practices, games, or tournaments on May 6, you can go page through some local teams and see if anybody is playing. It is a really nice service. I highly recommend you check it out and see if they provide decent coverage for your area. Remember, there is no form of entertainment cheaper than attending a high school softball game. There is also nothing more readily available during the current season. If you want your girls to see high quality games, do your homework, find the good local teams and plan to attend a game between two of them. HighSchoolSports.net provides you the tool to find good games.
 
|
|
|
