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SOFTBALL LINKS |
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Head First Is Not Always The Hustle Play
by Dave
Monday, June 05, 2006
Game one of the championship round of the WCWS is clearly a blowout by Arizona to go with a superb pitching performance by Hallowell. But I'm not writing because of the game per se. I am writing because of the collision at third base in the seventh inning. On that play the Northwestern kid slid head first into third base where the AZ third baseman blocked the bag while expecting the ball. The ball arrived, the runner was out, and an injury occurred.
First off, I want to be absolutely clear that the AZ third baseman should be removed from the competition for what she did on that play - not blocking the bag but for slapping the baserunner in the head with her glove after the play was over. That was unacceptable. That was totally bush league. If Candrea has guts and this incident is brought to his attention, he should suspend the player for the remainder of the tournament. Absent that, the NCAA should do similarly. There's no room in this sport for that sort of thing.
I suspect the AZ players were upset at an earlier play in which a Northwestern player slid hard into second to break up a double play. She hit the second baseman so hard, she ripped her sock right off. But guess what? The AZ second baseman made a horrendous play on that one. It was her fault that the runner ripped her sock right off. No middle infielder should stay around the bag on a double play. You either push off the inside or the outside of the bag or you brush your foot across it. But the relay throw to first is never done while standing right on the bag. That is a fundamentally unsound play. That is a play which would be unacceptable by 14Us let alone high school girls or even low level college. The Northwestern girl was right to dig her spikes into the defender. That is the fundamentally sound play to make.
But more to the point of this article, there is a general misconception on the part of young boys and girls alike that sliding head first is always the hustling play. It isn't. While I do think it gets you to the bag faster, slightly faster, when there is a fielder trying to make a play on you when you are coming into a bag, having your spikes up is the hard-nosed, hustling play to make. No, I don't want anybody to get hurt. But if you and your team always come into a bag spikes first, the other teams will learn the hard way that they should not block bags with their bodies unless they are truly willing to give up their bodies to get an out. That's hard nosed ball. That's winning ball.
Northwestern is not out of this series but they have a long way to go to get back into it. Arizona deserved to win. If Northwestern wants to play in this thing, they are going to have to use their heads ... and ... their spikes. Arizona should learn to control their rage. Their second baseman made a poor play - it was her fault she got spiked. Northwestern should have spiked the third baseman. But she should be suspended until next season for unsportsmanlike behavior on the diamond. That swing at her opposition was amateurish!
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