I’m late to the game here and this was discussed a few strolls down memory lane ago, but about MLB and all its BS, I don’t care. Just get a deal done. I need baseball to be back.
When I was a jr and Senior in high school we always played softball for phy ed. Farmers vs. city boys. The teacher pitched. Us farm boys never lost a game. Of course we grew up playing softball, recess in grade school, 4-H softball in the summer and in multiple leagues when we outgrew 4-H. Those city boys really got pissed. Of course they kicked our ass in the winter when we played basketball.
The speed of fast pitch softball is definitely something to think about. At 12U, the mound is only 40 feet from home plate. Typically you don’t see girls running it up there in the low 60s but some pitchers can. The 14U level gets you another 3 feet as a hitter (43 feet) but we saw a big jump in competition from 12 to 14 levels.
The really good pitchers are those that can throw and locate off speed because decent hitters will make contact on the hard throwers if that’s all they see. One of our daughters good friends plays on another team and she throws about as hard as anyone but she has a very ordinary change up and doesn’t throw them for strikes. So if are patient you can have success.
College softball is just another level. The game speed is pretty incredible and much like hockey watching it on TV doesn’t do the sport much justice.
As a Dad, I went to as many of my kids sporting events as possible. My oldest daughter could not make the 7th grade volleyball team. Bless her heart - a lot of want-to, but not a lot of athletic ability to go with it. My second daughter surprised me by making and starting on the 12-4, 7th grade, girls basketball team. She ended up playing on the HS varsity basketball team as a lightly used player. As a HS senior, she started a game on "senior night". She was running down the floor, crossed mid court, and severely sprained her ankle - the closet player on the court was maybe 10 feet away from her. My wife and I were called to the trainer's room. Daughter was in tears. They dried up quickly when we told her she had been accepted at the one college she wanted to get in. The call came after she had left the house. My only boy was next, and he played in a lot of sports and was good at it. Lots of games to attend. Then came the fourth child who was also a girl. She focused on the details and became OK in basketball, and barely good enough in track. But on the track team there were these 3 black girls who called themselves "the three D's" because their names started with the letter "D" - as did my daughter "Danae" - who is very Caucasian. They asked her where she got her "ghetto name". Soon after they were the "four D's". There would be others interested in her "ghetto name". The last girl was like the first. Lots of memories there.
@CUPackFan posted:7 inning games. Cut 50 games out of the season. Add a pitch clock. And add rules to prevent excessive pitching changes. Unsure how to fix the home runs and strike out issue though. But it's a start.
I like the pitch clock idea. Too much time is wasted as the pitcher adjusts his balls, shakes off pitches, looks to first base, nods to the catcher, wipes his forehead and finally peeks through his glove and throws the damn ball. Maybe make it more like football, as soon as the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher the opposing team gets to charge the mound and "sack" the pitcher. I'd watch that.
If a tree falls in the woods..........
