Bad Rules

My pet peeve is brought up in this. Outfield fences or lack of them for softball fields. It bothers me to no end that softball is played on fields with no fences or in some cases fences of 300 ft or more. These are usually at schools which play games at parks because thier schools will not give them a proper field to play on yet soccer or baseball which are non revenue sports are on fields which are conforming to most regulations. We have been the benefactor more than a victim the last few years but it still bothers me when a ball rolls down the hill to become a home run as it was in the gap, yet on a field with 200 ft fences it would be at least playable. What really gets me is state championship games being played at Walnut Creek in '97 and '98 we played on fields with 300 ft. fences. Not being in a public school now I am not sure waht happens in the public final fours however I know that the last time the private schools played at Walnut Creek in 2002 we faced the same thing. I am sure that Raleigh sould be able to put up temporary fencing for a tournamnet as I am sure they charge the state associations to use their fields. I am off the soap box now. I know this will not change but at least I can say my part.

 

Facemasks on helmets are a great idea, for baseball and softball, I think it is a great idea to make that a rule. I know in Davie County Little League, and probably most other little leagues it is a rule now that every helmet has to have the facemask.
The metal cleats. I like the idea of metal cleats, they are making them now with the thin sheet of plastic on the outside of the metal. They are really neat, and they "stick in" better!! I dont think they should have them in highschool just yet, because I have played in some pretty ugly games. And I dont want anyone to take their metal cleats to their advantage when sliding into 2nd!

 

Ms.ballfan- ladies tees are shorter because most women (not all!) are not as strong as men. So in order to make the game where women can have the opportunity to drive the ball within a reasonable distance from the green similar to the men, the women tees are closer to the green. I don't think there is a rule in golf that says a lady MUST play from the ladies tee. I have seen some ladies that can drive the ball as far as a lot of men. (those are the ones I want on my captains choice team!!)

The basketball women play with is smaller (28.5). so again, since most women's hands are smaller than a man's, a smaller ball allows more control for the ladies.

Neither of the examples made by Ms. ballfan have anything to do with safety or protecting the women players from injury. However the rules that female HS school softball players must follow many times are put in place for safety. Again, I'm not trying to down play the importance of safety, but my point is many rules or requirements that are placed on the HS softball player can be eliminated by teaching and drilling the proper mechanics of bunting and baserunning. And as sbmom stated- "One other comment guys; it is sports; there are going to be some risk and if you can't handle that you should probablly join the chess or debate clubs and give up on sports." :229031_ha

My opinion about metal cleats is that until you get used to wearing them, you can really twist a knee if you aren't careful. Other than that, I think the ladies should have the option to wear them if they choose.

As for getting spiked at a play at second, sometimes that will be unintentional and unavoidable. However if the infielders are taught the proper footwork on receiving the ball at second from various positions and the proper footwork to clear yourself on a double play, most cleat related injuries of that type can be avoided. Now if a player slides in with spikes high going after one of my players, on my teams in the past, the penalty would be a high and tight fastball the next time that runner was in the box. Sometimes you just have to protect your players and send a message.

 

First of all, dude, I am a guy. I know I brought this on myself by being a little smart, but I'm still having trouble here. Now you are saying it's sometimes OK to get cut up by metal spikes, then fix it by hitting the player with a fastball. Wow, now we have two people hurt! I wore metal spikes in high school. I still think they have no place on the field. Not all players can be taught to turn a double play like Omar Vizquel (sp?), and a lot of girls don't know how to slide properly. That's one thing I've not figured out how to do. How do you teach them to slide when they're already 14 or 15 and have not been taught earlier? Of course I don't agree with the orange base thing, and I wouldn't wear a facemask myself, but I think the game needs to be as safe as possible. I'm not going to buy into the idea that it's sometimes OK for a player to be injured when it could have been prevented reasonably, like by wearing rubber cleats or by wearing a facemask. Let's be friends, now!

 

My bad bball fan, from your name I just. I assumed you were a woman. Sorry.

Now, please show me where in my last post I said to hit anyone with a pitch? I would never ask one of my players to play that way. However, there is nothing wrong with sending a message and a little intimidation.

Why are you selling the girls so short when it comes to teaching them how to slide? I have taught college players how to slide correctly as well as little leaguers. The way you slide when you're 8 is the same way you slide when you're 18 (except the older ones have more than one type of slide to use.) Learning and practicing sliding can be some of most fun practices you will have in a season. But sliding is just like every other skill used in baseball and softball, you must learn the correct way and then practice, practice, practice. I have spoken to quite a few high school softball coaches who have never practiced sliding and countless other summer coaches who never practice it either. Sliding is just another part of baserunning that needs to be practiced correctly.

Now, why can't the ladies be taught to turn a double play like Nomar, Jeter, or any other SS or 2nd baseman in the majors? They most likely won't turn a double play as fast, but they can and do learn the proper footwork and mechanics to turn it quickly and to clear yourself of the oncoming sliding runner. I keep telling you that these ladies can be taught anything the the guys can be taught, but the only difference may be the speed and power in which things occur.

Now my next comment may hit a nerve with some, but it needs to be said. There seems to be somewhat of less of quality instruction (coaching) in NC given to girls as compared to what the boys receive. I see this at all ages, but especially in some high schools and a lot of summer teams. The majority of high school softball coaches are well qualified and do a tremendous job (For a low amount of pay). However more times than not, especially the younger summer teams receive bad and incorrect skills coaching that can and do lead to injuries. One of the reasons for this is many parents become unhappy with his or her daughters playing time on her summer team so they decide that they will just form their own summer team and show that old coach how good their daughter really is. The problem is that this parent has no idea on how to coreectly teach the game and many times how to coach in a game. This is in my opinion why many times the girls have not learned the proper skills, i.e. bunting, sliding turning double plays, hitting cutoffs, slapping, baserunning and on and on. So what happens is, because many girls get hurt by not being taught the correct skills, there is a RULE put in place to protect the girls from their own poor skills.

Please coaches... take the time to learn the proper skills and also how to teach thses skills. As a coach you are a teacher and you should not let your ego (oh, I played baseball in HS and legion ball and my littleleague team won the state..how dare you say I don't know how to coach softball!) I know no parent would want their child's school teacher, gymnastics, piano or whatever teacher not having and knowing the basic skills required to teach whatever they are teaching.

My point to all this is that any coach at any level should put away his or her ego a couple times a year and attend various coaching clinics. Example, Coach Mike Lambros at N Davidson HS in Lexington has been coaching softball for over 25 years and is one of the best if not the best HS school coach in NC Guess what, he still attends several coaching clinics a year to learn new and better ways of doing things. The man and some of his coaches even travel to Arizona just about every October to attend Mike Candera's fall coaches clinic. Way to go Coach Lambros!

Now if a coach as as experienced as Coach Lambros is still wanting to learn, I think it would be almost expected that other HS and travel team coaches would want to attend more clinics to better thier skills so that the young ladies will have better skills to play the game properly. This will help to avoid anymore silly rules like the orange base or you can't come out of the dugout to high five a team mate when she just hit a 250' blast over the left field fence.

 

FACE MASKS ,DUAL BASE

I agree with Homer coaches need to be up to date on all aspects of the game.They need to attend clinics and these are offered year round at different places. No excuse with not attending some of these. Now for the face mask :This is very much a safety issue in girls fast pitch,having seen a few players hit in the face only when trying to bunt or slap and when facing a rise ball pitcher(Queens had a player injured in a pre-season game a few years ago,broken jaw,nose and eye socket) could have been prevented with a face guard. I don't know if she was using proper tech. or not but this inexpensive device could have prevented it. Dual base I have witness two events that this would have prevented very serious injuries to. One was a kid named Tiffany Beamer (fastest kid ever in the Charlotte area) state record 66 bases. Hurt running to first and colliding with first baseman ,Broken leg and she really never made a full recovery. Weekend before last UGA lost leadoff due to the same thing(i talked to her two fractures,torn acl,mcl) will she be back Maybe. Dual bases would have prevented this and still not take anything away from the game , just my opinion.

 

HSFAN, you make an excellent point regarding the use of saftey equipment. But don't these types of accidents occur in baseball. I have seen quite a few collsions at first with injuries, but I don't think baseball will ever mandate a white/orange first base. As for the facemasks, I have never seen a guy get hit in the face by a ball glancing off a bat, but I have also seen numerous girls get hit that way. So what do you think causes the girls get hit and have more collisions at first than the guys. My only thought is the guys have had better coaching longer than the girls. The girls are catching up in all areas, but I just don't like the fact of a rule being put in place due to the inablity of players to know the proper technigues so to avoid injury. Especially when the same thing happens in baseball at everyone thinks it's just part of the game. If there is going to be a rule for saftey put in place, then the rule should be for the guys and the girls.

 

I see your point and I also believe that there is no need for these two saftey issues being in place for baseball except maybe in the younger age groups while they are developing . The reason softball has more of a issue with the probelms is because it is such a FASTER PACED game than baseball. A lot of softball depends upon the short game ,bunting and slapping where in baseball no one will bunt in probably 1 out of ten games. The bases are closer and the plays at first that are really close in softball where as 90 foot bases in baseball very few close plays at first. These are the reasons I believe that you don't see these type of injuries much in baseball.If a baseball pitcher could throw a rise ball and they bunted alot you would see more of them taking one on the chin and if they bunted and played the short game more you would see closer plays at first.Most pro baseball players trot to first on a ground ball to the infield knowing they don't have a chance .

 

Totally different

To say that girls softball should adhere to the same rules as boys baseball would be as absurd as asking that boys baseball play by the rules of volleyball. As everyone has pointed out-----It is two totally different games---nuff said.