MaxPrep Stats / Rosters / Schedule

One extreme or the other!

This is quite the interesting thread. One can deem it apathy or over zealousness. Either there are coaches who have no intention of publishing their stats and lineups out of laziness or for competitive reasons to those that publish the most insane/cooked/baked stats on MaxPreps. I have to chuckle in viewing some of the stats that teams are publishing. It appears as though reaching on an error, fielders choice, and sacrifices count as hits in some circles. If they dont strike out it must be a hit! We have played teams that have been shut out by us but they miraculously have double the amount of hits that actually occured. Our county has a website that carries stats and teams that have won as few as two games have numerous players batting over .500. Not even feasible! Best fiction I've read in a long time. Is there a reason that Colleges recruit via travel ball? You bet your bottom dollar there is. Interesting how some girls who hit .600 in school ball can't even make contact in the summer. Hey coaches and parents save the cooking for the kitchen! You are not helping your players or kids one iota!

 

AMEN, you said that right Jack !!!

 

I am sure all of that happens, as it does with some tournament teams as well. The best possible case is that both teams put in their stats and then it would be obvious that something has been put in incorrectly. If the pitcher stats showed that she gave up 2 hits in the game and the opposing team says they had 6 hits then that would show up on the stats and could be addressed. My main focus is to try to get all the coaches to update their rosters and schedules. That would help everyone.
Stats are another story. I personally want everything posted for the girls. I don't think we have ever lost a game because we post our stats. In college they are updated every game.

 

My daughter graduated high school almost 2 years ago now and has moved on to play her collegiate career. In both of the past 2 years I have been repeatedly asked by various parents to please come back to stat our games. Since I have left, no one is keeping up with Maxpreps; no one is keeping track of school records; and the girls haven't the faintest idea how they are performing, number wise.

Yet, there is the flipside to this as mentioned above.

It was disheartening to spend a game keeping stats during the game, to come home, send local newspapers the information and then to take the time to enter all the information accurately into Maxpreps....

Only to see the garbage being reported by the school we had just played.

The post, above, is correct.

Due to either lack of knowledge on stats or because some teams wanted to make their players look far, far better than they were I would see opponents reporting 12 hits in a game, when actually it was something alone the line of 1RE 6FC and 5 hits, or to see other teams reporting players had triples, when in fact it was single, triple on error on a bad throw.

Likely, when my daughter's time in college has come to an end, I will return to the high school and start statting again...and yet, uploading them to Maxpreps. Because in the end, it doesn't hurt and the only cost associated with it is a little bit of your time.

 

Very well said. Exactly what standards are used by the scorekeepers to determine hits and extra base hits? I ask this because there are a wide variety of skill levels in HS. I have read Rule 9, Section 3 of the 2011 National Federation rule book and the standards are not as clear there as they are in other associations.

How would you score the following:
1) The batter bunts hard to 3B who fields cleanly and throws to 2B in an attempt to retire the lead runner. The SS makes a mental mistake and doesn’t cover the bag, but fields the throw (that was in time to retire the runner), throws to first, and the batter-runner beats that throw by a half step.
2) The batter hits a pop fly to right field. The right fielder is not very skilled and shakily backs up a step. At the last second, the RF backs up another step, the ball is not touched, and drops in. The batter ends up on second.
3) The batter hits a routine ground ball that goes by a corner infielder within 4 feet of the infielder of where the fielder was standing at the time the ball was hit. Again, the player was not very skilled and did not come close to fielding the ball.
4) The batter hits a sinking line drive directly at the RF. The RF charges and dives in an attempt to make the catch. The RF misses it and the ball rolls to the fence. The batter-runner safely circles the bases.
5) The batter hits a line drive to LF between the fielder and the foul line. The fielder gets a good jump on the ball, takes about 4 or 5 steps, looks like she is going to make the catch, but then the ball hits off her glove, she drops it, and the batter-runner ends up on second.

 

These are not as difficult to stat as one might think:

1. FC. Third baseman chose to make the play at 2nd. If not for the attempt on the runner, the batter would have been out.

2. Double. You cannot error on a mental mistake. No contact was made with the ball, therefore an error cannot be charged.

3. Hit. Again, you cannot rule on a mental error, and you also not rule based on the possible results of the hit if a player with greater skill were in that position.

4. This is contradictory. If the ball was hit directly to right field, it does not require a diving play or running to make the play. Let's remove the word directly. The running forward several feet and diving play on the ball takes it outside of the realm of ordinary play. It is a hit. The fact that it rolls to the fence makes no difference. Therefore if all 4 bases were touched and runner arrived safe at home, it is a homerun.

5. Double on error. The qualification of 4 to 5 steps makes this play a routine play. The fact that it contacted her glove, she drops it, qualifies as the error. The runner advanced on that same error, not a new one. Batter, under routine conditions would neither have made it on base, nor advanced to 2B.

 

Though there can be some disparity in stats from team to team, the biggest problem is the "manual" book. If you use a program like GameChanger or iScore the stats are less likely to be altered. The problem is parents, students or coaches who do not know how to keep stats for softball. A passed ball is not a stolen base. A ground ball miss handled by the 2nd baseman is not a hit. A dropped fly ball is not a hit. A sharply hit ball that cannot be handled is a hit. A runner who is attempting to steal and the catcher miss handles the ball is still a stolen base. Too many of these so called stat keepers do not know the game and award a hit if the girl reaches first base or award a triple when the fielder makes an error that lands the batter on 3rd. There needs to be some training for stat keepers. Using an electronic app is the first step to consistency.

 

justsoftball: These are not as difficult to stat as one might think:

2. Double. You cannot error on a mental mistake. No contact was made with the ball, therefore an error cannot be charged.


I have heard this criteria used many times, but cannot find any reference to this in the Rule Book. Would it somehow change this into an error if the ball had tipped off the top of her glove? What if a ground ball goes thru an infielder's legs and is not touched? Please cite the rule where touching the ball or not is a criteria to use. Thanks.

 

Please don't Generalize

Again, I have said this before in other forums, Please don't generalize all varsity coaches with these few examples of poor coaches. As a member of our state association for softball coaches I am inclined to promote the high performance of our states Varsity play. Of course, like in many sports, there are coaches that don't do a sufficient job. I have also stated that I have seen more bad travel ball coaches then good ones. Lets remember that many of our Varsity coaches are certified teachers and understand how to instruct at a level much higher than someone who decides to give coaching a try... Lets just say that a Varsity coach that is not meeting expectations sits at the feet of your AD and Admin.

But lets not get off topic, Max Preps is a great tool that we use and in our program we couple it with Game Changer. The Game Changer offers statistics that you can't get on Max Preps. The Stats for quality at bats, pitches seen per at bat, quality and efficiency ratings for pitchers are extremely helpful tools. If a program is not using them then they are ignoring a direct advantage. But the number of schools using Max Preps increases every year, so if your program is not using this tool just keep requesting it.

 

I'd like to add that NC HS coaches are now required to pass various certifications to be qualified as HS coaches.

The required courses are much better than the ACE required of TB coaches. Though not perfect, the NCHSAA requirements are a step in the right direction.

I've also noticed that many coaches (both HS and TB) aren't keeping up with the changes that technology has brought to the sport. "Old school" philosophies aren't necessarily good for the game today. But that's a different subject for another thread.