softball

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

A key element in being able to throw a softball pitch successfully is having the “feel” of it. Knowing what your body should be doing without having to think too much about it allows you to throw the pitch – whatever pitch it is – with full enthusiasm.

Yet sometimes it can be tough to find that feel. That was the dilemma facing Tayler, one of my students, tonight. She’d lost the feel of her change-up and as a result couldn’t get the speed off of it. The pitch wound up being more of a weak (and hittable) fastball than a change-up.

As I watched her, I could see she was releasing the ball much too early. The way I teach it, you need to drag the ball backwards – with the knuckles leading the way – until it’s out in front of your front leg and then fling the ball toward the catcher. I tried my usual trick of holding a swimming noodle out front and telling her to hold the ball until her hand passed under it, but it wasn’t working tonight. That’s when I got an inspiration.

Defense in the game of softball is all about the ball. The basic job of a softball defense is to get outs at every opportunity and there aren't all that many situations in which you can get an out without the ball (and even then, most are technicalities that you don't want to have to rely on to get you outs).

That said, here are 5 Key Ball Concepts for Softball Defense:

• ATTACK the ball - play it, don't let it play you
• CONTROL the ball - you can't get the out without the ball
• WANT the ball - you gotta want it, if you're standing on the field hoping the ball doesn't come to you, chances are it will and you won't be ready
• EXPECT the ball - wanting the ball is a great start, but if you only want it and don't actually expect it to come to you, you may still not be ready to make a play
• ALWAYS be READY for the ball - this gives you the best chance to get the out in the opportunities you are given

After the last post about college recruiting and the comments that were left, I do have some thoughts to share with you, but those will have to wait for a bit.  Right now, I wanted to share 7 Simple Ways to Separate Yourself from the Competition.

After all, college recruiting is obviously getting more competitive due to all the different avenues now available to student-athletes to get their name out there and to communicate with college coaches.  So when push comes to shove and you're going up and up with another student-athlete who has just as much to offer as you, what are you going to do to tip the scales in your favor?

Here are some simple things you can do to separate yourself from the competition:

• Respect your parents. How you treat others, especially your parents, tells a coach something about you.  Make sure the message you're sending is a positive one.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Once again, I have the NFCA's Fastpitch Delivery newspaper to thank for this week's topic on softball college recruiting. I hope a new issue comes soon, as I'm now out of topics from the current issue.

Michelle Venturella, Olympic Gold Medalist and now head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago, brought up a topic many of us probably wonder about — the increasingly younger ages at which high school players are being recruited.

It's something I've wondered about a lot in the last few years. Most of the high schoolers I've known who didn't plan on playing college softball had a very difficult time deciding what school to go to during their senior year. How can a freshman or sophomore make such an important decision with so little life experience?

Choosing a college is a huge decision, and one that affects the rest of your life. There are a lot pieces that go into that decision — size of the school, geographic location (how far from home), what majors they offer, what majors they're good at, what the student body is like, etc. How can a freshman or sophomore who is still taking basic requirement courses possibly know what she wants to major in and all the other pieces of the decision?

The top seeded University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Softball team tied the NCAA Single Season Homerun Record in their WAC Tournament opener.  The Rainbow Wahine racked up a total of 6 homeruns in the game as they defeated San Jose State 16-8. Melissa Gonzalez homered twice as Katie Grimes, Alexandra Aguirre, Kanani Pu'u-Warren, and Kelly Majam each added homeruns of their own. (full story here)

UH goes on to play Fresno State in the winners bracket of the WAC Tournament. Want to stay up to date with what's going on with the University Hawaii Softball Team and their quest to break the NCAA Homerun Record?

You have two great options:

Track Live Game Stats HERE

Watch Live Online HERE (one-time subscription fee applies)

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Lately I’ve had the opportunity to get out and watch some games – some with pitchers I coach, some with pitchers I don’t. It’s a great opportunity to take everything out of the theoretical (practice phase) and see it applied in a game.

One of the things that most amazes me is how many pitchers still are either taught or are picking up the habit of slowing down their arms or otherwise changing their deliveries when they throw a changeup. Sometimes they don’t push off as hard, sometimes they leave their back legs behind, sometimes they just slow down or stop the arm completely. Whatever they do, it’s obvious they’re not throwing the same way as on a fastball or other speed pitch.

Usually, those “changeups” get hit pretty hard. The reason is the change is all about deception. The hitter has to see what she’s used to seeing out of the body, then have the ball do something it hasn’t been doing. It also helps if the body/arm speed and ball speed don’t match.

Which brings me to my main point.

If you're looking to play college at the next level and are not taking advantage of Facebook and Twitter, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with college coaches.  As you may know, coaches are limited when it comes to contacting prospects.  Since there are limits on in person contacts, phone calls, and text messages many coaching staffs are now looking to avenues such as Facebook and Twitter to instantaneously inform prospects or recruits with the latest news.

Smart college coaches know that high school student-athletes now days often carry smart phones around with them.  While they may not e-mail all that often, many have 24/7 access to their Facebook or Twitter account via their phone, which you probably know is ALWAYS with them!  As a coach who works with that age group, I know there may be times when a player forgets socks or shoes, but never their phone. 

Anyway, the point is, many college coaches are well aware of how tech-savvy high school student-athletes are and many are beginning to tap into those avenues of communication for recruiting purposes.  This means a couple of things:

Guest Post by Don McKay, Softball Editor for Bellaonline.

With High School Fast Pitch going to a 43’ pitching distance nation-wide next year, I thought it would be interesting to figure out how the increased pitching distance would change the game. Everyone expects scoring to go up, but by how much? Which pitchers will become more effective? What about team defense? If one could find Softball statistics when the pitcher was throwing from 40’ and compare them to statistics from 43’, particularly immediately after the transition, then the transformation of the game with the new rule would become clear. So I set out to find those statistics. Seems simple, right?

Some states have already switched to the longer distance (Off the top of my head: Florida, Oregon, Illinois, and Tennessee), but good luck finding comprehensive High School statistics from year to year – I do not think that they exist. The next logical place to look, then, was the college game. After about a month of searching, I established that the NCAA changed the pitching distance from 40’ to 43’ in 1987. The NCAA Softball page has statistics from 1982 onward, but for some reason does not have statistics for 1986 Division 1 softball, so I ended up comparing NCAA Division II Softball statistics from 1986 and 1987.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

If you're a fastpitch softball pitcher, here is an important concept to understand and remember…

Pull – don’t push – the ball through the circle

After you’ve been doing private instruction for a while, you come to take certain things for granted. While there are always variations on a lot of things, there are some things that are so fundamental to success that you just assume they don’t bear mentioning. After all, everyone must know this.

Then I find out that’s not true. As a case in point, I mention the way the ball is oriented through the arm circle. Or rather the way it shouldn’t be oriented.

Turning the ball back toward second base and then having your hand on top of it all the way around the back of the circle is bad. It is not just bad, it is bad, bad, bad. When you turn the ball back toward second base, all you will be able to do is lock the elbow and push the ball down the back side. That will create a slow and stiff end of the arm circle, which will be slow and lack whip. There will be no acceleration to propel the ball at maximum speed toward home.

Oh yes!  I saw this video at the Softball Performance YouTube Channel I just had to post it for you.  Here you will see Marc Dagenais demonstrating one of my favorite softball training exercises!

I personally love to do this training exercise and, as Marc mentions in the video it is EXCELLENT for strengthening your shoulder plus it works your core at the same time.  Obviously these are two very important parts of your softball body and any exercise that can hit both at the same time is well worth your while.

The great thing - there's NO special equipment needed.  Just you, yourself, and YOU!  You can do this awesome softball training exercise any time, any place and help yourself improve your softball performance.

Check out this video and try this exercise then let me know what you think!

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Watch the hitters in a fastpitch softball game and more often than not this is what you will see: despite the fact that they have a $300+ club in their hands, they will let the pitchers dictate what happens. The hitters will stand at the plate, waiting for the pitch to be delivered. Then, as the pitch is on its way – usually well on its way – they will try to make some quick decisions and react to what they see.

While that might seem reasonable, that way of thinking actually works against the hitter. It’s all a matter of time.

A softball pitched at 60 mph from 43 feet away allows roughly .4 seconds of reaction time. Even if the pitch is slower, it’s still only a half-second or so of reaction time. Figure you’re going to lose a tenth of a second or two as your brain tries to figure out what’s going on – here comes the pitch, is it going high or low, is it inside or outside, etc. So now you only have two or three tenths of a second to get your body and bat in motion and take the bat to the right spot.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Coaching softball has its moments.  They may be challenging, they may be rewarding, but one this is certain, there's never a dull moment!

Now that various softball seasons are getting under way, games are being won — and games are being lost. The winners rarely go back over the game in too much detail. They're usually happy they won, and figure they played the superior game and deserved to win.

The losers, however, often like to go back through the game in detail to determine why they lost. After all, they usually believe they have the better team too.

It's very tempting to point to THE incident that caused the game to be lost. It was the error when the game was tied. Or the strikeout with runners on second and third and your team on offense. Or the walk that led to a critical run when your team was on defense. Or (of course) the terrible call the umpire made in the last inning.

You've probably heard that saying, "It's now or never." With every day that passes we get closer and closer to the end of the softball season and that statement becomes more and more relevant.  But the truth is, you NEVER know when your last game, your last inning, your last at bat, or your last play will be.

Don't treat your opportunities to practice and play this game as if there's always "another day" because no one is promised tomorrow.  Make each opportunity count.  Every chance truly is "now or never."  No matter what situation you're in, you will never get another chance to make that play, that pitch, or that hit ever again.  Make the most of it!

No one likes to think about season ending injuries or illnesses but they DO happen.  Just this past weekend my catcher broke bones in her left hand.  She's out for the rest of the season!  Ouch!  Now or Never.

It happened to a friend of mine in high school: last pre-season game-broken arm.  Senior season gone.  As an underclassmen you always think you have more time, but you just never know.  Now or Never.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Many coaches, especially college coaches, have commented on the phenomenon of athletes specializing too early in a particular sport. They talk about the value of cross-training, and how softballers who play another sport are more well-rounded and better athletes overall.

All of that is no doubt true. Yet in this day and age, it's getting tougher to be that multi-sport athlete — or have them on your team.

Like many other sports, fastpitch softball has become a year-round activity. Teams have practices and games in the fall, a few weeks after tryouts. Many continue through the winter months, either outside in warm weather climates or indoors in snow country. Then spring comes along and it's time to get down to serious business.

That kind of schedule works for the softball specialists. They are there at every game and every practice, working hard to improve their skills. But for those with another sport (or two), it's a different story.

Building a strong softball program or organization is no small feat. However, the Ohio Hawks, which is still a very new organization, is off to a great start. Softball Magazine published an article about one of the main things they are doing: focusing on quality coaching. How are the Hawks doing that? By implementing a uniform method of coaching and by making a conscious effort to educate, inform, and train their coaches with the best resources they can find.

While instructional videos and books are wonderful, receiving instruction in person is even better! In November 2009, the Ohio Hawks brought together an amazing line-up of softball instructors to do a coaches clinic. The 5 instructors in this superstar bunch included Howard Kobata, Deb Hartwig, Howard Carrier, Bill Hillhouse, and Softball Performance's very own, Marc Dagenais.

Needless to say, this clinic was an amazing experience for all those who attended. I soooo wish I could've been there! Instead I had to hear about it second hand from Howard, Bill, and Marc. Bummer! But no worries. If you're like the many out there who wasn't in Ohia that weekend, you can get the full scoop about the clinic and the instructors from Softball Magazine.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

At some point in time, we all have that math class where we learn about the differences between points and lines. While this is a bit of an over-simplification, essentially a line is made up of a long series of points.

So, why the math lesson? Because it helps pitchers visualize how to get more speed and more movement on their pitches. There is a reason it's called a release point, and not a release line. Yet many pitchers take way too long to get the ball out of their hands from the start of the release to the end.

Let's look at the basic fastball. A short, violent release is going to propel the ball out of the hand faster than a long, slower one. In fact, with a long release there is a danger of moving past the optimum release point, where the hand goes from being behind the elbow to in front of it. The longer the ball is in your hand after that, the more likely you are to push it toward the plate. Not only will that result in a slower pitch (because once you pass the optimal point your hand is starting to decelerate), it will also be  less accurate most of the time.

One thing I like to do from time to time is read motivational quotes.  It's funny where you find motivation sometimes.  I actually saw these in status updates on facebook!

There were a bunch of course, but here were 5 that jumped out at me.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. Make the present good, and the past will take care of itself.

The Six W's: Work will win when wishing won't.

The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can't do.– Dennis Waitley

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win—and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.–Billie Jean King

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane Blog

It seems like one of the universal goals for softball fanatics is to see their daughters make the high school varsity team as a freshman.

Certainly there are those who believe that if you don't make varsity as a freshman you stand little chance to play Division 1 college ball. That may or may not be true, but it doesn't matter because the ones who will be playing at that level on a team that matters are few and far between.

For most of the rest it's really not about that. It's more the honor (or ego boost) of seeing their daughters recognized as being better than others their age.

We all love our daughters and want the best for them. And often parents think that means going straight to varsity. Yet I can tell you from experience that it may not always be the best thing, especially in the long term.

Perhaps this is a local phenomenon, but I've noticed over the years that the girls who start on varsity as freshmen are often surpassed in performance by other players their age when they're all juniors and seniors. In fact, many of those straight-to-varsity freshmen eventually wind up losing their spots to kids who judged to be lesser players earlier in their high school careers.

Playing Down to Rec League Softball
by Don McKay
BellaOnline's Softball Editor

Here in Southern California, many 14U, 12U, and 10U travel ball teams “go dark”, or cease operations, from the beginning of April to July, so that their players may participate in Recreation League All-Stars (ASA rules require any player playing in Rec League All-Stars to not play travel ball after 31 March). A lot of the big Rec League programs’ All-Star teams are teams that stay together through Travel Ball season and then move down to the Rec League for a couple of months. Otherwise, players and parents tend to have a “Rec League is a waste of time” attitude and either find a travel ball team that continues play during Rec League All-Stars or take the couple of months off. In my opinion, this is a mistake.

If a player is getting burnt out on Softball and needs to take a couple of months off to recharge, then she should do so. However, even the most accomplished travel ball player can gain valuable life experiences from Rec League play. It is very possible that she may be pushed outside of her comfort zone and therefore grow mentally and emotionally.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane Blog

Softball is a game of tradition. Often times that's good, because it is good to honor the past, and it gives us a sense of where we've been as well as where we're headed. That's why fastpitch softball, and its male cousin baseball, are still America's national pastime.

Yet that tradition can also work against us, particularly when we cling to ideas and techniques that aren't the best, simply because that's the way we've always done it or the way we originally learned it.

A classic example of this type of thinking is the old hitter's cue of "take your hands to the ball," also known as"take the knob of the bat to the ball" or "throw your hands at the ball." It was popular even back in my playing days, and I continue to hear it said whenever I walk by areas where people gather to work on hitting.

Unfortunately, it's not only bad advice, it's counter-productive. The truth is no good hitter hits that way, and any that hit with that instruction are ignoring it when they hit, either consciously or sub-consciously.