Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

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

There are any number of thing in this game that confuse and astound me. One is certainly the love some coaches have for the sacrifice bunt. Get a runner on first with nobody out, and the next hitter up, regardless of her batting average or OPS will be called upon to lay down a bunt. But that's a story for another day.

Another is the incredibly horrible things some coaches will say or do on the softball field. These otherwise polite and reasonable folks will go absolutely crazy at the slightest provocation, sometimes abusing umpires and other times their own players. But we're not here to talk about that either today.

No, what amazes me is how year after year some coaches will go through their seasons relying on one pitcher, or one key position player, as if the possibilities of illness or injury cease to exist during the season.

It's easy to see this during the high school season because team and pitchers' records are posted in the newspaper. If the records match, or are close — the pitcher is 32-4 and the team is 34-4 — you know you've found one. I know of a couple of teams in my area that were like that last year.

I look at a team like that and say they're just one sprained ankle or case of mono or bad set of grades away from their season being over. And why?

Because their coach was so obsessed with winning that he/she didn't put a backup plan in place. He/she didn't give anyone else game experience, didn't give the team a chance to get used to someone else, didn't find out what his/her team could do without the stud in place.

You know how it works, too. If the stud is going to go down, it won't be early in the season where you can get someone ready. It will be right before the playoffs. If it's a travel team, it will be right before Nationals.

Look, I like winning as much as the next person. But I'm also a realist. Things happen all the time, and if you're not prepared for them you can wind up in big trouble.

As a matter of policy it's good to have a backup ready at every position — a backup with actual game experience on your team. Sure, that means you might lose a few more games. But last time I looked, win/lose records don't mean a whole lot except to the ego in the big scheme of things.

What counts is to win enough to get to the dance, and then win the right games once you're there. What does that mean?

In high school or college it's nice to be conference champs, no question about it. But the real glory comes with being State or National champs. In high school, every team gets into the playoffs, so even if you had a mediocre season record, if you get hot at the end you can take it all. On the other hand, if you went undefeated all season due to one key player, and then that player is gone
with no backup ready, all those wins won't mean a whole lot.

You have bench players for a reason. Look for opportunties to put them in games. Not just pool play for travel teams, or non-conference blowouts for school teams, but meaningful games.

You can hope you never have to go into the big game without your stars, but remember that hope is not a strategy. Be prepared for the worst, so if it comes along you're ready to deal with it. Otherwise you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.