Game Situation question

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Other than confidence, what is to lose by throwing the ball to try to get an out.

Once your players lost the confidence, you just lost the game..I have been there with a 14u team up 9 to 1, bottom of the last inning, 2 outs, 1 runner on base and lost. now matter what we tried to do the girls just would not settle down, made error after error and would not do what they knew how to do.....Confidence is HUGE for girls.

 

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Let's up the ante. To challenge the understanding of game situations further, ask the same question but change the score. At 8-6, in my opinion, the answer is the same (as long as there are no outs which is the scenario Joe stated). It might of course change if it's 8-7 and that runner is the tying run. Even then, it's all about calculated risks because there is still a 90% or so chance that the runner at 3B is going to score. On my DD's summer team, I'd want the catcher throwing it b/c if she does overthrow, there is a good chance the LF will nail the runner at home (the 3B coach would be sending her given the penchant for illogical risks shown already).

riots: At 8-6, the answer is absolutely the same. If we overthrow and the runner scores, the tying run will still be coming up to the plate, just as she would if we don't throw and give the runner third. At 8-7, of course everything changes.

You are correct that the decision in my scenario is easy. The much tougher decisions and thinking come in the early and middle innings when things aren't so black and white.

At practice today, we had several players ask for more game situations! We had about a 30-minute discussion last night on the situation I laid out at the start of this thread and they really got into it. When we have those discussions I lay it out and then let them give their thoughts. No matter what they say, I challenge them. I eventually come around to giving my answer, but I try to do it by asking them questions to make them think about every aspect of the situation.

Instead of giving them more situations today, we had them come up with a couple to quiz the coaches about. They enjoyed that. I told them they can grill me about game situations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I love it.

The one area in which most girls and coaches and I end up disagreeing about is the value of momentum. That is a topic for an entirely different thread, but needless to say I think it's drastically overrated and should never be used as a reason to chuck overwhelming percentages out the window.

 

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Momentum cannot score runs or take advantage of a mentally strong team. Momentum can only beat those who doubt themselves or those that doubt what they are supposed to do.

 

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Momentum cannot score runs or take advantage of a mentally strong team. Momentum can only beat those who doubt themselves or those that doubt what they are supposed to do.

Wow, that's well said. I wish I would have thought of that when discussing this with our team.

 

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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then !!!!!!!! LOL

 

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Haven't had a chance to read all the responses, but that run means nothing ... if you can get an out, go for it.

 

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Haven't had a chance to read all the responses, but that run means nothing ... if you can get an out, go for it.

Yep, that's the gist of it. Often, you hear people yelling at the defense that the run means nothing, so forget about her. That is fine as long as you are getting a more sure out, usually at first base. But when that runner who means nothing is the only runner on base, she is a free opportunity at an out that you never pass up.

 

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Similar situation is runners on first and third ... defense is up by anything more than 1 run. Runner tries to steal second base or the runner on third is straying too far off the bag and you can pick them off ... you should go for her every time if you have any chance at all to get her. Have finished a game more than once by taking an out the offense didn't expect to give up ... those wins are always sweet.

 

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Yes, true. I gave that scenario to our players the other night as well... First and third, last inning, no outs (doesn't really matter how many outs there are) we are up 3-1, what will be our first-third call on defense? Of course, we are throwing through to second and getting the out. 3-2 with one out and nobody on base is far preferable to the defense than 3-1 with no outs and second and third.

 

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I love it when they are coasting are in and the shock appears on their face when the ball is there waiting on them.

 

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I read this post to my DD who is a catcher and without any hesitation she said "throw the ball"! I then said to her why wouldn't you hold onto the ball to keep the runner at 3rd after so many bad throws already. Her answer was " As a catcher you can't doubt yourself, and you can't hesitate, or you loose"! she also went into further detail of why to try to get the out versus leaving the runner on, but thought her first comment was worth mentioning.

 

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I apologize for misnaming the book that I referenced in my earlier posting, I received several PM's asking for the name of the book and went to my bookshelf, try this if you are looking for the book, I checked and it is still in print.

Catch Them Being Good:Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls by Tony DiCicco

Sorry for the confusion...

 

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I know DiCicco is a socccccer coach and I think he worked with the North Carolina coach. I remember reading that book. I must have given it away because I can't seem to find it now.

 

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Especially with a lead like that you have to stop after the first mistake and go from there. Even if they steal the bags and are sitting on 3rd they have to get hits to earn the runs and that is a lot of runs to earn that late. In softball I have found if you make a team earn every run they get you will win many more times that you lose.

 

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Joe,

He coached at N. Carolina and the American Womens Team.

Even though he does coach the S game I would recommend it across all sports, especially to those coaches that are moving up with their girls from 14 to 16 and 18, the dynamics change a great deal as the girls get older, IMHO this particular book does a great job of helping with those issues.

Know what you mean I loaned out my copy and don't know where it is either! LOL!!

 

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So what did you say to the 3B, RF, C and LF about the previous 4 throwing errors?

I would have told the catcher THE FIRST TIME not to throw the ball. It seems like everyone thought that by having the lead it was ok to lose focus. Putting an end to it asap would have brought the focus back and the game would be over with the next three batters.

No one mentioned that if the catcher made a second throwing error (bringing the total to 5 for the PLAY and maybe a 6th if the left fielder wanted a crack at it) what that would have done to the pitcher's mentality. As a P I might have questioned my teammates abilities and may have felt added pressure to take care of business myself. Maybe over pitched from then on, possibly causing injury, or walked the next batter on 4 pitches adding to the pressure - you get the idea.


We had almost the exact same situation this past weekend at Spano except that we were down in the score and not up. DD was catching and twice was in the situation of either holding the ball and getting the runners back to 3rd, or to continue the merry-go-round. She didn't throw it but was being told by her coach to throw it. I told her afterwards that it was a good choice.

 

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So what did you say to the 3B, RF, C and LF about the previous 4 throwing errors?

I would say to each of those players, good job, those were all FREE chances at an out, costing us nothing. I would commend them for understanding we were up several runs in the last inning with the tying run several batters away and no closer to scoring no matter how many errors we made on the play.

 

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Joe: Here's a offensive coaching philosophy question for you.

How do you view the suicide squeeze - strategic weapon or desperate attempt to try and score a run? If strategic weapon, when will you pull it out of the bag.

 

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Definitely a strategic weapon - close game - power pitcher on the mound who is piling up strike outs against us - at anytime in my batting order but less likely with my 3-5 hitter up.

 

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Agree with SoftballFan21.

I would tend to use it against a strikeout pitcher, decent speed on third, at least a decent bunter, preferably ahead in the count and preferably with one out. I'd usually rather take at least one chance swinging away with no outs.