My heart goes out to Tori, her family, her friends and her team. I wish her a speedy recovery but it is all so unnecessary.
I watched in horror as the ball was driven into her and then ESPN replayed the ball striking Tori's face in an attempt to determine if she got her glove up. No amount of training or athleticism could have defended that hit, you certainly cannot say that she should learn how to play her position, after-all she is pitching in the D1 NCAA super-regional.
When will we encourage (require) pitchers to wear a simple $40 mask that could have deflected that hit? When will coaches recognize that an injured pitcher does the team no good as she recovers (if she recovers). This has nothing to do with being girly, there are concerns about concussions, jaw and teeth damage but more so a blow to the orbitals around the eye can lead to immobility of the eye and perhaps blindness.
We have some unfounded premise that if she wears a mask she isn't tough enough, or macho enough to compete. We can't seem to deaden the ball or reduce the bounce of the bat by regulations and the batters are getting stronger. This line-drive up the middle is what every batter is striving for.
We unconsciously compare our sport to baseball. They start 60'-6" away and end somewhere around 54'. Our dd's start at 43' and end around 37' but we let our hitters move-up in the box further reducing that distance to around 34'. A softball pitcher has 38% less distance than a baseball pitcher to react. In softball the reaction time is almost non-exisitant. There is no coach (or parent) that would let me stand 34' away and smack a ball at them with full swings and if so we'll move onto defending yourself while standing one leg. We ask our dd's to do that every day against far better athlete's than me.
Buy your dd a mask and make her wear it. If a coach won't let her, find another team. If a college coach won't recruit her, then find another college. Those coaches won't be around when your dd is in an emergency room, going through multiple surgeries and then extensive rehab. No one will reach in his pocket to help you with the medical expenses.
Forty bucks and a backbone is all it takes to prevent this tragedy.
utube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTcvw7GYU8
Link
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/campus-corner/article22150962.html
I watched in horror as the ball was driven into her and then ESPN replayed the ball striking Tori's face in an attempt to determine if she got her glove up. No amount of training or athleticism could have defended that hit, you certainly cannot say that she should learn how to play her position, after-all she is pitching in the D1 NCAA super-regional.
When will we encourage (require) pitchers to wear a simple $40 mask that could have deflected that hit? When will coaches recognize that an injured pitcher does the team no good as she recovers (if she recovers). This has nothing to do with being girly, there are concerns about concussions, jaw and teeth damage but more so a blow to the orbitals around the eye can lead to immobility of the eye and perhaps blindness.
We have some unfounded premise that if she wears a mask she isn't tough enough, or macho enough to compete. We can't seem to deaden the ball or reduce the bounce of the bat by regulations and the batters are getting stronger. This line-drive up the middle is what every batter is striving for.
We unconsciously compare our sport to baseball. They start 60'-6" away and end somewhere around 54'. Our dd's start at 43' and end around 37' but we let our hitters move-up in the box further reducing that distance to around 34'. A softball pitcher has 38% less distance than a baseball pitcher to react. In softball the reaction time is almost non-exisitant. There is no coach (or parent) that would let me stand 34' away and smack a ball at them with full swings and if so we'll move onto defending yourself while standing one leg. We ask our dd's to do that every day against far better athlete's than me.
Buy your dd a mask and make her wear it. If a coach won't let her, find another team. If a college coach won't recruit her, then find another college. Those coaches won't be around when your dd is in an emergency room, going through multiple surgeries and then extensive rehab. No one will reach in his pocket to help you with the medical expenses.
Forty bucks and a backbone is all it takes to prevent this tragedy.
utube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTcvw7GYU8
Link
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/campus-corner/article22150962.html
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