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Member
All,
Thought I would share this with you. Got this in the mail today in a newsletter. It is by Cindy Bristow who is a softball instructor. These were her observations. Many of which I happen to agree with as I read through them today.
Its good to share.
1. Outfielders Matter - There were quite a lot of key
plays in the outfield that weren't necessarily hard, but
that were vital to the outcome of many of the games.
2. When Your Turn Comes, Be Ready - Megan Gibson, the
pitcher from Texas A & M was living proof that when your
turn comes you better be ready as she went from sharing
pitching duties early in the year to pitching with a record
of 41-4, and getting her team all the way to the National
Championship game.
3. Find Your Role and Fill It - Amanda Scarborough from
Texas A & M went from being their marquee pitcher in January
to being injured and out for the year. And instead of pouting
about being injured and isolating herself from the team
Amanda found a new role and a new way to help her team win
by doing everything possible to help the remaining pitcher,
Megan Gibson, be as successful as possible! That takes a
very team-oriented and unselfish player!
4. The Babies Were Boomers - It was unbelievable to me
how many teams had great freshmen that were not only starters,
but were impact players - as freshmen! That's a tribute to
all of you who are out there doing a great job teaching and
coaching your young players!
5. It Doesn't Matter What They Say - For a good part of
the year the polls said that the University of Florida was
#1 in the country and yet it was Arizona State that finished
the year as the best team in Division I college softball
followed by Texas A & M. The first game of the WCWS had #1
Florida playing the unranked and virtually unknown University
of Louisiana-Lafayette. And yet ULL won giving Florida only
it's 3rd loss of the season! The lesson is to continue to
improve your team's play on the field and to never listen
to what others say about you or your team's chances.
6. Bunting Matters - It's easy for coaches to get absorbed
with hitting and all that it involves. And while hitting does
matter bunting matters more in close games, and national
tournament games are usually all very close games. I saw
quite a lot of critical situations where coaches needed
their players to lay down a bunt, and they couldn't. There
were also a lot of times when a push bunt would have really
been effective as the defense was in motion a little soon,
and players couldn't execute the push bunt either. When
the game really matters - bunting really matters!
7. There's Parity in Softball - this year's WCWS really
proved to me that there is parity in college softball. While
perennial champions Arizona and UCLA were among the final
8 teams, they were one of the first teams eliminated. We
saw teams from 5 different conferences participate this year;
3 Pac-10 schools (UCLA, Arizona & ASU), 2 SEC schools (Florida
& Alabama), 1 Big 12 school (Texas A & M), 1 Sun Belt school
(Univ. of Louisiana-Lafayette) and 1 ACC team (Virginia Tech).
We saw our first national championship game without either UCLA
or Arizona involved for the first time in almost 20 years!
8. More Evenly Talented Players - While this year brought
us such outstanding players as Katie Berkhart (ASU), Megan
Gibson (Texas A & M), Angela Tincher (Virginia Tech), Stacey
Nelson (Florida), and Katie Cochran (ASU) there wasn't any
one player that by herself dominated the tournament as has happened in the past.
As a result, it was a much more wide-open
tournament that was really anybody's tournament up until ASU's
final win!
9. Crowds Were Bigger Than Ever - You may have noticed
the HUGE bleachers in the outfield that were new for this
year's tournament. Since the WCWS crowds have been growing
every year it was necessary to bring in outfield bleachers
capable of seating an extra 3,000 people. I know that one
of the games I attended had a record-breaking crowd of 8,000+.
10. Little Boys Bringing Their Gloves to Big Girls Games -
It was awesome for me to see so many little boys walking around
the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium carrying their gloves. I remember
when I was little I'd bring my glove to Dodgers games and
to think that we've now gotten to a point where the little
boys are not only coming to watch the big girls play, but
are bringing their gloves with them hoping to snag a foul
ball brought a big smile to my face!
Have a great summer
Elliott.
Thought I would share this with you. Got this in the mail today in a newsletter. It is by Cindy Bristow who is a softball instructor. These were her observations. Many of which I happen to agree with as I read through them today.
Its good to share.
1. Outfielders Matter - There were quite a lot of key
plays in the outfield that weren't necessarily hard, but
that were vital to the outcome of many of the games.
2. When Your Turn Comes, Be Ready - Megan Gibson, the
pitcher from Texas A & M was living proof that when your
turn comes you better be ready as she went from sharing
pitching duties early in the year to pitching with a record
of 41-4, and getting her team all the way to the National
Championship game.
3. Find Your Role and Fill It - Amanda Scarborough from
Texas A & M went from being their marquee pitcher in January
to being injured and out for the year. And instead of pouting
about being injured and isolating herself from the team
Amanda found a new role and a new way to help her team win
by doing everything possible to help the remaining pitcher,
Megan Gibson, be as successful as possible! That takes a
very team-oriented and unselfish player!
4. The Babies Were Boomers - It was unbelievable to me
how many teams had great freshmen that were not only starters,
but were impact players - as freshmen! That's a tribute to
all of you who are out there doing a great job teaching and
coaching your young players!
5. It Doesn't Matter What They Say - For a good part of
the year the polls said that the University of Florida was
#1 in the country and yet it was Arizona State that finished
the year as the best team in Division I college softball
followed by Texas A & M. The first game of the WCWS had #1
Florida playing the unranked and virtually unknown University
of Louisiana-Lafayette. And yet ULL won giving Florida only
it's 3rd loss of the season! The lesson is to continue to
improve your team's play on the field and to never listen
to what others say about you or your team's chances.
6. Bunting Matters - It's easy for coaches to get absorbed
with hitting and all that it involves. And while hitting does
matter bunting matters more in close games, and national
tournament games are usually all very close games. I saw
quite a lot of critical situations where coaches needed
their players to lay down a bunt, and they couldn't. There
were also a lot of times when a push bunt would have really
been effective as the defense was in motion a little soon,
and players couldn't execute the push bunt either. When
the game really matters - bunting really matters!
7. There's Parity in Softball - this year's WCWS really
proved to me that there is parity in college softball. While
perennial champions Arizona and UCLA were among the final
8 teams, they were one of the first teams eliminated. We
saw teams from 5 different conferences participate this year;
3 Pac-10 schools (UCLA, Arizona & ASU), 2 SEC schools (Florida
& Alabama), 1 Big 12 school (Texas A & M), 1 Sun Belt school
(Univ. of Louisiana-Lafayette) and 1 ACC team (Virginia Tech).
We saw our first national championship game without either UCLA
or Arizona involved for the first time in almost 20 years!
8. More Evenly Talented Players - While this year brought
us such outstanding players as Katie Berkhart (ASU), Megan
Gibson (Texas A & M), Angela Tincher (Virginia Tech), Stacey
Nelson (Florida), and Katie Cochran (ASU) there wasn't any
one player that by herself dominated the tournament as has happened in the past.
As a result, it was a much more wide-open
tournament that was really anybody's tournament up until ASU's
final win!
9. Crowds Were Bigger Than Ever - You may have noticed
the HUGE bleachers in the outfield that were new for this
year's tournament. Since the WCWS crowds have been growing
every year it was necessary to bring in outfield bleachers
capable of seating an extra 3,000 people. I know that one
of the games I attended had a record-breaking crowd of 8,000+.
10. Little Boys Bringing Their Gloves to Big Girls Games -
It was awesome for me to see so many little boys walking around
the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium carrying their gloves. I remember
when I was little I'd bring my glove to Dodgers games and
to think that we've now gotten to a point where the little
boys are not only coming to watch the big girls play, but
are bringing their gloves with them hoping to snag a foul
ball brought a big smile to my face!
Have a great summer
Elliott.
