Scheduling changes for next year

[mglight88]

Saw on OHSAA for softball and baseball next year that conference teams will be playing home/away back to back. This will be a major change. Any thoughts?

[4thgoal]

That is interesting. On one hand, it limits the number of innings (for baseball) that your 'ace' can throw against your big conference rivals, but also if you have someone who is injured, they could miss both key games of your conference season. I just looked at Burg's schedule for next year on OHSAA and it is set up that way already.

[G.W.A.]

Saw on OHSAA for softball and baseball next year that conference teams will be playing home/away back to back. This will be a major change. Any thoughts?

I like this rule. Now if they would just limit the innings in softball like baseball all would be good.

[Westfan]

That's my biggest beef with softball. One girl pitches every game.

[cgfan]

That's my biggest beef with softball. One girl pitches every game.

What's the beef?

[4thgoal]

That's my biggest beef with softball. One girl pitches every game.

What's the beef?

Maybe that a TEAM sport can be dominated by a single INDIVIDUAL player? A single player can be a huge factor in basketball, football, soccer, etc., but in those sports you can adjust your game plan to at least attempt to take them out of that dominate position. In softball, there is nothing you can do to offset an extremely talented pitcher. It also takes away any coaching strategy. If you have an incoming 9th grade star pitcher, basically you decide as a coach that for the next 4 years she will pitch every game and give up a run or less, so if we can score 2 runs each game on average, we should win 80-90% of the games.

[cgfan]

That's my biggest beef with softball. One girl pitches every game.

What's the beef?

Maybe that a TEAM sport can be dominated by a single INDIVIDUAL player? A single player can be a huge factor in basketball, football, soccer, etc., but in those sports you can adjust your game plan to at least attempt to take them out of that dominate position. In softball, there is nothing you can do to offset an extremely talented pitcher. It also takes away any coaching strategy. If you have an incoming 9th grade star pitcher, basically you decide as a coach that for the next 4 years she will pitch every game and give up a run or less, so if we can score 2 runs each game on average, we should win 80-90% of the games.

Maybe the OHSAA can come up with a handicap system like golf. So if you lose, you still win and feel good about your team. These dominant pitchers just don't fall out of the sky, they have worked many hours to perfect their skill long before they reach HS. So they should be penalized for being good? And a coach should not put their best nine on the field? Sounds like coaches need to build for the future and not just sit around and wait for talent to fall in their laps.

[Gopher]

There are always ways to take a better player out of any sport. Just ask the Clay coach last year that you all were commenting on in another thread earlier this past season. The real test is if the coach of the better player can make changes to improve the rest of their program to overcome that when it happens. If they can't, then maybe they get what they deserve.

[Buckeyeelite]

Every sport is different. In baseball u need 2 good pitchers to win state. Ask burg. In softball u need 1. It's a proven fact , the under hand motion. Doesn't put pressure on your shoulder. Like the over hand motion does . That's the reason for the baseball inning limit. Softball. The more the pitcher throws. The stronger and more accurate they get as the year goes on. You can't compare baseball and softball. To different games. Let's make hs football , change there QB. Every other Friday night. If baseball pitchers tried pitcher every game. They wouldn't last half the season. Softball pitchers pitch every game. They are better at the end. Than when they started the season. It's the game.

[cgfan]

Good points Gopher and Buckeye

I believe Leesburg Fairfield figured out how to take a dominating pitcher out of a game last year with an 8-2 win on a record book performance by the pitcher.

Most Strikeouts, Game (minimum 20, 7 innings)
#1 21 Ks Mikayla Newland, Bainbridge Paint Valley vs. Leesburg Fairfield (04/11/2015)