BF.Net Softball Players thread. -Practice #2 thoughts-

[brewerjamie15]

I can't make Sunday, too much going on. I don't even wanna try to get out of my commitments because it involves my mother, and my wife. I back outta stuff with them to play practice softball,and I"m a dead man.

 

Next-

I gotta say I'm impressed with how things are going in practices. We took it up a level or two today; playing assigned positions, working on cut offs, and some solid hitting.

Mary was watching, she said we looked very comfortable out there and it appeared as if we had been practicing a bit longer than we actually have been. I should have gotten to a few more balls, but my back was a bit sore so I laid off extending myself terribly far.

Things I've noticed so far:

Some good power at the plate

Some guys who will get on base frequently; giving the big hitters RBI opportunities

We have some guys with nice soft hands on the infield. Lots of nice stabs and pulling balls out of the dirt.

Good throws to first for the most part.

Good cut offs and other players telling the thrower where to go with the ball.

Good backing up of throws

At the plate it seems as if there were lots of guys going with the pitch and not trying to pull everything. This is a good thing. In power leagues it's not terribly good, but if we continue to hit the ball where it's pitched, we'll be successfull and get ourselves extra runners.

I think that after the next practice, guys will have the rust off and will be able to reach more balls. I also think we'll have a better idea on how to judge the ball.

 

Things to look at:

I'd like to finalize some regular positions for players.

I'd like to have us figure out where to put our tenth man. Will we have four outfielders= L. LC. RC. R? OR L, short LC to RC, C, R?

Start to establish a batting order that will for the most part not change over the season if possible.

I'd like to get everyboy to start with balms and clear creams. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

We need someone to volunteer for catcher. I'd highly recommend our catcher wear a "helmet" when behind the plate.

 

 

What did you guys notice?

[Brian the Automator]

Had an awesome time today. I think it became obvious to me from today's practice that I need to work on getting more elevation on the ball and picking tougher throws at 1B. I hadn't played organized baseball in a long, long time, so I didn't embarass myself as much as I thought I would, but I think i'm pretty much forfeit insurance at this point http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

From today's "small sample size", there are some guys who I think will do an awesome job up the middle and in the outfield... a nice array of power hitters and guys who were spraying the ball everywhere. I almost think we should abandon a natural batting order and completely alternate between contact and power. I think in softball, with the rover, it's easy to position guys deep for the power hitters. If we can keep them more off balance with sluggers & dunkers, they can't play us to hit everything hard.

[brewerjamie15]

I almost think we should abandon a natural batting order and completely alternate between contact and power.

 

That was my idea as well. I figured it could be done with a batting order though. My reasoning was by the third game or so, we'd know where we bat each time through and compliment eachother nicely base hitter, power, base hitter, power, etc.

[RightFieldCoder]

Pretty much every team goes witht the four of-ers straight across (LF-LC-RC-RF). There are many guys like me that are gap hitters that will absolutely burn you if you bring one of them in. We're better off in my opinion to let some of those singles drop in front of us than risk the hr over the short OF-er.

 

I'd like to get a regular position in the IF. My Monday league starts in two days, so I'll be plenty warmed up for May 11th. I'll probably be playing 9 innings every game at thrid for the team.

 

I think Brian's idea has merrit. Most teams assume the 3-6 guys can kill pitches and play farther back than the 7-10 hiters. If we keep it mixed up they will either give up HRs or play back for most people letting more of those singles fall.

[razzzorsharp]

Well, I wasn't at this last practice nor can I make it to the next one (school stuff) but from my experiences here is what I have done. We have always went with 4 OF's at the start of the game. One time through the order we got a sense of what players have gap power and stuck with the 4 OF's. Others, usually those lower in the order, we started having a rover to try and stop bloop singles. This is kinda risky but it worked for us. As far as batting order goes I don't think it matters too much as long as we play station to station. I have been in games so many times where we gave up 3 outs trying to stretch things. It just isnt worth the risk in my opinion. As far as fielding goes are we going with set positions? I like this idea better because people will then get accustomed to what they need to do and how they need to play and instead of just being pretty good fundamentally at a lot if positions everybody can just focus on their tasks that go with their selected position. End Rant.

[nullbyte]

My thoughts on practice #2: I can walk today. Sweet.

 

Some kind of mix in the batting order sounds good to me as well. Since everyone showing for a game will be in the lineup -- which means maybe up to a 15-man order -- I'm not sure it'd serve us well to load up in the 3-6 spots or anything.. not too concerned about it, though.

 

I'm not sure if anything was planned for practice next week, but I won't be able to make it.. out-of-town funeral. The week after that I'll be moving, but I could probably be persuaded to take a break to attend a practice http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[RightFieldCoder]

Quote:

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Since everyone showing for a game will be in the lineup -- which means maybe up to a 15-man order -- I'm not sure it'd serve us well to load up in the 3-6 spots or anything.. not too concerned about it, though.

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Are we allowed to do that? In the fall league, I was pretty sure we can only have 10 batters in the lineup and had to swap positions and batting order like little league rules.

[Brian the Automator]

A little off-topic, but The King and His Court are going to be on tour for their final time (forever) this year. They'll be in Wautoma on May 28th & 29th... It might be cool to get some of our softball guys (and anyone else) up there.

[valpocrewsader]

Quote:

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They'll be in Wautoma on May 28th & 29th.

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The May 26th stop in Hingham would be a lot closer, no?

[Brian the Automator]

[ The May 26th stop in Hingham would be a lot closer, no? ]

 

You're right. I guess I assumed that since I never heard of Hingham, that it'd be farther away http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

 

That is a Friday though, so depending on what time of day it is, i'm not sure if it'd be more accessible to people than the Wautoma dates, even though it's twice as far away.

[Jimbo]

I was thinking of doing a "Rich Dauer". The outfield would be LF-LCF-CF-RF. I just sense the right-handed batters pulling or going up the middle. The chess game would be how much do we cheat over to the left side?

 

There's a batting cage not far from where I live. Over the next couple of weeks I'll practice on going the other way so I can make "productive outs" when neccessary instead of taking everything up the middle.