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Is softball sexist?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Jun 8, 2014.

  1. Guy_Incognito

    Guy_Incognito Well-Known Member

    Why?
     
  2. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Because when they are casting movies that's what they are looking for, a lead actor to play the male part or a supporting actress to play a female part. When the studio is looking for a director they just need a director, doesn't matter what gender.
     
  3. Guy_Incognito

    Guy_Incognito Well-Known Member

    Each team has a shortstop and a 1B, but they give out one MVP.

    And besides, there are plenty of movies without a male & female lead. That's about as good a reason as I've heard, but I don't think it's very good.
     
  4. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Agreed, though not everybody plays it that way. One of the top programs around here usually has the kids take their usual approach to the plate. They do have slappers, who rarely take a full swing, but the big bats go up there hacking more often than not.

    I get the theory that part of the issue is coaches not allowing kids to gain confidence as hitters, but that is not the only reason that the game is dominated by pitching and defense.
     
  5. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't fight to the death to keep it the same or anything, I really don't care. I just can see why they started doing it that way and I don't think telling people they were going to give fewer awards would go over well.
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    There is logic and strategy behind it, but it is self-fulfilling: when players are constantly pummelled by coaches by unmistakable messages 'we don't believe you can get a hit,' they perform accordingly.

    Some decades ago, I managed a HS-level softball team, and I managed using 'baseball' stragegy, i.e., rarely sac bunting. (Actually in baseball, I almost NEVER bunted, but in softball I very rarely did). We won a lot of games (we had good talent, including the indispensable real good pitcher) but I was upbraided by some rival coaches that I wasn't teaching them to 'play the right way.'

    "You can't swing away like that in HS varsity games," they told me, very drippingly. "You have to bunt. Your players will never be ALLOWED to hit away in those situations in high school games, so you should teach them to bunt."

    Some of these coaches in fact got huffy that sometimes I ordered my players to show bunt (bringing the infielders in), THEN swing away and crack line drives which almost tomahawked their third basemen playing 35 feet from home plate.

    They claimed I was being "unsportsmanlike" by ordering my players to hit away when "the book" said they should be bunting.
     
  7. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    All true. But it seems like over the last 10-15 years, they've been tinkering with the game to add some offense, such as adjusting the distance from the rubber to the plate, bats, perhaps a drop of two of rabbit juice in the ball. That, and players coming up through the ranks are just getting better.
     
  8. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Not softball but a "coaching kids in baseball" moment along those lines of building confidence.

    We faced a dominating pitcher today in 12-year-old baseball. Lost 1-0. 21 plate appearances. He struck out 13, allowed two walks and we got one hit. A bloop to center.

    Best pitcher we've seen all year. Proud as hell of our kids. Gave up one run in the last inning. That was it. Crisp game all around.

    We could have probably bunted for another runner or two (we had three total in the game) - maybe we get on, maybe we don't.

    I had them swing away for this exact purpose. I wanted them to BELIEVE they would get a hit off a kid throwing flames. They didn't but I wanted them to know I believed in them. Best part... our worst hitter got the single. He was pretty damn happy.
     
  9. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Any way you look at it, you're going to have a lot of 1-0, 2-1 games. The pitching domination dictates that.

    And if you're going to have a lot of 1-0, 2-1 games, you play small ball because a run is a lot bigger.

    Now, turning girls into full-time "slap" hitters -- I think that's the ridiculous part. But not playing small ball.
     
  10. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    If it's high-level college softball or even the semis or finals of a high school state tournament, I understand the small-ball.

    I just remember covering WAY too may regular-season games where it was always small ball and dinking out a run or two instead of letting hitters develop confidence.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    If you're a top-10 team in the state, you have a lights-out dominant pitcher with an ERA/7 under 1.00.

    If you're not, you don't.

    Even above-average "good" teams (let's say for example, 18-12 on the season) feature pitchers with ERA/7s of 3.00+.

    Remember also, the average HS softball game includes lots and lots of errors.

    The average HS varsity girls softball game, I would quite confidently wager, probably has a run-scoring total of about 8-10.

    Small-ball strategies are bullshit.
     
  12. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Eh, some of us are old enough to remember when bunting was a big part of the offense, even at the major league level. Not just the pitcher in the National League, either. There were some managers under whom it was almost automatic. Get the leadoff man on base, bunt him over to scoring position and let the next two guys take a shot at driving him in.

    Bunting today has become a lost art in baseball. But it's not correct to say it was just for wimps.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
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