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Post by eckersley43 on Oct 16, 2012 22:55:14 GMT 10
Without repeating points re shortened pitching, I would be even more concerned about shortened base paths. ("Div 2 ")Saw several firm hits to 3rd base that were fielded cleanly, followed by an accurate/slow throw, that the batter runners beat to 1st...and the runners were capable but not speedsters. Shortening the base paths will make outs even more difficult.. and mean more pitches that have to be thrown.
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Post by oldmanriver on Oct 17, 2012 10:39:40 GMT 10
Just a thought, why not at the start of each season play a series of grading games. Along the same lines as the Junior section. Then you may get a more even competition.. IE: take the team entries and split them into groups and then play 5 games or whatever it takes and hopefully you finish up with proper gradings unless somebody tanks.
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Post by wearnie52 on Oct 17, 2012 15:14:27 GMT 10
Having been around women's baseball quite a lot, and having seen a lot of women's games over the years, it is very rare that i see girls struggle with the distance. They struggle throwing consistent strikes. They struggle throwing the ball straight. Bringing the plate in isn't going to solve these issues, in my opinion.
If there are girls out there who are keen to give pitching a go, there are many drills that they can work on to not only throw consistent strikes, but also add a little bit of strength to arms. I agree there are a number of girls who are a bit older and are putting up there hand, but Div 3 is also about giving young girls an opportunity to play.
They bought the pitching distance in a few years back when i was younger. All it did was make the good pitchers better (almost unhittable), and the girls who couldn't throw strikes still couldn't throw strikes. Made absolutely no difference to the lesser pitchers, made all the difference to the better pitchers.
Wyatt, your girls are doing great things down at Melbourne. If you ever need some help working with some pitchers and would like a hand, PM me and i'll come down to a training some time. Would love to work with some of the girls who are putting their hands up to have a go at pitching.
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Post by splitfinger on Oct 17, 2012 16:22:30 GMT 10
It has been interesting reading the different points of view regarding pitching distance and both sides have good points.
I disagree to an extent that a shorter distance won't change the strike/ball ratio. In the lower levels, the shorter distance should result in more pitches making it to the plate on the full. Likewise this may also result in more swinging rather than ball watching. Will this improve the pitching quality over time? Possibly not, but it may increase the longevity of the younger girls working their way through.
While the upgrade to a full diamond did help the good pitchers get better, it could also be argued that those that didn't aim for representative teams (or indeed to play division 1) may not have had the same result. Truth be told there would be many division 2 pitchers from 5-10 years ago who have fallen off the pitching radar completely and now play in other positions or not at all. Granted the distance may not be the reason but it shows the other side of the story.
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Post by eckersley43 on Oct 17, 2012 19:45:16 GMT 10
Splitfinger.Without laboring the point..Having watched Div 3 pitching, it's not the "dirt balls" that are the problem, it's the lack of accuracy. This is no reflection on the pitchers involved, but the reality of lack of sustained practice at throwing at a target from any specified distance..then add in the mound , runners stealing, dropped third strikes and you have the picture. Fortunately there are people like Wearnie52 (now there is a pitcher!) commited to the greater good of Women's baseball. If I was a manager looking for assistance I would be sending out the limousine, and be using her expertise as often as possible. P.S. Could B.V. consider having funded pitching coaching clinics open to all interested girls/women.? A permanent instructor (see above) with invited guest pitchers would be a practical way to develop pitchers..assuming there is a commitment to Women's baseball!
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mandi
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Post by mandi on Oct 17, 2012 20:29:23 GMT 10
I guess this is why i am a supporter of the womens preseason tournament, it gives all players from all levels the opportunity to play alongside players such as wearne, hough, lillywhite, gell, brown to just name a few of the regulars to help you, even if it is for just one day.
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Post by wyatt33 on Oct 18, 2012 8:47:03 GMT 10
Maybe some of this needs to go back on the club? I know at melb they train long and hard, because the Darl, when playing doesn't get home till after 9 most nights, and I'm starving! She says they spend a little bit of time doing a bullpen, but not much. Maybe of they are so keen to have good pitching more than 5 mins throwing is required? I'll admit they cop a bagging a lot of the time, but BV can't be blamed for the lack of pitching in women's baseball, and they definitely would have money to spend on things like collecting data, or roving pitching coaches! Most women's teams have reasonable access to pitchers thru their men's teams, surely they can spend time learning from them. I mean they do it for juniors, so why not the girls? Ps I'd like to add that this approach was taken last years by the melb girls, but they were kindly asked not to participate in with the men's training sessions. Another issue for another thread!
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Post by eckersley43 on Oct 18, 2012 10:31:40 GMT 10
I wasn't being critical of the clubs efforts in developing pitchers, but by its nature it is ad hoc. If it is good enough for the A.I.S. to have specialist programs, why couldn't BV invest in a comprehensive program to develop pitchers?...something that can't be done justice by a few minutes at practice, depending on who is available.Waverley used to do this (probably still do) by identifying pitching potential as early as 10 years old in their Vita Brits competition, and then had special nights/programs dedicated to developing pitchers from beginners to the elite level, over a period of years.I don't see this pathway currently being available for Womens baseball.
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Post by wyatt33 on Oct 18, 2012 13:03:31 GMT 10
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Post by houghy49 on Oct 18, 2012 16:41:35 GMT 10
I wasn't being critical of the clubs efforts in developing pitchers, but by its nature it is ad hoc. If it is good enough for the A.I.S. to have specialist programs, why couldn't BV invest in a comprehensive program to develop pitchers?...something that can't be done justice by a few minutes at practice, depending on who is available.Waverley used to do this (probably still do) by identifying pitching potential as early as 10 years old in their Vita Brits competition, and then had special nights/programs dedicated to developing pitchers from beginners to the elite level, over a period of years.I don't see this pathway currently being available for Womens baseball. Eckersley, if BV can't keep the U15 Junior Girls program up and running that lasted a whole 12 MONTHS, do you honestly think they are going to give a sh!t about putting money in to developing female pitchers?! I know what my thoughts on that one are.... best kept to myself though
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Post by eckersley43 on Oct 18, 2012 20:50:43 GMT 10
You're right Houghy..I was dreaming. Still, it could have worked.
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Post by houghy49 on Oct 21, 2012 19:13:49 GMT 10
Does anyone know if the washouts for Div1/2 are being replayed this season as has happened in the past? There are a few games on the Summer League website that have no result (and were washed out).
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Post by aueagle30 on Oct 22, 2012 16:32:13 GMT 10
Rain out games will not be replayed this season, in line with all other Summer League competitions.
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Post by larry42 on Oct 29, 2012 9:09:10 GMT 10
After 4 rounds of the early season the expanded D1 and D2 seems to, from the outside anyway, be going along okay. A few real blowouts (over 20 runs) but some close games as well with clubs/teams going through some changes or dealing with players away/missing, etc.
Great to see Port Melb doing well again under Vic Brown with Mel Gregory assisting.
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Post by MF on Oct 29, 2012 18:29:06 GMT 10
Is Mel playing again, or just asst. coaching?
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Post by 4crownies on Oct 29, 2012 19:52:30 GMT 10
Is Mel playing again, or just asst. coaching? Playing, and well. Threw close to a complete game against Footscray and had at least 2 solid hits
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Post by 4crownies on Oct 29, 2012 20:03:41 GMT 10
Someone please remind me why there's no Womens games this weekend?
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Post by oldmanriver on Oct 30, 2012 7:06:39 GMT 10
To look after the juniors that aren't playing this weekend.
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Post by eckersley43 on Oct 30, 2012 12:34:39 GMT 10
Maybe the juniors are needed to ride the horses, and the women to turn out for Fashion on the Field..can't seem to find any other reason for no baseball.
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Post by MF on Oct 30, 2012 19:25:28 GMT 10
Someone please remind me why there's no Womens games this weekend? An excellent question...
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Post by wearnie52 on Oct 30, 2012 21:20:52 GMT 10
Seems very strange in an already short season
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Post by houghy49 on Dec 1, 2012 21:36:33 GMT 10
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Post by Goblin on Dec 1, 2012 21:58:20 GMT 10
Essendon's women's team got caught with that 1 a couple of weeks ago as well. I was pretty peeved at the time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2012 22:26:09 GMT 10
Ahhh just put it down to another 'Fixturing Glitche' and lets move on.
I mean I was counting the fixturing problems there for a while but then lost count, add Byes, Rescheduling, Two games Fixtured at the same ground at the same time, Wrong game times, now Wrong grounds !
This time next year it will be the same - I might go and hire 'Groundhog Day' for a laugh soon I reckon !
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Post by splitfinger on Dec 2, 2012 10:23:11 GMT 10
Does that mean the game was actually played at Glenauburn Park where there is no shelter (for the away team in particular), no canteen and very little parking?
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Post by houghy49 on Dec 2, 2012 20:33:40 GMT 10
Does that mean the game was actually played at Glenauburn Park where there is no shelter (for the away team in particular), no canteen and very little parking? Correct. I do recall saying to a teammate that we would have been in the sh!t if it was a 35 degree day or raining. No shade or cover, no canteen.... Thing is, if they know there is no canteen and it's going to be warm/hot (which it was on Saturday, especially catching), it would be logical would it not, for the club to bring an esky, pack it with some Gatorade, water etc.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2012 20:46:39 GMT 10
Yep - at very least so there is ice there for if anyone gets hurt.
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Post by splitfinger on Dec 2, 2012 21:09:01 GMT 10
[/quote]
Correct.
I do recall saying to a teammate that we would have been in the sh!t if it was a 35 degree day or raining. No shade or cover, no canteen....
Thing is, if they know there is no canteen and it's going to be warm/hot (which it was on Saturday, especially catching), it would be logical would it not, for the club to bring an esky, pack it with some Gatorade, water etc. [/quote]
So nothing has changed then. Was there a few years ago on a 30+ day as a spectator and that was bad enough. I think they have on occasion provided an esky but in my opinion this is simply not good enough.
Why does this ground continue to be used? Surely it would fail in terms of requirements expected of a diamond. On a day of extreme weather (heat or rain) could a lack of shelter/shade be reported on the match card? It is a requirement for a dugout to have a roof isn't it?
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Post by wearnie52 on Dec 3, 2012 7:20:57 GMT 10
splitfinger.........although a little annoyed that we all drove to the wrong ground, and then arrived somewhere that wasn't a particularly 'great' venue, i don't want the people at Bundoora to get the wrong idea about these posts. The game was played in good spirit, and all players did well, absolutely no issues with Bundoora.
This is a BV thing i think. I know that over the past few years i have been President at Springy, we have had BV come out and 'review' our field. There will be some out there who haven't been to our field for a few years, but it is currently in mint condition. We have done it up over the last four or five years.
Yet we still get a 'review', and letters stating that we need to do a, b, c, d, e, etc for it to be up to standard. I totally agree we need to provide a good and safe field for players - however, when you turn up to grounds like we played on last weekend - it really makes me wonder why we bother to even look at a, b, c, d, e, etc (they are usually things that are 'over and above' what is necessary for an amateur baseball club).
Doesn't make sense. I am happy to play at any ground, anywhere, doesn't really bother me what condition it is in. But if BV are going to 'review' grounds that are in good condition, why are we forgetting the ones that actually need some work?
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Post by wearnie52 on Dec 3, 2012 7:22:18 GMT 10
Oh, and i came off the field with a dodgy knee, would have loved some ice...........lucky the servo was only around the corner
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