Most people spend their Saturday mornings sleeping in, watching t.v., and just relaxing. I couldn't tell you the last time I did that! So getting up at 6 to hit the road and watch some softball this weekend was nothing out of the ordinary. Our destination was Brookings, SD, to watch NDSU vs SDSU.
A quick gane recap: The game was tied at zero until NDSU opened it up with 8 runs in the 3rd inning. From there on it was very one sided. The final score was 12-0, with Krista Meinke throwing a 1-hitter for the Bison. It was a perfect game until the bottom of the fifth with one out and a lefty blooped a hit into short RF. It was awesome to watch NDSU string a bunch of hits together just like their last comeback win in Illinois that I saw.
I love watching college softball because there is so many things that you can learn. Each game I watch I try to pick out about three different skills or plays that have good teaching points and talk about them with my dad or coaches. The three things that I picked up from this game was warming up through the 3rd baseman, hitting in different pitch counts, and sliding into home.
The first thing was doing most of infield warmups through the third baseman. Using this technique everyone gets a ball coming from the home plate angle and the 1st baseman still fields their throws. Instead of rolling to the ball to them, the 1st baseman throws the ball to 3rd and she begins the next play. It also provides the right angles to work double plays. Each session of warm ups starts with the 3rd baseman rolling it to the pitcher once and then moving onto the other infielders. Every other inning they differed the situation (just going to first, turning two, or bunts). Then it is ended with the third baseman getting her two balls. I think that this type of pre inning infield provides a better game simulation for fielding balls and is more time efficient. It is definitely something that I would love our infield coaches to look into and hopefully transition to it for the summer.
The next thing I noticed was how much the count effects your at-bat. At the college level you will only see one maybe two good pitches per at-bat. Once they get ahead of you, don't expect a pitch that you can drive. That is why I feel it is SUPER important to be aggressive and be the one in control of the at-bat. In my last blog I compared an at-bat to a chess match, it is all about your strategy to beat the opposition. If you want to win you do not sit back and react, you are the one making the moves and being aggressive. For me, this translates directly to hitting. Almost every hitter's batting average increases when they are ahead in the count. So it is simple, don't get behind in the count. Recognize the first good pitch and do something with it!
The last thing I noticed that whenever there was a close play at home the on-deck hitter for the Bison only used hand signals to instruct their teammate. Now I am not sure whether it was just because I could not hear them talking but it sparked an idea. When you do talk you help your runner but you also tell the catcher where she is going to be sliding. If you only use your hands and no voice the catcher does not necessarily know where you are going to slide. I am still unsure about this idea but it is definitely something to further discuss.
I had a blast at the game watching my Bison play and learned a few things which will be beneficial. The long drive was definitely worth getting to watch a ball game on a beautiful Saturday.
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