The season is now finished, we have a new national champion and we are left reflecting on what was learned during the 2016 NCAA softball season. It is likely that we learned more than five things throughout the season, but these are the five things that stood out the most from my perspective.
- Wristbands are simply awful. I am of the opinion they should be banished all together and whoever invented them should be held accountable for dramatically slowing down what was once a very fast paced game. The time between pitches has certainly increased and even the delay of batters getting into the box. I applaud those teams not using them. At one college game I watched a pitcher was called on three occasions for a timing violation (see NCAA rule10.2.1, 10.2.2 and 10.18). The reason was simple. Coach had to look at wristband, yell out numbers, catcher and pitcher then have to look at numbers, then pitch. Final thought: Wristbands are bad.
- Clint Myer coaches players up. Love or hate his style a person has to be crazy not to see the vast improvement the Auburn Tigers have made the past three seasons under Myers guidance. Let’s look at hitting. In 2013, the year prior to Myers coming aboard, the Tigers had a slash line (ba/obp/slg) of .279/.375/.407 with just 32 home runs and outscored opponents 273-206. Since Myers arrived things have improved. Let’s look at this past season 2016, Myers third as head coach. Auburn’s line reads a bit different now .317/.437/.525 with 89 home runs and they outscored the opposition 556-179. Jade Rhodes may be one of the best example of player who improved at the plate under Myer. Her freshman year (2013) she batted .083 with two RBI and no home runs. This past season Rhodes batted .338 with 74 RBI and 20 home runs. Final thought: Auburn will be tough to handle for the foreseeable future.
- It’s tough to live on one pitcher alone. Yes, I am aware of Paige Parker. Although Parker somewhat disproves this point, she also helps support it. Oklahoma tried going to their number two and number three and that did not work well for them. Now you could also argue that having a stable of Ace type pitchers such as LSU really did not make that big of a difference either and that would be fair, but it was not really the pitching that did LSU in was it? Auburn used multiple pitchers effectively for the most part. How scary would have the Sooner’s been if they had two aces this year? Paige Parker in my opinion is more the exception than the rule. Final thought: Having two pitchers with different speeds and pitches is a good thing.
- Defense is being overlooked or at least appears to be overlooked. The biggest disappoint for me this past season was the bad defense being played. There are tough plays sure, there are mental mistakes sure, but the sheer amount of errors was down right disturbing. Let me give you an example of a few games I attended between a Big 12 school and a Sunbelt team. In the two games they played (14 innings) there were 20 errors, 12 in the first game eight in the second game. Again that is just not acceptable at the DI level in my opinion. Just look at the first round of the College World Series this year. Final Thoughts: Defense needs to become a higher priority and I think pitchers would appreciate it.
- The game is evolving. We used to see dominate pitching, then the age of the power hitter. Now we see strategy playing a bigger role in games. During the WCWS we saw clean-up hitters dropping bunts to advance runners, we saw base runners taking extra bases when catchers were not paying attention, more hit and runs etc… Yes dominant pitchers are still a large part of the game as is the ability to change a game with one swing. But playing smart and manufacturing runs is starting to play more of a role in the overall strategy of the game. Teams are becoming more balanced at the plate and hitters are diversifying. This adds a nice new layer to the game. Final Thoughts: Being a well rounded balance team has its benefits.
