Heard some sad news today, first from Cindy Bristow on Facebook and then later confirmed by the NFCA. Mary Nutter, an NFCA Hall of Famer and the creator of the National Sports Clinics, has passed away.

Anyone who ever went to the NSC knows who Mary was. She was a quite a character and a force to be reckoned with. She ran her clinics with an iron fist (and about as much passion as anyone could muster).

It was always amusing to see Mary when one session was scheduled to end and another to begin. She didn’t care if you were a D3 assistant coach, a former player or the head coach of the National Team. When it was time to get off, she’d cut you off and keep things moving.

That being said, Mary was always looking out for her attendees. Inevitably there will be mix-ups or things missed when human beings are involved. But Mary made sure her people were trained to handle them quickly. And quite frankly, if you could catch her in the hallway she was a blast to speak with.

I attended many National Sports Clinics sessions here in the Chicago area, and much of what I know today I learned there. Mary always brought in the most interesting speakers and had the most interesting topics. Yet even in a large lecture format, where there might be 600 people in a hotel ballroom, you never felt remote. Because Mary always encouraged the speakers to hang out in the hallways and talk to people individually. If it was good enough for Mary herself, it was good enough for the presenters.

Hopefully the National Sports Clinics will continue to bring great softball information to new generations of coaches. But they’ll never quite be the same.

Mary Nutter, thanks so much for all you gave all of us. I think we can say you’re now safe at home.

Do you have any memories about meeting, talking to or seeing Mary Nutter? Add them in the comments section!

Today was a bit of an unusual day for me. It’s the first time in 16 years that I haven’t been coaching a fastpitch softball team in a tournament on Father’s Day. I don’t have a team this year due to some circumstances not worth going into here, so the day (and the weekend, of course) was free.

That’s not to say there wasn’t any softball in my day. I did get out to say a game where several students (one on one team, the others on the other) were playing, so at least I got my fix. Still, it’s definitely different being in the stands instead of the dugout.

I started coaching when my oldest daughter, who is now 28, was a second year 12U player. Little did I know back then how much the game would come to be a part of my life. I remember one year coaching my younger daughter’s team when the whole family came out to watch the game at an away tournament, just so we could be together.

After I watched the game I came back and did what ordinary fathers do. Went with my wife to the grocery store, did some yard work, ran some errands and grilled some Italian sausages. It’s been so long since I’ve had the chance to do that it seemed a bit surreal.

Will I get back into team coaching? Perhaps, if the right opportunity comes along. I do miss the whole team dynamic. In the meantime, today was a most interesting and unusual day. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads (and dad substitutes) who spend your days at the ballpark and the practice field. You are a big part of what keeps this game going.

Long-time readers know I love stories where a fastpitch softball player who is overlooked or dismissed by a coach comes back to have some success. So today I’m sharing one that was in the newspaper recently. It was about a girl who played for me in 2010 and 2011 — Erin Pauly. Thanks to her mom Jan for pointing it out to me.

I don’t know how long the link will stay live, so just in case you can’t read it anymore here’s the short version — plus a little extra background.

First of all understand Erin is a great a kid — sweet, polite and a good teammate to all. She’s also a fierce competitor. She had kind of a rough year in 2010, but experienced a lot of success last year in the summer,

This spring she made varsity at Carmel Catholic High School as a sophomore but couldn’t quite seem to get on track. According to the story her 16U travel team tried to turn her around as a slapper, but she struggled with it when she got a chance to play. She was benched, then eventually she was demoted to the JV team.

The newspaper says she was sent down to rebuild her confidence, but having heard how it was handled — no conversation or explanation, just you’re not on varsity anymore —  I think it’s safe to say she was demoted. She played JV until the end of the season, when she was brought back to varsity with a handful of other call-ups. This time, however, things were different.

Her confidence was back and she started playing like the Erin I know. She started ripping the ball from the right side, and in the last couple of playoff games got some good hits, including a big double in a losing cause in Carmel’s last game.

If you don’t get to see it, the newspaper story I’m referring to the cool thing is she got the headline and was the focus of the story. That’s a pretty cool redemption for someone who was pretty much forgotten and dimissed in mid-season.

In Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle one of the characters says “The universe has a way of working out the way it should.” In this case that was true.

Come back again soon for another story of the triumph of an underdog. In the meantime, what did you think of this story? And if you have your own story of redemption, please share it in the comments.

Had a chance to watch another great high school playoff game today. This time it was Grayslake North and Prairie Ridge high schools squaring off for a Sectional title.

The game featured two of the top pitchers in the area — Kristi Gandy for Grayslake North and Kirsten Stevens for Prairie Ridge. Both are dominant pitchers and leaders on their teams (along with being strong hitters as well), and today was no exception. Hits were tough to come by all day on both sides.

Grayslake North prevailed by a score of 2-1. The difference was a couple more timely hits for Grayslake North, and some outstanding defensive plays when they needed it.

In the top of the sixth, trailing 2-1 with two outs and a runner on second, one of the Prairie Ridge hitters stroked a single to medium deep left. Knowing how tough runs had been to score all day, the Prairie Ridge coach sent his runner home. Left fielder Courtney Peterson scooped up the ball and fired a perfect strike home. The ball didn’t make it on a fly — it actually rolled for the last part — but catcher Brooke Tracy dropped to her knees, fielded the ball, leapt to her feet and made a very sure tag to cut down the runner at home to end the inning.

Then in the top of the seventh Kristi, who was getting squeezed on the inside corner according to several observers (including Lake Forest College pitching coach Laura Matthews), issued a walk to the leadoff hitter — never a good idea in a tight game. Especially when the leadoff hitter for the inning was also the leadoff hitter for the game. But I saw Kristi and her teammates communicating something prior to facing the next hitter.

As he had throughout the game, the Prairie Ridge coach had his hitter lay down a sacrifice bunt with a runner on first. But there’s a problem when you’re predictable. Grayslake North was ready for it. When the bunt went down, instead of taking the sure out at first, third baseman Kelsey Borders fired the ball to second baseman Jessica Davis covering second, erasing the lead runner. One out.

The next hitter grounded to first baseman Christina Freese; again, instead of taking the automatic out at first she wheeled and fired to shortstop Jordyn Bowen covering second, nailing the lead runner again. Two outs. A couple of pitches later the cleanup hitter hit a short pop to Borders at third, who ran in, squeezed the ball and secured the victory.

One other effort worthy of note. I saw in the newspaper this morning that Stevens struck out 15 North hitters. That seems like a strong but not particularly remarkable performance until you realize that was in six innings since they were the visitors. So out of 18 possible outs, her left arm was responsible for 15 of them. Sounds like she’s ready to pitch for the Cubs!

It was an action-packed, tense but well-played game. Both sides are to be commended for a great job. It was everything we love about softball.

Just had to comment on this one. Today I watched Carmel Catholic High School v Mundelein High School in a Regional championship game here in Illinois. For those who don’t know, both schools are in Mundelein so it was a true cross-town rivalry.

The play on both sides was impressive. Lots of great defensive plays supporting strong pitching. Carmel was able to put a few more legitimate hits together, though, and ultimately won 2-0.

One of the great plays I saw was Mundelein pitcher Molly Ellett (one of my pitching studnets) fielding a suicide squeeze and getting the out at home. She also took on another bunt and got the out at first. Those were big outs.

On Carmel’s side, one of the memorable plays was shortstop Kathleen Felicelli fielding a ground ball that had first hit pitcher Nicole Bitter’s glove, grabbing it on the run and throwing for the out.

Have to admit I was proud of my hitting student Amy Abel as well. She hit a timely single for Carmel, and later laid down a perfect sac bunt (although I would’ve rather seen her swing away as she has had a hot bat lately).

Baserunning was good on both sides as well. I saw a couple of runners take advantage of balls in the dirt, aggressively taking the base even though the ball didn’t get far from the respective catchers. Each team was looking for every edge it could get.

The only shame was the way the game ended. Molly was rung up looking on a pitch that was clearly mid-shin high. I hate when that happens, but such is life.

Both teams are to be commended on a great game. I’ve seen a lot of badly played HS games this year, so it was fun to see such a good one. Congrats to both sides.

Not really fastpitch softball-related, but I got an email today that led me to an interesting infographic on moms and the sacrifices they make for their kids. You softball parents no doubt know all about this, but it’s interesting to see it in hard financial figures. And this doesn’t even count all the time that goes into driving to games, lessons, practices and all the other stuff.

In any case, enjoy! And happy Mother’s Day.

Got an interesting text today from the mom of one of my fastpitch softball hitting and pitching students. She was out at a game, and her daughter was apparently putting on quite a hitting display. Someone else there was impressed and thought that she had a doctored bat. He was talking about getting his daughter’s bat “rolled” to help her out.

The mom had no idea what it was, and asked if she should get her daughter’s bat rolled too.

Of course I immediately answered no and explained it is illegal. (That’s right, it is against the rules for those of you considering it.) That was enough for her, and she was glad she checked. But as she explained why she was asking it brought up an interesting point.

There are no shortcuts on the road to success, but people still continue to look for one. Rolling the bat is one of them. I’m sorry, but there’s no substitute for quality teaching coupled with hard work.

That’s what the girl whose mom contacted me has done. We’ve worked together for three years, ever since she was 10, and during that time she has made amazing strides — a little bit at a time. The display she put on today was the result of all that time and effort she put in, not a bat that had been doctored.

Yes, it can be tempting to try to get that quick edge. But rather than paying someone to treat a bat, instead invest that time, money and effort in actually learning how to hit. The results will be a lot more satisfying.

As for the mom, if you knew her you’d know how horrified she was to find out she’d even considered doing anything illegal. As she said, she and daughter want no part of cheating. Glad she asked before she did it!

Just had to share this fastpitch softball story today. Tonight I received a very excited text from John Gandy, father of Grayslake North HS pitcher Kristi Gandy. He said Kristi’s team had beaten rival Cary-Grove HS 4-1.

What made this so remarkable is that A) C-G also has an outstanding pitcher, one who receives a lot of publicity in the area and C-G is known as a very strong hitting team. They’re very well coached and always a tough opponent. They’ve won a lot of games, but not tonight.

John told me all of Kristi’s pitches were working, and she racked up a lot of strikeouts. She received a lot of defensive support too, and some timely hits (including a couple of her own).

I sometimes feel that Kristi doesn’t get the recognition she’s due. She’s been an outstanding high school pitcher ever since her freshman year, and has received some visibility. But because her high school has been in a “building” phase since it opened a few years ago it doesn’t have the established reputation some other schools may have. She’s now a senior, so it’s great to see all her hard work paying off. Next year she’ll be pitching at Lake Forest College so it will be fun to see her move to the next level.

This was the first time Grayslake North has defeated Cary-Grove in fastpitch softball so it’s a big deal for that reason too. They also recently defeated Crystal Lake South for the first time in school history, so they seem to be on a roll. I just hope they don’t peak too early!

One other reason I thought this was worth noting is that Kristi is not only one of the hardest-working softball players you’ll ever find, she is also incredibly kind and humble. She will always stop to talk and encourage a younger pitcher, and if you compliment her she’ll smile and say thank you, but you’ll never see that attitude so many high performers seem to adopt.

So congratulations Kristi (and Grayslake North), and keep up the great work. This is a win worth savoring. Just remember what you did today has no bearing on your next game, so you have to keep working hard!