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A Practical Fastpitch Softball Tips Grab Bag!
Normally posts in Life in the Fastpitch Lane revolve around a central theme. Today, though, I thought we’d try something a little different.
There are plenty of topics that don’t rate a post by themselves but are still important to the overall experience. I know this because I see many of these topics asked over and over on different softball forums and Facebook groups.
So I figured why not gather them together in a sort of grab bag of ideas? Hopefully you’ll find one or more valuable, and that you’ll have a little fun along the way.
Ok, let’s get to it.
How to clean white uniforms
I have to tell you I loves me a white uniform. It’s a classic, elegant look that just screams “Champions.” When I was coaching teams I always preferred my players to wear the all-white uniform for bracket play.
But I also know why softball parents, especially moms, hate them: they’re hard to clean. Particularly the pants.
If you get dirt on gray, or black, or green, or pretty much any colored pants, really all you have to do is get rid of most of it. On white pants, though, it’s all or nothing, because any little bit of leftover dirt (or other substances) that are left just make them look bad.
Ordinary laundry detergents don’t really work. But there is something that does.
Fels-Naptha is your best friend. It may not be available at your local grocery store but you can find it all over in hardware stores and home centers such as Ace and Home Depot. Pick up a supply and you’ll make your life a whole lot easier.
Get your daughter a good metal bat
Yes, it’s true that your best bang for the buck (literally as well as figuratively) comes from a composite bat. An Easton Ghost or equivalent can turn even your 98 pound weakling of a daughter into a potential power hitter (if she can just get the bat on the ball).
The problem with those bats is they’re only good down to about 60 degrees. After that, the manufacturers will tell you not to use them because they are likely to break much more easily.
So what do you do if you live in an area (or are traveling to an area) where spring and fall gametime temperatures are likely to be closer to 40 than 80 degrees?
You can roll the dice and take your chances, but don’t complain if a manufacturer refuses to honor the warranty. A better alternative is to invest in a quality metal bat.
They’re still around. Bats such as the Anderson Rockettech will give you plenty of pop in cold weather without the risk of seeing it crack in half the first time your daughter makes solid contact on a 50 degree day. And if she really likes it, those bats perform just fine in warmer weather too.
At one time, back in the early 2000s, Rockettechs were THE bats to own – before composite bat technology became what it is today.
As a bonus, metal bats tend to hold up better when hitting pitching machine balls as well. I wouldn’t necessarily use one at a commercial cage, where the balls are more focused on lasting longer instead of the effect on bats. But for the rest, you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble by having a good metal bat in the ol’ bag.
Pack extra hair ties – and sunglasses
Yes, your daughter should be responsible and think ahead to ensure she has them in her bag. No, she won’t always do it. Or maybe she did, but it broke.
No matter, these are little things that can make a big difference during a game.
Take a hair tie for example. If your daughter needs one and doesn’t have one, it’s likely to be a huge distraction to her.
Her hair will blow with every breeze, and if there is any truth to Murphy’s Law it will blow in her eyes right as she’s trying to catch a fly ball or field a ground ball with runners in scoring position. My kingdom for a hair tie!
For the sunglasses, perhaps it was cloudy before the game so your daughter didn’t think she’d need her sunglasses and didn’t pack them. But then the sun broke through and suddenly she’s squinting directly into it.
Having an extra pair of sunglasses in your softball “go bag” will be a lifesaver. And may save you a few hours in the ER if she loses a ball in the sun.
BONUS TIP: Keep some duct tape handy too. As any good Southerner will tell you, duct tape can fix anything.
Keep a charged power block with you
This is especially true for parents with multiple daughters playing at different fields.
You’re going to want to check on your other kids’ games via GameChanger or a similar app. It’s only natural.
What you may not realize is these apps keep running in the background by design, so while you may have closed them they’re still sucking up battery power. If you have a long day at a tournament you may find yourself running out of power before the day is done.
Grabbing a high-quality power block will give you enough spare juice to keep going no matter how long the day goes on. Even enough to power your phone’s GPS to get you to the out-of-the-way restaurant the other parents chose for a team bonding meal at the end of the day.
Spend a little more to get a comfy chair
The same parents who will spend several hundred dollars to buy their daughter a bat, then several hundred more on another one in case the first one breaks, are often the ones who decide to save money by purchasing a cheap chair for themselves. Don’t do it.
A good quality chair that provides adequate space and good support, plus a strong cupholder or two, is worth every penny.
You’re probably going to spend more time at a field than at home on softball weekends. Be sure you have comfy chair to do it in.
For skills training, hire a coach
I’m not just saying that because I am one. It really does make a difference.
Not necessarily on the basis of knowledge either. You may have a lot of personal expertise and be fully capable of training your daughter yourself
But the parent/daughter dynamic is a tricky one. I have seen it in action often.
For example, you might tell your daughter to do things the same way that I tell her. When she hears you say it, though, she hears her father or mother criticizing her and shuts down.
When I tell her, she’s all about whatever I said – because I’m her coach, not her parent. And if she isn’t interested in it, you can just walk away from the lessons. Not so if she’s going home with you.
I have trained and continue to train the daughters of people who work with other people’s kid on hitting, pitching, catching, etc. They find it a relief to just sit on the bucket instead of having every session turn into a battle of wills.
Besides, there’s always the practice sessions between lessons where they can interject. But they can say “remember what Coach Ken said” to soften the blow.
The bag is full
Hopefully I covered some topics that you’re interested in or always wondered about. If you have other experience-based knowledge to share, or want to suggest a future topic to cover in another grab bag article, leave it below in the comments.
Grab bag photo by Angela Roma on Pexels.
Things To Do While Waiting Out Covid-19
Well, it’s official: the World Health Organization has declared the Covid-19 coronavirus a full-blown pandemic. The cascade effect has been postponement or outright cancellation of college and high school softball seasons, and could have a significant effect on the summer season as well.
(For those reading this post long after March 2020, it should be an interesting time capsule for how things were perceived while we were in the center of it. And much of what I’m going to say here applies to non-pandemic times too.)
At this point it would be easy to say “Aw, the heck with it” (or perhaps something a bit stronger), sit in the house and start power watching Stranger Things or Game of Thrones. Neither of which I have ever seen, by the way.
But you can also look at this extra, unexpected down time as a gift. There is plenty you can do without game or team activities.
And you’ll want to do them, because sooner or later this too shall pass and we will be back out in the sunshine, where we our biggest worry is whether we will knock those base runners in with a hit or get the out to win the game instead of whether we will fall deathly ill and infect a vulnerable family member.
So here are some suggestions on how to turn the currently bad situation to your advantage. Starting with…
Take some time off to heal
These days the softball season (like most other youth sports seasons) seems to run 12 months a year. That leaves little time to let your body rest and recuperate the way it needs to, because it seems like there is always some critically important game or tournament or camp or something coming up.
Well, now there isn’t, and we don’t know when there will be again. So take advantage of it. Take some time off and let your body do its healing thing. If you haven’t had your injury checked out and it’s causing sufficient pain, go visit your doctor. He/she may be thrilled to not have to look at another runny nose or listen to a wheezing cough.
Right now a little ankle pain doesn’t look so bad.
Even if you’re not injured, think about taking a week off just to let your body get some much-needed rest. You’ll be amazed at what it can do for you.
Fix the little issues that make big differences. One thing I’ve always prided myself on is being able to work around injuries to keep players on track. For example, I once gave a few pitching lessons to a girl in an ankle-to-hip hard cast.
Obviously we didn’t work on leg drive. Instead we focused on spins and stability. She sat on a stool and worked on perfecting her change, drop and curve balls.
Once the cast came off, she ended up being ahead of where she had been rather than behind. Shows you the value of narrow concentration.
If you’re a pitcher who has been struggling with whip, this is the perfect time to work on it, because you don’t have to worry about how it will affect you in a game. And if you’re diligent about it, by the time you do have to pitching to hitters again the whip will be second nature.
Or maybe you’re a hitter who tends to dip her back shoulder toward the catcher during her stride, or lets her hands get ahead of her hips. Take the time to fix it now.
Figure out what your biggest single issue is and work on it. If you get it done and the season is still on lockdown, work on another one. Rinse and repeat until it’s time to go play again.
Re-set your mindset
This particularly applies to college players who had already started their seasons. If it wasn’t going the way you’d hoped this temporary shut-down could be the best thing that happened to you (unless you’re a senior, in which case my heart goes out to you).
The first rules of holes is that when you find yourself in one, stop digging. That can be tough to do, however, when you are playing so many games trying to win a conference championship so you can get invited into the post-season tournament.
Now you have the perfect opportunity. First, let go of whatever was bothering you. Leave the past in the past and start looking forward.
Second, and this is most important, use this time to gain some perspective. When you were struggling or even in a slump, it seemed earth-shattering. But it wasn’t. At the end of the day, it was still just softball.
Now you’ve had softball taken away from you as the result of a rapidly-spreading disease that could affect your health (although so far it doesn’t seem likely) or the health of someone you love, like a parent or grandparent. THAT is earth-shattering.
Remember there are worse things than striking out with runners on base, booting an easy ground or fly ball, or giving up a walk-off hit. Like not getting to play at all.
Find the joy again in just being on the field, so when you are you’re able to keep things in perspective – which will likely help you improve your performance.
Learn to think like a coach
Talk to any coach who is a former player and sooner or later you’ll hear him/her say “If only I knew what I know now when I was playing.”
It’s unfortunate, but most of us don’t really put in the effort to really learn our craft until we’re put in a position where we have to teach someone else. It’s then that we decide we’d better know what we’re doing, in which case a whole new world opens up to us.
Why wait until your career is done? Start talking to knowledgeable people, watch video analysis of what top-level players do, check out DVDs from the library (or your coaches) and find whatever other information is available to you.
Sure, some of it is going to be garbage. Maybe a lot of it, especially random clips on YouTube. But if you compare what you’re seeing to what high-level players do you can start gaining a better understanding of what you should be doing so you can apply it to your own game.
Share what you know with younger players
You don’t have to go into full-on coaching or instructing. But if you’re hanging around somewhere and you run across a younger person who wants to learn a skill you know, take some time to share it with them.
Remember, when one coaches two learn.
Clean your stuff
Don’t just wash your uniform. Take the time to really do all you can to get the dirt, blood, grass and other stains out of it. Especially the white stuff. Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar and Stain Remover, which is available at most hardware stores as well as online, is great for that.
Clean the dirt out of your cleats, and wipe down the top parts. Maybe even polish them so they look great. If you have broken shoelaces now is a good time to change them.
Clean your glove with leather soap or saddle soap and put some conditioner in it. (Not oil, because that will make it heavy, but more of a paste-like conditioner.) If necessary, this is a great time to get it re-strung.
Wipe down your bat with soap and water. Remember how proud you were when it was shiny and new? See if you can feel like that again.
Give your batting gloves the sniff test. If you can do it from across the room it’s time to either try soaking them in laundry detergent for a bit or get a new pair.
And for goodness’ sake, clean out your equipment bag! Take everything out of it, including the 300 empty or partially empty water bottles crushed at the bottom of it, dump out the dirt, take a clean cloth and wipe it out, inside and out. Then, when you go to pack it up again, KonMari that sucker and only put things in it that make you happy.
Yes, these bottles.
Stay positive
Things may look bleak right now, but they will get better. Best thing you can do is remain positive, because sooner or later (hopefully sooner) softball games will start to be played again and life will return to its hectic normal.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 