When I was still working in the business world, I used to have this quote from WWII General George S. Patton hanging in every cubicle and office I worked in:

“A good plan, violently executed today, is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

I would also copy the paper I had it on and give it to new co-workers when they joined the company, especially the younger people who might be intimidated coming into their first big jobs.

I found them to be great words to live by for a variety of settings. And they definitely work for fastpitch softball.

Think about hitters. We’ve all seen hitters who let good pitches go by waiting to see the perfect pitch.

They wind up in an 0-2 hole, where their odds of seeing a perfect pitch go down substantially, and as a result their chances of getting a good hit drop significantly as well.

Or take pitchers who are working on a new pitch. They feel like they’re doing pretty well with it, but they (or their coaches) are reluctant to use it in a game because they don’t have full (perfect) control over it yet.

The result is they never gain game experience with it because none of us is ever going to be perfect. Instead of waiting for absolute reliability, I say pick a safe situation (nobody on, nobody out, 0-1 count for example) and give it a try.

Worst case the count goes to 1-1, but it could have done that anyway with a “safer pitch” that the pitcher doesn’t throw well or that the umpire misses. Throw that new pitch so you start getting used to it in game situations so you have it for later – not to mention maybe it works the way it should now even if it’s by luck and you start building confidence.

The words of General Patton don’t just apply to players either. Coaches, how many times do you work on a defensive play for when there are runners on first and third, or a special offensive play such as a suicide squeeze, only to be too afraid to try it in an actual game?

Your team’s ability to win an important game might just come down to its ability to execute one of these high-risk plays. But if you’re too worried it’s not ready when you’re playing a friendly or a non-conference game, you’ll never know if it’s ready when it counts.

I say give it a try now, when a screw-up doesn’t mean as much, and see what happens. Maybe you learn your team is close to executing it but needs a little more work; maybe you learn there’s no point in wasting valuable practice time because your team is never going to be ready to pull it off with any degree of certainty.

But at least you’ll know.

Remember that in softball, as in most things in life, the situation is changing constantly. Waiting until you have the “perfect” conditions or opportunity means you could be passing up a whole lot of other ones that, while they carry a little more risk, also carry a lot of potential rewards.

With fall ball coming up, this is the perfect time to trot out some of those special plays, or new pitches, or more aggressive approaches at the plate, or new fielding techniques, whatever else has been gathering dust in your back pocket.

Prepare as best you can in the time you have, then give it a try. You may just surprise yourself.