The Division 1 Women’s College World Series (WCWS) has come and gone – a little sooner than some would have liked, and not the outcome everyone was looking for depending on which team (or player) was their favorite. But it was definitely entertaining throughout and a great showcase for our sport.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the first five days saw an average of 1.5 million TV viewers per game, an increase of 33 percent year-over-year before the final series. Some games got more than 2 million viewers, with the peak being 2.6 million. No word yet on the final series, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they topped 3 million.

For me, though, one of the best things to come out of it for rec league, travel ball, and high school players, parents, and coaches is to see the approach to the game used at such a high level. There are, as always, several lessons that can be learned and applied if people are willing to do so.

Here are a few of the big ones from my perspective

Lesson #1 – Even the Best Players Make Mistakes

And sometimes at critical moments. Coaches and parents of youth players tend to get very upset or even angry when their fielders make errors in the field, catchers don’t block properly and a ball gets away from them, pitchers throw a pitch straight down the pipe that gets blasted for a game-changing home run, etc. Yet if you watched the WCWS for any length of time you saw at least some if not all of those things happen – and often to some pretty big-name players.

I didn’t get to see all the games (although I have the ones I missed on the DVR for later viewing), but I did see two fielding errors made on ground balls in the 7th inning of an elimination game. You wouldn’t expect that since they were fairly simple plays but there you go.

What I didn’t see is the coach of that team charge angrily out of the dugout and scream at those players, or even worse yank them out of the game in the middle of the inning yelling about how they have “expectations” and all that. Instead, the team just moved on, played the game, and ended up winning anyway.

The same with critical home runs. There were some big-name pitchers who have won many accolades and accomplished much during their collegiate careers who unfortunately didn’t quite throw the pitch they were going for and watched as their WCWS run – and in some cases their careers – essentially ended.

I saw fielders attempting to place a tag before fully catching the ball and instead knocking it away from them, allowing another run to score instead of killing the play. I saw fielders throw balls away on relatively routine plays, and catchers let pitches in the dirt get by them because they tried to pick the ball instead of blocking with their bodies.

None of them set out to make those mistakes. They just happened. unfortunately with 1-2 million people watching. Keep that in mind the next time you’re mad that your daughter or your player(s) made a mistake.

It happens.

Lesson #2 – The Changeup Is An Important Pitch

Not really a lesson for me – I’m quite aware of it, honestly – but it was probably a good lesson for many.

It’s easy to get caught up in speed, speed, speed. We all love it when we have pitchers who can throw harder than the competition can handle.

But speed alone is not enough. If you watched for any length of time you saw the top pitchers using their changeups liberally.

It may be a cliche to say that hitting is about timing and pitching is about upsetting that timing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Keeping hitters off-balance by changing speeds is critical when the hitting is that good.

Two things to note about changeups too:

• The speed differential between their fastest pitches and the changeup was generally in the 10-15 mph range. No one was taking 4 or 5 mph off and calling it a changeup. You need to commit to a big enough difference to make a difference.
• No one was slowing their arms or their bodies down to get that speed differential. To be effective you need to be able to go as hard, move your arm as fast, and generally look like you’re going to throw the fastest pitch you’re going to throw all day while having it be slower due to the design of the pitch. If you have to slow down any part of your body to throw a changeup I’m sorry, you’re not throwing a changeup. Just a more hittable version of your fastball.

Lesson #3 – Pitchers Need Time to Warm Up

I’ve seen multiple people point this out, and I have talked about it before as well, so I won’t belabor it too much here. But at no time did you see a coach make a pitching substitution by pulling a player out of a field position and just have her go in and throw cold.

The best example here was Texas Tech. When Coach Glasco decided to pull NiJaree Canady in favor of Kaitlyn Terry, who was already in the game in a field position, he didn’t just call time and bring her in from the field. He took her off the field, sent her to the bullpen, and had her do a proper warm-up.

The lesson here is if one of the best and most experienced pitchers in the world can’t just walk in and be effective, there is no reason for you to expect your 12, 14, 16, even 18 year old pitcher to be able to do it. Give them time to warm up and you’ll like the results much better.

Lesson #4 – Coach Your Players the Way That Works for Them

Coaches often like to talk about their coaching style. Some are proud of being tough. Others hang their livelihoods on being empathetic.

But the reality is, if you’re going to be effective you can’t have just one coaching style. You have to be able to adjust what you’re doing to what is most effective for each player, i.e., you need about as many coaching styles as you have players.

Some players need to be coached hard. If you’re not doing that for them they feel like you don’t care about them.

Others would crumble under that style. They need to feel like you understand them and have their backs; they need support not screaming.

As a coach, it’s your job to figure out what your players need and deliver it to them in a way that helps them play their best.

What makes it even more complicated is that some players may require different coaching styles depending on the situation. If you come down hard when they need empathy, or tell them “that’s ok” when they need you to be firm so they get out of their own heads, you won’t get what you want.

If you take the time to get to know the person first and then the player, you’ll stand a much better chance of giving them what they need when they need it. And getting their very best performance out of them.

Lesson #5 – The Short Game Is Still Important

Sure, no doubt about it, ESPN loves the long ball. You get a couple of hitters going yard and it’s going to show up in the between-innings highlights, and maybe even later on SportsCenter.

Bunting and slapping may be less glamorous, but if you work at them they can be more reliable.

No matter what it seems like on TV, it’s still difficult to hit the ball out of the park. A lot of things have to go right in order for that to happen, and you generally need a certain set of skills and mindset to do it regularly.

Bunting in particular, however, is a skill that every player can and should have. Now, I’m definitely not a fan of the automatic sacrifice bunt of a runner on first to second, especially early in the game.

But there are times when a well-placed, well-timed bunt can be a game changer.

Slapping seems to be making more of a comeback as well. As former Arizona coach Mike Candrea always said, speed never has a slump.

Put it in play, make the defense rush, and you can make something good happen. Especially in the postseason.

Lesson #6 – Be Ready When Your Opportunity Comes

Everybody wants to be a starter. If you don’t at some level you’re not much of a competitor.

But there are only 9 positions on the field, and teams usually have more than 9 players. That means some of them will be sitting out.

I can remember two instances offhand, however, where a pinch hitter came in off the bench and turned a game around with one swing. That doesn’t happen if she hasn’t mentally prepared herself to be ready if and when her number is called.

If you’re a bench player you have a tough job. But remember you’re there to do more than just cheer for the others.

Prepare yourself mentally and physically to go into the game at a moment’s notice to ensure that when your number is called you get the job done. And perhaps set yourself up for a more regular role in the future.

Lesson #7 – There’s No One Right Way to Do Everything

As we watched the 8 teams in the WCWS, not to mention all the others in the lead-up to it, if there’s one thing all the players had in common it’s that they were all at least a little different from each other.

Yes, there certainly are some core principles for various skills such as throwing, pitching, fielding, hitting, etc. But you could hardly say everyone doing each skill looked exactly the same.

Jordy Frahm, Karlyn Pickens, NiJaree Canady, Kaitlyn Terry, Tegan Kavan, and Citlaly Guitierrez were all great pitchers, but you could definitely pick out one from another. They shared some similarities, sure, but not enough to say if you clone this you will be successful.

So as you’re working with players, keep that in mind. Realize your 5’10” 155 lb. hitter is not going to have the same swing as your 5’0″ 95 lb. hitter.

Even the things they do have in common will probably look a little different from one another due to different muscular structures, levels of balance, injury history, conditioning and a whole bunch of other factors. So don’t try to get them all to look like each other – or like someone you saw on TV.

Instead, work within their own frameworks in a way that gets the best out of each individual and you will be a lot more satisfied with the results.

Lesson #8 – Sportsmanship Still Matters

The WCWS has become more of a high-stakes event than ever, which means any problems that were present in past years, or are present now at the lower levels, are far more magnified. No one wants to lose with all the NIL money at stake and/or in front of millions of fans.

Still, we saw plenty of examples of good sportsmanship, whether it was a baserunner and a fielder having a quick laugh between pitches, losing teams setting aside their sadness long enough to shake hands, or opposing coaches crediting the other team for its good play.

We also saw some questionable examples but there’s no need to go into those here. Just remember that while things can get tough in the heat of the moment, the moment will pass but how you conduct yourself will be remembered forever. Be a good person and a good example and you will never go wrong.

Plenty More

These were not the only lessons, but I think they were some key ones from the biggest stage in the fastpitch softball world. At least in terms of audience reach.

Keep them in mind and you’re likely to be a whole lot happier when you watch your own kids/players play.

Now it’s your turn. What lessons did you take away from the 2026 WCWS? Leave your thoughts in the comments please so we can all learn from them.