Comments for Fastpitch Softball News Blog

Comment on Bandits Trim Roster Ahead Of NPF Draft by Barb Lazarus

Barb Lazarus — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:57:14 +0000

As a Bandits fan from day 1, Game On! Sports Camp 4 Girls honors Laura Harms for her contributions to both the NPF and the Chicago Bandits.

We send appreciation and well wishes.

Comment on RiverHawks vs. Bandits In “Battle of the Sexes” by Milt Michael

Milt Michael — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:31:21 +0000

You should broadcast this game on the web!

Comment on Softball Pitching Distance to Increase to 43 Feet in 2010-11 by Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:16:32 +0000

I have a question we have a high school team who plays on our youth field we will half to move the rubber to 43′ does the pitching change for 12u also or just 16u and 18u?

Comment on ‘Windmill’ pitch a risk to softball pitchers’ arms by Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:16:30 +0000

It doesn’t matter what style you you teach if your student ends up throwing several games a day over a long period of time there is bound to be some kind of damage. Because if they are a premier top of the line prospect they will pitch at nearly every opportunity.

Comment on 2010 ASA Tournaments Awarded by Kris Miller

Kris Miller — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:23:33 +0000

Wanting to know softball tournaments for my girls HS ages. Thanks

Comment on NPF Office Moves to Nashville by NPF Office Moves to Nashville | Nashville, TN Travel - Culture and Recreation

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:26:27 +0000

[...] You find the original post here http://www.fastpitch.us/npf … | Fastpitch.US [...]

Comment on Loss Feels All Wrong To Beardstown Softball Team by Micheal

Micheal — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:41:36 +0000

i watched the game and beardstown was deffinantly the better team. burbank would have gotten beat. but i talked to the crying beardstown girls afterwards bcuz i live across the street from the park, and they said if they had played it out and burbank had beat them fair and square off course they would be sad but theres nothing you can do. beardstown is without a doubt in my 17 years of watching, playing, and coaching softball and baseball, state champions

Comment on Loss Feels All Wrong To Beardstown Softball Team by Darrian state champ

Darrian state champ — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:37:15 +0000

i am also a beardsotwn player. i would like to say a few words about the whole situation. firts off, the burbank parent has all the right to say what she commented. thats perfectly fine. this was my last year to ever play on an allstar team for i would be to old to play again. we had gotten 3 or 4th place every single year. i wanted so bad to win like i had a taste for it. i agree with every single thing kenndedi had to say. i know for a 1000 % fact that if burbank was in our shoes and the events that happened to beardstown happened to them, they’d also react like we did. but i know for another 1000% fact that if it had happened to them.. we would have said ‘wait, we can play them out and see who the real winners are’ than just sit there and ”win”. we not be the most well mannered team but we were taught to play with intergritey and pride. we would of played it out even if we did want to just say oh okay, we wont argue with that. i was the ONLY person from beardstown that went up to that fence after we were bawling like babies and said ‘good game burbank, you were deffinantly our biggest competion and i respect you for that’. the burbank girls looked a tad sympathetic but looked more eager to get the trophys. it was very disrespectful. i dont want this to seem like a sob story, it isnt. the beardstown girls even ordered tee shirts.. that say “state champions 2009?’ on the back ‘nooo we got screwed!’
i hope you sleep well at night burbank. you seem very ignorant group of people that had no love for the game and had to weasel through it. hey, you had to say stuff about our parents, you can take some of our thoughts. just do one thing and google ‘bearstown softball’ and see how many hundreds of things come up. you’d be suprised.

Comment on Loss Feels All Wrong To Beardstown Softball Team by Kennedi

Kennedi — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:25:16 +0000

okay, i am a beardstown allstar player and i have a few things to say as well. first off, i know everyone can agree that we didnt have umpires that knew what they were doing. but about the comment saying it was beardstown’s fault the game was delayed, thats not true at all. the call that one of our players foot was out of the box was over ruled because not her whole foot was out of the box. and if the burbank coach knew the rules, he would have known that the whole foot had to have been out of the box. the burbank coach argued for 45 minutes about a call that had already been made. therefore, everyone on the beardstown side kindof asumed that the coach knew the rule about the game being delayed by darkness. it wasnt fair to the players on either team that the coach had to argue until it was too dark to continue. now i know if i was a burbank player i would not feel good about the way i “won.” both of the team’s parents reacted badly to the situation. there was no need to make us come to the ballpark the next day just to find out that the championship title had been taken away from us. it was kindof upsetting that the tournament director would have rather seen all the beardstown girls fall apart than just calling our coach and letting him tell us. our girls honestly thought that the burbank team would want to continue the game and not win the way we did, but we were deffinitley wrong. none of our parents yelled “dont worry you wont win a game when you get to ohio and hurray to the teams that beat you.” beardstown players are still saying that we are the state champions because we truly are. there are 7 innings in a ball game and burbank won because they were ahead in the 6th. thats not a finished ball game. and the worst thing of all is we were playing on a little league BOYS field with NO lights. this was a state championship game, not a minor league game. starting the game at 6 was pathetic. we could have easily started the game at 1 or 2 and would have been able to play the full game and know who the true champions were. the tournament director wouldn’t have known what happend if he was there considering he was asleep thorugh every game. this had to have been the worse state tournament that anyone has ever seen and much worse, experienced. and yes, we will see you next year burbank, preferrably on a field that suits the condition of a state champioship game.

Comment on NCAA puts a moratorium on composite baseball bats, are softball bats next? by Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:14:08 +0000

What about bats with composite handles and alloy barrels?

Comment on Mask Crusader Wants Others To Learn From Her Near-Fatal Injury by Mike

Mike — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:32:19 +0000

Yes a mask for High School baseball players is worth it. My son a HS pitcher was hit with a line drive in the face. Multiple broken bones,ten days in a trauma center, 150,000 in medical bills. This year he will be wearing a mask made by Rip Hamilton’s Doctor.

Comment on NCAA puts a moratorium on composite baseball bats, are softball bats next? by Adam

Adam — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:55:55 +0000

I hope this gets approved and the NCAA bans composites permanently. As an avid slowpitch softball player, I hope that the softball associations follow suit as well. These bats have ruined slowpitch softball and they are now ruining fastpitch and baseball from college all the way down to little league. The whole concept of a bat getting hotter over time after it is manufactured to meet a certain standard is ridiculous. Add in the fact that composite bats can be easily altered by rolling or shaving them and now the playing field has been tilted drastically in favor of those willing to cheat. Not to mention that fielders are in danger of being seriously hurt or even killed (it has happened numerous times in slowpitch already). It’s time to level the playing field, put the game back in the hands of the players, and ban composite bats for good!

Comment on Loss Feels All Wrong To Beardstown Softball Team by Janay

Janay — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:05:20 +0000

I truly feel sorry for Beardstown also that they had to lose this way. We never meant to win this way either but it just happened that way. We also had a hard time in sectionals versing the East Side team because the umpires were very unfair, so not like we had the best time either. I play on the Burbank National state champion team. Some of the people started telling you guys to be quiet after we said “Good game ladies” because you guys replied very rudely with vulgar language and getting in some of the parents faces. The umpire had made a call that the Beardstown caoch decided to protest against. If he had not done so the game would have went on and we could have had a fair and complete game. Instead the fans and coaches were still going crazy while Beardstown was warming up for the inning and the call was overturned. We got angry and did the right thing by calling Williamsport to get the official ruling. Over all it resulted in prolonged protesting that led to the officials incorrectly calling the game because of darkness. Therefore the fault lies in the hands of the umpires. Perhaps if the game was called by a more professional umpire instead of a sixteen year old boy with his father the right calls would have been made. Furthermore, you guys would of had to go to regionals first to advance to the World Series.

Comment on Loss Feels All Wrong To Beardstown Softball Team by Alice

Alice — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:57:02 +0000

I am a Burbank National Parent and I have a few things to say about the whole thing.
First of all, and Im sure every Beardstown parent would agree, the officials we had were the most awful set of umpires I have ever seen in my life. At the state level, all leagues better make sure the umpires they are using, know the rules inside and out. Do I think what happened was ridiculous – yes I do. I would have rathered had the opportunity to come back in the bottom of the 7th and beat them. The game wasnt over, as Beardstown would like to have everyone believe, they didnt win anything up to that point. It was the top of the 7th inning and we were home team. As far as our parents acting ridiculous, I beg to differ. They actually had parents yelling to our girls, “Dont worry you wont win a game when you get to Ohio and hurray to the teams that beat you.” Our parents were simply defending their children – like any GOOD parent would. These are 13 year old girls (some only 12), that they were yelling these things to. Why would anyone wish ill will on a 13 year old little girl? Shame on the parents from Beardstown who acted like children. Your players had more dignity and class than you. At least your players wished our girls well which is more than I can say for their parents. The girls and parents from Burbank National had nothing to do with the decision that was made . If they want to direct their anger somewhere, put it where it belongs, on the umpiring staff. They are the ones who blew the game for you, not us. See ya next year….

Comment on Softball Pitching Distance to Increase to 43 Feet in 2010-11 by james rokosh

james rokosh — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:20:48 +0000

to get the defense work with the batters dont punish a hard working pitcher what are we trying to teach them that if you work hard will take from you!!

Comment on Softball’s Olympic Dream Shattered by Samantha Martin

Samantha Martin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:11:22 +0000

I am very upset by the IOC vote. I’ve been playing some form of softball for my entire life. My dream was always to play at the collegiate level, and I made it! I wanted to go to the Olympic games so bad last year, but it was too far and expensive. I decided that I could afford to go to the London games in 2012 as I have been saving money for 3 years to go! It makes me very sad that I won’t ever be able to watch the U.S. softball team play in the Olympic Games. Also, as the Olympics are supposed to be about the unification and co-mingling of different countries all around the world in a competitive but friendly setting, you would think that softball, being a team sport where the other teams have to interact, would be a better representation of that comraderie than a solo sport where the other players don’t have much interaction, such as golf. Don’t get me wrong, I think golf is a very difficult sport that requires just as much talent as softball, but golf has several huge, very publicized, and worldwide events EVERY YEAR. The Olympic Games are the only chance for softball teams from around the world to congregate and interact on such a large scale during a FOUR YEAR period of time. I hope the IOC knows that they have crushed the dreams of athletes and fans all over the world, and by taking this incredible sport out of the Olympics, they have also taken away some of the incentive for softball athletes at the collegiate level to strive to be great enough for the Olympic softball team of their respective countries.
Thank you,
Samantha Martin, 18

Comment on 2009 ASA Playing Rule Changes by Sarah May

Sarah May — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:15:55 +0000

Hi, this is supposedly a new rule with the ASA handbook. I have been called out now twice on my second strike with a foul tip to the glove. The catcher both times did not leave nor have to stand up in the box and I was called out. I want to find where it says this rule. If you know where it says this please reply… I do not agree with this rule AT ALL

Comment on Softball’s Olympic Dream Shattered by Alyssa

Alyssa — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:25:57 +0000

Today when i found out they vote out softball and put in gofl and rugby so not fair at all
Golf has the PGA tour and many other events they compete in, and plus its on every weekend not fair. softball fight to even get air time. and Rugby isnt even a high School sport in most my high schools and in most colleges its not even a sport. idk if they will even be able to get enough country to play against. whatever IOC you will regret ur decision

Right now i am so upset. they took away so many people dreams away. Young girls, and parents,grandparents,friends and most important your Coaches has worked so hard to get girls to the place they can go to succeed to play in the olympics. Now that is over. untill like 2024 olympics games. like WOW. i will be 32 years old. no way in hell i am ever going to play in the olympics games. maybe if i have a kid by that time which idk probably not they could play in the olympics. ugh so upset. right now… sorrry. i wrote all this but i needed to vent. if you guys has any questions are statement please feel free to email, comment me i will alway reply

Comment on Softball’s Olympic Dream Shattered by Ashley Chamberlian

Ashley Chamberlian — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:59:04 +0000

I am completely hearbroken. How can they just snatch & shatter our dreams? ITS NOT FAIR! The tears going down my face seem pointless now that theres no hope. I have to accept that I cant g2 the olympics, i cant even try…Gaw it hurts so bad! How do u let go of a dream? However, there is still hope for generations younger than my own. I’m gonna keep playing in the hope that children younger than me will some day get the chance to realize their dreams and play in the olympics.

Comment on Softball’s Olympic Dream Shattered by Brad Wireman

Brad Wireman — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:49:29 +0000

My daughter graduates in 2014….our family LOVES fastpitch, the lifestyle and joy it brings to us.

I think it is time to stop framing the discussions on the IOC’s terms, and move on to develop Fastpitch as THE sport of choice for every young athlete.

Rather than lament this decision, and in turn, give power to the IOC with statements like “..Olympic gold, the ultimate prize in our sport….”, create a true “Ultimate Prize” within OUR community, not theirs.

At the same time continue efforts to have fastpitch brought back to the games, of course, but see this as a clarion call to break new ground and progress, for the sport, our daughters and grand-daughters, and the millions of friends, families and fans in the US and around the world.

I see it as a tremendous rallying point!!