no matter how good the pitching is you definitely need defensive players to field, kind of hard to win a game with just the pitcher and catcher. on the other side, offensively you do need good batters or how else will you ever going to put up any runs? no matter how good the pitcher, their will be a batter at the plate that can hit her pitch. i know on our team we have one girl who is really awesome at getting hits off some of the best pitchers in nky. this girl would rather face a pitcher who can throw it down, feels it is harder to hit off a slower pitcher. in our school the problem starts with very small feeder system and then at least half of our team plays basketball and cannot start practicing until after that season.

Name me one HS sport other than beer league softball where kids can't get a scholarship. If they are just in it for the competition, they can get plenty of that at Softball City, and not eat up numbers that can be used, Title IX-wise, for another sports where those who excel can get a college scholarship.

 

Not all HS athletes are in it for the scholarships, but I'd bet most all, when they first started, had dreams that they would one day be good enough to play at the next level.

 

Beer league softball is a dead-end street. Let it die in peace rather than grasping at straws. Pull the plug.

Are there scholarships at the collegiate level for bowling? At least many? Any in the state of KY?

Are there scholarships at the collegiate level for bowling? At least many? Any in the state of KY?

Morehead State and Pikeville College both have nationally-ranked bowling teams. The Pikeville women's team won the national championship two or three years ago.

 

Men's top 50.

 

Women's top 50.

When it is time to change the sport, then the kids either adapt to the changes, or they don't play. If they don't like the new rules, then they don't play. It is that simple. Many years ago, girls basketball changed, and the girls adapted to the new rules. There are many small schools in the state of KY that offer fastpitch softball. Carroll Co, Trimble Co, Gallatin Co, Owen Co, Henry Co, and Brossart are some to name a few.

 

 

 

Bracken Countu also plays fast pitch exclusively. won the 10th all A tourney last year, and are pretty good this year.

Why take a sport away that many of these girls have fallen in love with at at very young age? Slow pitch softball is a more exciting game to play because it is primarily offense.

BTW only one slow pitch team totally dropped their slow pitch program this year (NCC). The other 19 teams are finishing up their required 10 fast pitch games and are making the transition into slow pitch.

Why take a sport away that many of these girls have fallen in love with at at very young age? Slow pitch softball is a more exciting game to play because it is primarily offense.

 

I like the challenge of fastpitch .

 

However, slowpitch does a)have more action and b)involve all of the players. Trust me, there are girls at Ryle that will not see more than 2 or 3 balls hit their way this year.

Why take a sport away that many of these girls have fallen in love with at at very young age? Slow pitch softball is a more exciting game to play because it is primarily offense.

There's plenty of time for them to play beer league softball for the rest of their life. It's like golf — they can play forever.

 

By your logic, maybe there should be HS beer league softball for boys?

Jim--

 

I don't know why you keep calling it beer league softball. Maybe you have never been to any of the slow pitch games or tournaments. These girls work just as hard as any other athlete, practicing every day. In fact, the slow pitch fielders are very often better fielders than their fast-pitch counterparts. I picture beer league softball (as you call it) as the players showing up the day of the game with no practice and just getting out on the field. There is actually a lot of strategy involved with slow pitch softball.

 

In the state tournament two years ago, Bellevue was playing Lloyd and the Bellevue coach knew that one of Lloyd's best hitters could not hit it anywhere but right field. So Bellevue shifted the whole outfield to right-center and over. Don't see that much in "beer league softball."

 

It is sad to see the end of slow pitch softball coming soon, but that is the way that most states are going.

My question is why are all the teams that play slow pitch in northern KY? Is there something wrong with these school's communication skills? Have they not gotten the message that the rest of the state has "stepped up" and are playing fast pitch!?

And it really doesn't surprise me that the KHSAA would do something as stupid as having a "state tournament" for these 6 teams. They might as well call it the "tri-county" tournament.

My question is why are all the teams that play slow pitch in northern KY? Is there something wrong with these school's communication skills? Have they not gotten the message that the rest of the state has "stepped up" and are playing fast pitch!?

And it really doesn't surprise me that the KHSAA would do something as stupid as having a "state tournament" for these 6 teams. They might as well call it the "tri-county" tournament.

 

1. That is a good question as to why its just NKY.

 

2. Fastpitch at the rec level outside of Boone County is poor in NKY. Many girls never see fastpitch until they are close to or in high school. They grow up playing slow pitch.

 

3. I think there are about 20+ teams in NKY that play slow pitch and they make no apologies for it - nor should they.

 

4. I doubt it slow pitch affects girls ability to get a scholarship. IMO most girls are seen by college coaches during the summer. If these girls are interested in college scholarships, they can play summer fastpitch.

1. That is a good question as to why its just NKY.

 

2. Fastpitch at the rec level outside of Boone County is poor in NKY. Many girls never see fastpitch until they are close to or in high school. They grow up playing slow pitch.

 

3. I think there are about 20+ teams in NKY that play slow pitch and they make no apologies for it - nor should they.

 

4. I doubt it slow pitch affects girls ability to get a scholarship. IMO most girls are seen by college coaches during the summer. If these girls are interested in college scholarships, they can play summer fastpitch.

 

If I'm a college coach, and someone tells me about a player to look at, and I find out that they are playing HS beer league softball instead of fast-pitch, I immediately lost interest, because that tells me that they are avoiding the real game for some reason — probably because they can't hit.

Jim--

 

I don't know why you keep calling it beer league softball. Maybe you have never been to any of the slow pitch games or tournaments. These girls work just as hard as any other athlete, practicing every day. In fact, the slow pitch fielders are very often better fielders than their fast-pitch counterparts. I picture beer league softball (as you call it) as the players showing up the day of the game with no practice and just getting out on the field. There is actually a lot of strategy involved with slow pitch softball.

 

In the state tournament two years ago, Bellevue was playing Lloyd and the Bellevue coach knew that one of Lloyd's best hitters could not hit it anywhere but right field. So Bellevue shifted the whole outfield to right-center and over. Don't see that much in "beer league softball."

 

It is sad to see the end of slow pitch softball coming soon, but that is the way that most states are going.

 

 

I call it beer league softball because it is a game that guys who look and act like me play. It is not a game 17-year-olds should be playing. If they love it so much, then they can get into one of the dozens of leagues being played every night in NoKy — once they are out of HS.

 

Beer league softball is a joke. It's something people settle for when they can no longer hack it playing a real game.

 

As far as I can tell, no where else in the country do they play this ridiculous "sport" at the HS level. But I guess NoKy wants to settle for less and hold back the development of dozens of potential college athletes.

1. That is a good question as to why its just NKY.

 

2. Fastpitch at the rec level outside of Boone County is poor in NKY. Many girls never see fastpitch until they are close to or in high school. They grow up playing slow pitch.

 

3. I think there are about 20+ teams in NKY that play slow pitch and they make no apologies for it - nor should they.

 

4. I doubt it slow pitch affects girls ability to get a scholarship. IMO most girls are seen by college coaches during the summer. If these girls are interested in college scholarships, they can play summer fastpitch.

 

Therein lies the problem. In Laurel County, they start fastpitch at about age 8. Granted it isn't truly 'fastpitch' and still has arc as most younger girls need, but by the time these girls are 10, they can bring some heat. That is one of the things that has helped the 2 high schools have so much success in HS fastpitch. Entering this season, NL was #1 in total wins with 387 and SL was #10 with 256 wins in the KHSAA. This isn't by accident and girls are going on to play in college as well.

 

There is a huge difference between fast pitch and slow pitch. As fast as the pitchers are bringing it these days, they have to learn to trigger on the pitcher's windup in a split second. This is something that slow pitch doesn't require. When you have someone pitching at 60mph+ from 40 feet, it is on par with a 80-90 mph fastball in baseball from the longer distance in regards to time from hand to plate. The adjustment is a very difficult one that would impair a players ability to play fastpitch if they keep going back and forth from slow to fastpitch. Sit behind the plate at a HS fastpitch game featuring 2 good pitchers and you will see how much difference there really is. It is quite remarkable.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am convinced that some of these slow pitch players absolutely have the athletic ability to play at the college level. However, if they aren't playing fastpitch on a consistent basis, it will be very difficult to be a solid fastpitch hitter. No college coach will be interested in a girl who hasn't played fastpitch and demonstrated an ability to excel at it. I have talked to a few college coaches.

 

NKY needs to start playing fastpitch with their girls at an early age. At the minor league (9-10), little league (11-12), and Jr league (13-14) fastpitch state tourneys in 2005, the NKY district did not even have a team entered from the entire district. The Valley Sports teams (Jeff Co) and Oldham County teams are excellent. If they were to do this, with all the good athletes in the area, they could not only succeed at fastpitch but excel at it and send more girls to college on athletic scholarships!

I call it beer league softball because it is a game that guys who look and act like me play. It is not a game 17-year-olds should be playing. If they love it so much, then they can get into one of the dozens of leagues being played every night in NoKy — once they are out of HS.

 

Beer league softball is a joke. It's something people settle for when they can no longer hack it playing a real game.

 

As far as I can tell, no where else in the country do they play this ridiculous "sport" at the HS level. But I guess NoKy wants to settle for less and hold back the development of dozens of potential college athletes.

 

Slow pitch softball is not all about 'beer league'. I played in my early 20's up into my mid-late 30's and loved it. Sure there are some nonathletes playing it. But if you ever watch them, the better teams who make and win the state tourneys generally have younger and more athletic players on their squads. First Baptist Church in London won the state back in the late 1980's and they were anything but a team full of beer league players. There were some excellent athletes on that squad. Is fast pitch much more challenging? Absolutely!!! But I don't think it is a ridiculous sport at all. I do think that all the slow pitch schools need to make the switch as noone is offering slow pitch softball in college outside of intermural leagues and only having a few high schools playing a sport doesn't make for much competition.

 

Start the NKY younger girls playing fastpitch now and become a major factor in this growing sport!