grizzlyjournal
Well-known member
HookedonGriz said:I coach a youth fastpitch team who woudnt have made such baseunning blunders!!
Griz hosting Idaho St. Down 4-0 in the bottom of 3. Griz load bases, no outs.
They make first out at plate by hesitating and then trying to score on a wild pitch over head of catcher. So rule number 1 broken, don’t make the first out at home or 3rd...ever.
Next batter smokes a ball to third base side and runner on 3rd tries to advance and gets gunned at home by 1 mile.
Then as that is happening the hitter tries to round first base and take second and they gun her out by a mile.
Then coach Meuchel gingerly walks off the field like “oh well, not our luck”. No! That was a lesson in the worst baserunning ever to be seen in back to back plays. Like I said my 12 year old trave team knows better and I would expect a little more accountability from the coach to her players. That was uuuuuuuugly and why I’ll nver stand behind this coaching staff. Pinkerton would have lost his mind, and that is why he won titles and why this team will struggle.
I agree that it was one of the most self-defeating 30 seconds of base-running I've ever seen. I'm certain I don't know softball as in-depth as you, Hooked (I mean this genuinely... no sarcasm) but I've watched and covered a lot of softball (and baseball) and... well, the sport can be humbling. I've seen a lot of pretty funky base-running over the years! Actually, what hurt the team worse on Saturday, in my opinion, were the two fielding bumbles that cost the Griz two runs, and a 1-run loss. Later last night, I watched a young Seattle Mariners' third-baseman boot the ball on 3 straight 9th inning plays that resulted in 3 unearned runs... and almost cost his team a win. Two of the plays were routine, so I believe I was watching a good player in a bit of a mental hyper-freeze. It happens. It can happen to anyone in baseball/softball.
I felt awful for this young Montana team yesterday, but at the end of the day, they were tough enough to RUN out to the gate afterwards to thank fans for coming. I could see their expressions. They were NOT "oh well-ing" anything. Nor do I think coach Meuchel was. The redeeming thing about the weekend was that they went out on Sunday, put their "bad Saturday" behind them, and gutted out a hard-earned win (despite more shakey D).
This is a very young team, and I worry that there will be more downs.... because they really need more stability on their pitching staff. But heck, I will continue to STAND BEHIND this team and coaching staff. I see steady overall improvement and -- because they have good hitting potential, I mean some serious bat pop & power -- I think they're fun to watch.
P.S. I've watched parts of several Iowa State games this year... they're dead last in the Big 12.
ummm... I'm sticking with Montana!