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Mouthguards - slippery home plates - stitches - chipped teeth - and more



Hello Again Everyone!



Those of you who know me pretty well and those who have been getting the Fastpitch Bulletins (formerly called Nightly Bulletins) know that I have been involved in this game for a long, long time. I have been involved so long that I can remember when there was not a white 16' circle around the pitcher's plate. I can remember when all bats were wooden (my bat of choice back then was a Louisville Slugger Speedswing) and balls were white and were cork centered and some were made to be used during daylight hours, some were for night games and some were called Day/Nite balls. I can remember when mens' softball players wore pants with wide stripes down the legs and there were snaps at the bottom and baseball players scoffed at those guys (now baseball players walk and run on their pants that hang over the backs of their spikes). I can remember when crowds packed small town ball yards to watch the men play in those local leagues and packed ball yards on weekends to watch the local teams play local teams from other towns and the tournaments were filled with "Ringers" (hired guns to come in and pitch for the local club trying to win a 25 dollar trophy) and the tourney entry fees were about 25 bucks. I can remember when the Portage radio station broadcasted every game played in the Portage Mens' Fastpitch League. There were two games per night four nights per week. I can remember when one of those pitchers in Portage taunted the other teams by wearing a cap with a dollar sign on the front because everyone else called him "Dollar Bill" because of the money he was paid to provide his rise, drop and change to the team he played for. I can remember when fierce rivlaries existed between those local teams and even fiercer ones existed between those of neighboring towns.



I can also remember watching very excellent women's fastpitch games like those played by the Madison Cardinals and Shirley Martin's teams from the Milwaukee area. A couple of Poynette ladies played on the Cardinal team. One of those great female players last name is Stoltenberg, the same name as that of Wausaukee Head Coach Sue Stoltenberg. Sue's husband is a member of the same Poynette Stoltenberg family and a couple of years ago even brought her Ranger club to the Poynette Jamboree. They bunked and slept on the floor at our current varsity pitcher's house because Shirley Stoltenberg of Poynette is her great aunt. Isn't it interesting how those fastpitch playing genes get passed down from generation to generation?



I remember playing top notch men's fastpitch softball against guys like Head Coach at Grantsburg Don Bjelland, Steve Johnson of Grantsburg, Mike Murphy at Webster, Don Olson of Webster, with and against Al Lundberg of Pigeon Falls whose wife is the head coach at Osseo-Fairchild. I remember games against the Red Shed of Madison and on that team was Steve Schmikla, McFarland's Head Coach and one of my fellow 400 game winners. I remember playing in places like Custer, Luck, Milltown, Sharon, Clinton, Dawson Field in Janesville, Monterey Stadium in Janesville, Carson Park on both Gelien and Hobbs and over at that other little field west of Highway 12 but the name of the little one-diamond park escapes me tonight. There were great tournament games at the Kelly Ball Field at Schofield, games at Brantwood, games in Stitzer, games in Platteville, in Shullsburg, Middleton, Olbrich Park in Madison, Mount Hope, Brooklyn, McFarland, Oregon, Stoughton where Jerry Peterson toiled on the pitcher's plate. I remember huge crowds at tournaments in DeForest, Windsor, Morrisonville and games in Rhinelander where pickup trucks backed up to the outfield fence lined the field and there was a half barrel of beer in every one (and that's not an exaggeration either - just ask any Hodag). There were games at Suamico, Sunset Park in Kimberly and at however they spell that park's name in Kaukauana.



Yes, I've been around and seen plenty. I played in Pardeeville, Wyocena and they had a great men's tournament in Waupun that always started on Wednesday night instead of a Thursday and ended on Saturday night instead of Sunday but the people in Waupun will have to tell you the reason for that.



In all those travels across Wisconsin playing fastpitch, one common denominator always existed just as it still exists with high school girl's softball - great people!



A few new people to the Fastpitch Bulletin lists and to the game in high school in this state have recently sent me e-mails wondering what my background is in this game. Wednesday nights are slow nights at the Fastpitch Chronicle website desk so I thought I'd introduce myself or introduce too.



Here is an announcement about the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree for 2007. I've been working on the game schedule the past two days as we have an even number of games requested right now (that's an important thing). We have 24 games to be played on Saturday and 11 or 12 on Friday. We have room for four more games on Saturday and do have a couple of teams that would play an extra game if I have opponents for them. Those of you who attend or participate in the Jamboree know that I try valiantly to keep the level of competition as close to even as I can when scheduling all games. That hasn't changed.



If you have had games canceled that can't be rescheduled and you are looking for games or a venue and are interested in playing in the Jamboree - get in touch with me soon. You can reach me at this e-mail address or call me at my school number which is 608-635-4347 Extension 432. Games cost $55 each and you provide a game ball for each game you play (you get the ball back after the game).



I had a glitch show up in the Jamboree process when I found out our Poynette baseball teams both have a doubleheader at home on Friday so I can't use those diamonds on Friday. I'll be there all night setting up outfield fence on the one at the high school after that JV twinbill is over. We have five fields available though and will play a game under the lights in Arlington and one under the lights in Poynette on Friday night.



Start checking the 2007 Jamboree web page on the Chronicle website as I am updating it beginning tonight.



Here are a couple of messages to share with you from other readers.



Bob,

I have recently been named as head softball coach for next season at MSOE College located in Milwaukee, and we will be in need of players with a passion to play softball. The cupboard is bare at this point and we will need players to step in immediately. So, if you know of any players out there in your great program or in others that are still looking for a place to play and to get a great education, let me know or have the players contact me directly.

Our majors are limited to various engineering programs, business, as well as nursing. A degree from MSOE holds a lot of weight as the average graduate can expect to find a job in their major and earn on average a $50,000 starting salary.

My email address at this point is rod553@yahoo.com and my home telephone number is 262-377-2096. After the current season, I will have a phone and email at the college.

Please keep our program in mind, and continue your great work at Poynette, Bob.

Rod Wilterdink

MSOE softball



Hey Bob - We had a strange play that I have never seen Tell me how you would call this:

Runner on first base with no outs. Batter squares to bunt and pops it foul. Batter does not know where ball is and starts to run to first. Baserunner gets a good jump but sees that ball is in air and starts to go back to first. The catcher catches the pop foul bunt and tries to get a double play by throwing the ball to first. The ball hits the batterrunner who was running to first. The ball then bounces off the first base coach who yells "GO!" to the runner who made it back to first (hence tagging up).The runner breaks to second on the coach's command. In the meantime, the batter does not realize the ball had been caught and hearing the coach yell "GO!" keeps running and is now almost directly behind the runner. The second baseman who was covering the bunt retrieves and throws to second to the shortstop covering. Both runners slide into second almost together. Both are on second. What is the call? T

The umps called the runner out due to interference by the batter who should not have been running. It did not impede the play. I thought the runner should be safe. It is something I, and my very longtime assistants have never seen happen before, but again dinosaurs have small brains and short memories. :):):) Take care buddy!!!!!



Hi Bob, I m confused about a play that occurred in our game last night. The ruling was in our favor but I m not sure how they came about it. We had a runner on 2 and our girl ripped one to the outfield. The outfielder touched the ball and then it went under the fence. They awarded the batter 3 bases. Something about 2 plus 1 and something to do with the outfielder touching the ball. I tried to find the rule in the book but couldn t. Do you have any insight on this one? Thanks Tim





Bob,

We are in need of (2) games due to cancellation of Rhinelander. We would like to do both Varsity & JV if possible. Either home or away, single games or a DH. Please find following a list of OPEN dates;



Friday 27/April -- Mon. 7/May -- Tues. 8/May -- Wed. 9/May -- Thurs. 10/May -- Mon. 14/May



We would have a couple after that, but I believe D-2-3-4 start regionals that week?!? Can you help us out and post this? Thanks Bob!



Pat Reiger -- Baraboo Thunderbird Softball



I have updated some things on the Coaches Honor Roll Page in the past couple of days and have added some feature articles from this year on that page as well. Check it out!



More and more scores are coming in and that's the way it oughta be. Every score really should be reported.



Tonight at practice in Poynette it was raining lightly throughout. We were doing a plethora of defensive things (as usual) and that included working with catchers and getting their throws off quicker. Home plate was wet and one of our freshman catchers took a step forward and landed on her side after slipping on that wet home plate. There are two sides to every issue and both sides have merit in this issue. There are safety issues to be considered in wearing metal cleats as well. I understand that. But, until somebody starts keeping track of injuries we'll never know what issues we face. My kid was unhurt but stunned this time.



I'm interested in hearing about the plays that occur in your games where players get cleated. Even with plastic and rubber cleats kids do get cut and get scraped up. So, please report those incidents to me as well as I'd like to be able to compare the number of incidents.



At Poynette, we urge our kids to wear a mouthguard but do not require it but that is about to change too. On Monday in our game we had a player slide into second base but stumbled a bit before actually getting down. Her body got into a weird position on the way down and she actually crashed rather than slid. When her top half went forward her head hit the dirt, face down and she bit through her lip with two teeth. She broke one tooth and her mouth is really a mess.



Actually I really think the real culprit in the incident that caused her injury was the face mask on the front of her helmet. The bottom of it hit the ground and snapped her head back. I'm not sure it would have happened that way if she had not been wearing a face mask.



At any rate, I told them again tonight that a mouthguard would have probably lessened the chances of losing part of that tooth and those teeth probably would no have cut through her lip.



She played last night by the way - what a tiger she is!



On May 12th at Spartan Bowl in McFarland from 2 PM till 5 PM there will be a get together to honor and thank the McFarland softball coaching staff as this will be their last year together. Head Coach Steve Schmikla is retiring after this season. Everyone is welcome.



The weather is turning for the better and there are lots of events coming up. Have a great few days here and a great weekend. I doubt if there will be another bulletin to you this week.



Keep it Rising!

Bob