Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Put me in coach, I m ready today, look at me, I can play centerfield.



It was too cold to play centerfield anywhere in Wisconsin and honestly be able to say that you were having fun.



A few years ago we opened our season at Franklin Field in Madison against Madison Edgewood. It was 2002 to be exact. It was about 33 degrees and the wind was blowing right off Lake Monona that day. We played it though and the only time anyone really had any fun was in the bottom of the seventh when a Poynette kid, whom we had taught how to play fastpitch to begin with, beat us with a looping liner that hit the rightfield foul line and scored the winning run. She lived in Poynette but went to Edgewood High School. After that game, I decided to that we would never play another game when it was less than 42 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind blowing. Not if I could help it anyway.



Then, in 2005 we played in the Portage Optimist Club invitational against Kewaskum and Dodgeland. I didn t even want to know what the temperature was that day but we played because it was an invitational with no make up date. I took tarps and we enclosed the dugouts we sat in with those tarps. I also took along two or three Coleman propane heaters. I didn t allow my pitchers to bat that day even though they were two of best hitters. The risk of getting a hand full of bees on an extremely vibrating bat/ball collision would mean not being able to grip or have a feel for the ball when pitching. Instead those two would go to the dugout, get under a quilt and keep their hands in front of those Coleman heaters. Then go out and pitch like nobody s business. On that day our senior pitcher tossed a no-hitter, fanned 15 or 16 and walked nobody. In the next game our junior pitcher tossed a perfect game with somewhere around 17 or 18 Ks.



I always liked pitching on cold days. I would try my darndest to get batters to swing at low, inside ones and hope they d foul them off the handle and get a nest full of bees. Not too many people have the mind set to really give another pitch a real go after the bees have attacked them. Modern bats don t do well in that cold weather either and coaches and umpires need to keep in mind that warming up bats in the dugout is illegal.



I looked on the WFSCA website today and discovered that my dues did make it to Jane Briehl in Spring Green. Poynette got switched from black to red so that s a good thing. I found an awful lot of school names that are in the black yet. You have until the 14th of April to get your dues paid. Keep in mind that some coaches that belong are probably hoping that you forget or refuse to join. That way their kids have a greater chance of getting post-season recognition from the WFSCA. That s the way it works. If you are not a member, your program can get no post season recognition. There is not other organization nor group of people who will honor kids from schools whose coach hasn t joined the association.



That also reminds me that I wanted to be sure to inject some interest within conferences that do not have a conference rep or conferences that fail to send a rep to the all district meetings. It s really hard to get the kids from conferences not represented the kind of recognition that many of they deserve. I try to get out and watch as many games as possible in our district so I have an idea of who the really top notch players are when I sit in the all-district selection committee meetings. Not many people do that though. Here are the links to the four divisions in the WIAA and the WFSCA membership pages. http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d3.pdf

http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d2.pdf

http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d1.pdf

http://wfsca.org/pdf/06-07/sb.2007.d4.pdf



In keeping with WFSCA and all district selections, I was just on the wfsca.org website and did a little research. There are 10 conferences in the state without a conference rep on the all district committees. They are: Lakeland Central, Lakeland East, Lakeland West, Olympian, Trailways North, Trailways South, Six Rivers East, Milwaukee City and both divisions within that.



From what I was told, the WFSCA created a Northwest District in an attempt to reach more coaches and programs in that part of the state. The Lakeland conferences need to do some polling and get somebody on board. Don t wait and have reps from other conferences try to represent the kids from your conference. Folks, I ve been to enough all district meetings to know that it won t work that way very often. Your conference needs a rep to be at those meetings.

Fastpitch Chronicle Certificates

I have certificates that are available free for kids that are involved in a triple play (the defensive players). I have also created certificates for kids who pitch 7-inning perfect games, 7-inning no-hitters, and kids who have unusually great offensive games like multiple automatic home runs, lots of total bases, or double-digit RBI etc. I ll try to figure out how to get that certificate online and perhaps even printable on your own paper. That would eliminate my costs of postage etc. Hey, one of you computer whizzes, should help me out on this project.



Another project for you to help out on would be a game reporting form available on the website whereby coaches can fill it out and send it directly to the results pages of The Fastpitch Chronicle website. I know there are some experts out there among our coaches who know how to do those things. I coach softball and type, I m not into writing computer programs. Interested in helping out? Give me a shout.



The Big Rivers vs Wisconsin Valley Challenge is this Saturday in Eau Claire, weather permitting. Wisconsin Rapids and SPASH are traveling to Eau Claire to take on Memorial and North (I think that s right). Are there any other Saturday events in the state I should know about and publicize? Let me know.



It s been great and so have you!

Have a greater day than you had today and as always

Keep things hopping and Rising!

Bob