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Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd!



Hello Again everyone - We're just six days away from Day Number one of the season here in Wisconsin. Tonight, in Columbia County anyway there is more snow falling. The Rules Interpretation meeting was in Portage tonight and it was snowing pretty hard there as it is here at my place just south of Portage.



The snow two weekends ago forced us to cancel our Fastpitch Chronicle clinic in Medford and that was the first time we've had to do that. Although it snowed every year we went to Medford, this year was an issue whereby I couldn't even get out of my driveway.



If you get this bulletin and you don't want anymore sent to you, don't get ticked off at me, just e-mail back to me and tell me to remove you from the list. I need to know, however, which list you are getting so be sure to tell me whether you are on A, B, C, D, E, or F. There are more than 1600 people getting this bulletin tonight.



I highly doubt if anyone will be out on their fields on the first day of practice this year.



From what I've been seeing at our Wednesday night free pitching clinics in Poynette, the pitchers are all ready to face some batters and get after it. They've been tuning things up throughout the winter all over the state and are ready to go. Everyone will have their eyes set on Goodman Diamond at the end of the season.



I was interested in the explanation of the new guidelines for interference and obstruction but interpreting them during the game when they occur will be the issue, as it always is. One step and a reach is very judgemental. But, they all are, right?



I enjoyed the reading the little box on the front of the 2007 handout from the meeting. It says, Coaches and/or officials alone or in combination have NO authority to set aside any National Federation or WIAA rules/regulation.



They should probably include "or makeup any either."



I need to be sure and teach my kids not to scratch out those lines or cover them up with dirt because the third time it happens the coach is gone!



I also chuckled when I read one of the slides at the rules meeting. The one I'm talking about is the one that explains the 20 second rule and enforcing a strike if the batter is not ready. The line I chuckled at was the one where it said the coach should be concise in giving signals from the coaches box. Coaches giving signals from outside the coaches box is the norm more than not. Of course, there is not penalty for being outside the coaches box.



March 9th is the due date for umpires to have their Tournament availability forms in to the WIAA office. That only gives you two days. March 23rd is the due date for officials to have their tests back to the WIAA office. Coaches are to do their tests in house and hand them in to your athletic director.



The list of approved bats is at www.asasoftball.com/about/certified_equipment.asp so you can go there and print out a copy so you have it when the umpires as you for your copy. Everyone is supposed to have a copy of it - coaches, umpires alike.



The WIAA Coaches Advisory Committee coaches are: Jane Briehl of River Valley, Brad Brogley of Seymour, Craig Diedrich of Athens, Richard Frost of Neenah, Doug Schmitz of Bruce, and Karen Scarseth of Wisconsin Rapids (Coaches Association Representative). Rick Gloe of DePere is the umpire on the Advisory committee.



If anyone is still looking for varsity, JV or freshman games, get in touch with me. Poynette still has an opening for all three of those levels. If you still needs games or want to make announcements to the entire state - just e-mail to me and I'll include the stuff in the next bulletin.



There is a good explanation of the NFHS Designated/Flex Player rule in the handouts. There is also a great explanation in the past two years worth of bulletins that you can access by going back to those bulletins.



I'm ready for people to send in pre-season previews on your teams and your conferences. I've completed all my basketball coaching duties for the past season and am ready to start focusing on fastpitch now. E-mail me your stuff and get ready to start forwarding your scores and game summaries.



Rankers should start working on your pre-season rankings. I'll try to get those out by the end of the second week of the season.



I didn't make it to the clinic in Stevens Point due to vehicle issues. I missed seeing many of you there.



That's about it for tonight!

Keep it Rising!

Bob