Midwest Fastpitch - keeptheboardcorrect@gmail.com

Midwest Fastpitch - keeptheboardcorrect@gmail.com
[ Midwest Fastpitch - keeptheboardcorrect@gmail.com ]

Opening Day

Posted by Softball Fan on February 6, 2025, 4:37 pm

After observing a couple games already on opening day, slapping appears to be alive and well. Rumors are false.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by Slapping fan on February 12, 2025, 6:25 pm, in reply to "Opening Day"

Nothing like a power slapper up to bat, to make even the strongest defense nervous. You can always see the tension.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by @Slapping Fan on February 13, 2025, 1:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Opening Day"

Not only power slappers, because there's a defense for that. What about a 2.6 slapper who can bunt, soft slap, chop slap, hard slap, and swing away?

THAT slapper really makes the defense nervous.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by @@Slapper Fan on February 13, 2025, 9:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Opening Day"

Sounds like an incredible athlete. However, I believe the fastest recorded professional softball athlete running time from home to first is 2.67 seconds. That was digitally recorded. Any faster, check your watch.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by @@@SF on February 14, 2025, 8:23 am, in reply to "Re: Opening Day"

Slapping is fun. It is one of the best parts of softball. However, like everything else, only the very best can do it effectively at the P4 level. And the any part of the foot out of the box and you are out rule has clearly made it harder.

My son runs track and he often jokes about hand timing short sprints. A couple years ago, a kid on his team ran an 11.2 hand timed 100 meters (in a meet — it is hard to believe that there are still hand timed meets, but whatever). The rest of the season, which was laser timed, the same kid barely broke 12 seconds. Lots of hand timed 4.4 40s. Very few laser timed 4.4 40s. Even the metrics companies have to struggle with this. You can have the identical timing setup, but conditions matter (i.e., grass vs. turf vs. dirt; hot vs. cold; indoor vs. outdoor; windy vs. not windy). Even the shoes the kids wear will matter. Long winded way of saying that comparing times is hard.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by slapping on February 7, 2025, 8:48 am, in reply to "Opening Day"

Yes, the "death of slapping" thread was quite pre-mature and maybe wishful thinking by a coach that gets frustrated by trying to defend against them. I know whenever I am watching travel games, I get more nervous seeing a triple threat slapper up to bat than I do with a big burly girl, every time.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by @slapping on February 7, 2025, 12:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Opening Day"

It’s a facet of fastpitch softball that makes it unique. Really fun to watch a slapper pressure the defense.

Re: Opening Day

Posted by Slapper BS on February 15, 2025, 5:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Opening Day"

I happen to see a slapper on TV today slap the ball one foot in front of the box today and make it all the way around the bases to win the game against Louisville vs Minnesota. Speed doesn’t slump and every team needs one. If you can teach a player to do it right, not sure why slapping would go away. (Meaning keep your feet in the box) My buddy said she was a chill alum. I’m not surprised!

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