It’s been almost two weeks since
the Hancock Tournament and the end of the season, we’ve had our meetings,
handed out the evaluations and have only the celebratory banquet ahead before
we begin our off-season activity and we start all over again. I thought this
might a good time to do a summary of our year and put some meaning into the
numbers.
Softball and baseball are
numbers-oriented sports and numbers geeks, like me, spend (probably way too
much) time crunching the numbers to provide an objective assessment of the
season and the individuals who, in our case, made it so successful. You may
want to skip this unless you, too, are a numbers geek or want to learn about
the numbers and how they’re figured. One other note: scoring is always
subjective, and the decisions about hits/errors are mine. What might be
considered a “tough” error on the varsity level might be ruled a hit on the JV.
On a subjective scale, this was
the equal of any team I’ve had since returning to the program in 2006 in terms of accomplishing the goals of improving
as a team and as individual players, of building camaraderie, and integrating
the goals of the Webster Groves High School softball program.
I will admit that this team far
exceeded my expectations – I certainly did not predict 13 wins as we finalized
our roster in August, but what can never be predicted is a team’s character and
heart. Neither can it be measured in a number, but if it could, this team’s
stat would be off the charts.
The offensive numbers that can
be compared paint an interesting (to me, of course) picture. It’s a fair
comparison to look at the numbers from 2011, 2012 and 2013 (numbers will be
presented in that order). The number of games (24-24-23) was similar, as were
the records (13-11, 14-10, 13-10). Despite playing one less game than the two
previous years, we actually played more innings than the previous two years (138, 128 & 140) and took far more at
bats (AB), (621, 658, 693) and had more plate appearances (PA=AB+BB [walks] +
HB [hit by pitch] + Sac [sacrifices]), (731, 804, 810). We scored runs at a
better pace than either of the previous years (235, 253, 251), despite a lower
batting average and slugging percentage than the year before (.343/.456,
.372/.517, .358/.443).
Defensively, our fielding
percentage continued to rise (.842, .862, .870). Most significantly, the number
of assists was way up, which means that we made lots more plays on ground balls
and didn’t need to wait for someone to pop up or strike out. “Catch and throw,”
“Take care of the softball,” we did that. Our pitchers did exactly what we
asked them to do, throw strikes. While opponent strikeouts were down by almost
50%, so were our opponent walks, the fewest since at least 2007. That helped
everyone as we learned about how to play in a variety of defensive situations,
a key component to our growth and success as the season wore on.
As a side note, I’m including a
link to some articles on my personal blog that are softball related, although
not necessarily to this team. Content warning: Because it’s my personal blog it
contains personal (and occasionally political) opinions that not everyone may
like. I’m not intentionally provocative, but if you’re easily provoked, well,
consider this fair warning!
No comments:
Post a Comment