VYPE.com
Regular Season Jul 4, 2009
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In high school softball, pitchers are the aggressors at 40 feet from home plate. With so little reaction time from such a close distance, hitters nearly have to guess where the ball is going to end up. A pitcher that can truly dominate is one of the greatest assets a softball team can have. Softball pitchers' arms do not tire nearly as fast as baseball pitchers because of the underhand technique. As a result, a team usually needs only one or two dominant pitchers as opposed to a four- to five-man rotation in baseball. How much impact does one dominant pitcher have on the success of your softball team? And how do you teach your hitters to be successful against dominant pitchers?
Central Kansas

Featured Coaches: Jason Wilson, Ray Aguirre, J.R. Rodriguez
Small ball is an offensive strategy in baseball in which the batting team emphasizes placing runners on base and advancing them into position to score in a deliberate, methodical way. This style of play places a high value on each run scored and attempts to score them without extra-base hits, instead using singles, walks, stolen bases, sacrifice flies, bunts and the hit and run. The 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox won the title using this philosophy, and Wichita State ran into the University of California-Irvine small-ball buzz saw last spring in the NCAA Super Regional. Some teams swear by it, others rely on power hitters and maximum scoring potential. How does small ball fit into your team's strategy?
Central Kansas

Featured Coaches: Jay Miller, Steve Williams, Don Patterson, Trent Nesmith
Can Wichita Football get back on top? A Wichita public high school has not won a state title since Wichita East back-to-back in 1982 and 1983. Four new head coaches in the City League intent to turn it around at Wichita East, North, South and West. We asked them what is the current status of Wichita high school football, and how can it improve on the state level?
Central Kansas

Featured Coaches: Brian Byers, Tom Beason, Tony Johnson, Chris Young

Reader Poll

Was it a good decision for Class 1A KSHSAA member schools to split their classification into two divisions for state basketball and volleyball?