Observations from CPC Softball practice (27 April 2016)

After returning home from Erie after an interview and getting blue and yellow balloons for my neighbor Kristina David at Party City, I drove in my Jeep back to Holy Trinity Field near Speedways for tonight's CPC Softball practice.  During tonight's practice, I observed the following things from my view from behind the plate:

As I mentioned in my previous post, Jacob Albright tends to swing ahead of pitches, which hearkens back to his baseball playing days.  Taylor Robinson reminds me of Pedro Alvarez.  Like Pedro, Taylor is a power hitter.

Now I shall take a look at some of the players who joined us for the first time this season:

Julie Norris, our catcher, is working her way back from an offseason injury to her throwing arm which she has completely recovered from.  When she is at bat, she almost reminds me of former Pirates catcher Jason Kendall.  Like Kendall, Julie is more of a singles-hitting catcher and not much of a power hitter.  When she is behind the plate, she can be a quick study.  During games, she should signal orders to the pitchers to call for their pitches by slapping her throwing hand on the palm of her glove.  One slap calls for the pitcher's bread-and-butter pitch.  Two slaps call for the pitcher's secondary pitch.  Three slaps means she is calling for the pitcher's third option pitch.  And finally, four slaps means she is ordering her pitcher to throw their fourth option pitch.  She should mix them up during every at bat by opposing batters because the most number of pitches that every batter will face is four (each batter begins with a count of one ball and one strike).

Matt Durisko, one of our three power hitters along with Robinson and Jeff Newell, has a tendency to either pull his hits or send them towards the opposite field.  He can sometimes get away with those things as long as he hits them where opposing fielders are not.  These tendencies are a reason why he had an OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) of 1.025 during last season's tournament.

Sean Zippie tends to pull his line drives.  His .688 OPS during the tournament last season will need to be better as the 2016 season goes on.  He is not much of a power hitter, however, what he lacks in power he more than makes up for with speed.

Ryan Zippie has a tendency to hit a lot of ground balls which leads to him being thrown out on a frequent basis.  His .473 OPS from last season's tournament means that he needs to be more aggressive when up to bat, which is something that our head coach Jim Bombeck is trying to instill into the team this season.

These are the insights from tonight's practice.  The next practice is Monday evening, however, I will miss practice on May 2 because I have a Knights of Columbus council meeting at the city building that evening.  I will give more insights on the 2016 squad at next Wednesday's practice.

And that is the end of this blog post.

Observations from Covenant Sharon Softball practice (25 April 2016)

Church softball fans:

Tonight I drove in my Jeep to Holy Trinity Field next to Speedways for Covenant Sharon softball practice and I came away with the following observations of the few players that showed up tonight from my view behind the plate:

Jacob Albright, our rookie from Single-A according to coach Jim Bombeck, has a tendency to swing ahead of pitches, which hearkens back to his baseball-playing days when he could get away with such actions.  However, in slow pitch softball, he needs to have patience when he is in the batter's box and wait for his pitches before he can swing.

Which brings me to switch hitter Jeff Newell.  He tends to swing at bad pitches out of impatience, which was something he was able to get away with during last season's tournament when he led the squad in OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) with a 1.31, which was more than our 2015 team MVP Gray MacKenzie's 1.176 OPS.

Taylor Robinson, our cleanup hitter, is more of a power hitter, which is what is needed in a cleanup hitter.  He's like a slow pitch equivalent of Pedro Alvarez, a power hitter who is capable of whacking a long ball.

Jim Bombeck, who also is an extra hitter for the squad (batting left handed), is more of our comic relief in the batter's box, yukking it up with opposing fielders.

Eric Bombeck, Jim's brother, is our ace pitcher.  He throws a variety of pitches that can sometimes confuse opposing batters.  When he is on the mound, he is capable of going the distance.

Bob Mariotti, who is a part of the starting rotation, is trying to work his way back from an injury he sustained in the losers' bracket finals of last season's tournament against Grace Chapel Black.  With some extra practice before the regular season begins, he is capable of coming back from the injury that ended his 2015 season.

I'll give more insight to the remaining players at Wednesday's practice.  But first, you're probably saying to yourself:  "That's great insight to the players on the 2016 squad, but who are you giving these insights from behind the plate?"

Good question!

My name is Michael T. Mondak, and although I am a member of Church of Notre Dame in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, I am the "Voice of Covenant Sharon softball" from mid-May through mid-July.  I started calling games last year which led to me being discovered by none other than Eric Bombeck, who hosts a Wednesday evening radio show on News talk 790 WPIC.  He put in a good word for me with his station manager Bob Greenburg, and it led to me being hired as a board operator during local high school sports coverage (Friday night football in the fall, and boys and girls basketball in the winter).  The radio station is my second home away from home (my primary home away from home is at a sporting goods store).  But I always look forward to spring because soon it will be time for a new season of church softball coverage.

In the coming weeks and months, I will routinely post insights on the 2016 Covenant Sharon softball squad.  I will also post game audio footage after each doubleheader.  If that's not enough, I will post some statistics on this blog also, so that you, the followers of this blog, will know how the squad's players are doing to contribute to the success of the squad.

And that is the end of this inaugural blog post.  Until Wednesday, farewell and fair balls.