Miss Softball

[trojan05]

I was looking at the Michigan High School Softball website and discovered that they have had two Miss Softballs each year since 1995. One for Pitching and One for Position Player. Seems like a great idea. Anybody have any comments or insight as to whether or not Indiana has ever considered this? It is extremely difficult to win in Indiana unless you are a pitcher.

[anonlooker]

Is this Miss Softball an "Athlete of the Year" type award, or are the girls wearing swimsuits?

[trojan05]

Seriously, I have had more than 200 lookers and not one person with any insight, inside knowledge of such things or even an opinion?

[sballfan]

trojan,

I'm very surprised no one has commented on this one. I remember last year after the Indy Star Super Team was announced, there were lots of comments about how there were too many pitchers on the team and many suggested a pitchers only team as a result. Don't think softball is alone in this problem though...football is similar in that quarterbacks seem to garner most of the honors. Would two Miss Softballs be ideal? Probably but the voting/nominating process is seriously flawed to begin with so maybe that is where the changes need to start.

[trojan05]

Well, I thought it might be worthwhile to contact some Michigan coaches and see how they do it. Maybe they have a highly flawed system or maybe they love it and they think it works great. I just know that it's hard to put up good enough batting statistics to over come a pitcher who goes 29-1 and strikes out over 400 with an ERA under 1, maybe makes it to semi-state or wins state. What kind of statistics would a non-pitcher have to have anyway to warrant consideration? Batting Average over .600, 15 HR, 60-70 RBI, 45 R. Honestly, I don't think those statistics would win Miss Softball. The only girl with anywhere close to those statistics this year was Andrea Filler and she's a pitcher. Hope she can bring it again like that next year. Congratulations to her on one of the greatest seasons in Indiana High School History.

[gunshy]

Any time you have a "Miss" anything award, there will be flaws or perceived wrongs in the system.........bar none. Miss Softball in Indiana is no different. I understand the arguement being made here for position players and am with you, but our sport is pitcher-dominated, especially in the media. Think of the Olympic team and Jennie Finch comes to mind, not the second baseman! When a HS team wins 3-0, the media reports that the PITCHER threw a shutout; they rarely make mention that the defense made 16 outs to go along with the pitcher's 5 strikeouts. Media plays a huge role in perceptions of those who decide things like Miss Softball. Morgan Lewis is an extremely deserving winner, based on last year plus her 4 year body of work, but she had the advantage of doing her work in the media-rich Indy market.
She was in the news constantly and received LOTS of press every week. Would Morgan be Miss Softball had she pitched for Tri-Central or Rossville? I highly doubt it, regardless if she won every game and hit .700. No slight for Morgan, just an example of how the system works. No sense in tinkering with this award, as there will always be a compelling arguement for #2. Melloh, Collins, Esparza and Lewis, the last 4 winners from memory, are all good representatives and deserving winners.

[killerbee]

No disrespect to the former winners. All of them worked very hard I'm quite sure. IMO it needs to be looked at, and in the next few years you'll probably see someone other than a pitcher get it. 43 ft is going to change things. Hitters are balancing the game, even at the travel level. When you get a 1A or 2A school that is only being challenged a few times a season, it creates some wonderful stats for defense and pitching. Again, I'm not bashing here. My dd happens to attend a strong 1A softball school. I think the coach would love to get the Carmels, HSE's, Boonville's of the State on the schedule. There is only so much he can do as conference games, open dates etc.. gets into the way of teams to seek out better opposition. This would give a much better idea of a true "Miss Softball". Until then, it's just a popularity vote.
I bet many people don't recall who even pitched in this years 3A/4A championship games! But, they can tell you who drove in the runs and collected the big hits. Keep swingin the bats!!

[mcgeever04]

When you get a 1A or 2A school that is only being challenged a few times a season, it creates some wonderful stats for defense and pitching.

Of course it could be argued that hitting stats for girls at 1A or 2A schools that only get challenged a few times a season are just as skewed as the defense and pitching stats. Seems to be a lot more 1A and 2A players hitting over .600 likely due in part to the fact that they only face tough pitching a few times a season if that. There are very talented players in all divisions, but stats don't always tell the whole story when some schools are challenged with much tougher schedules than others. Class sports has always been an imperfect system, but probably not much can be done about it.

[killerbee]

Of course it could be argued that hitting stats for girls at 1A or 2A schools that only get challenged a few times a season are just as skewed as the defense and pitching stats.

Absolutely true!! However, I've had many kids over the years that played for me that were "All Nothin" in HS with their bats, then light it up against better/more consistent pitching in summer and college ball.

[bucketboy]

IMHO it still boils down to the way the votes go down in the district meetings that have been discussed here before. The top vote getter's in each of the five districts are the candidates for Miss Softball and the coaches that are present at the North South Game vote for one of the five and the top voter getter is named Miss Softball. Is the system flawed probably and generally the award goes to a player from a 3A or 4A school also.

This year all 5 candidates were pitchers for their respective high schools and I would be curious to see if any player has received the award that was not a pitcher........

I didn't expect Morgan to receive the award based on the simple fact she played at a 1A school.

Killerbee has a point that the 43 ft. distance may change things going forward and I will be anxious to see how it plays out in the future. There is some great young talent in the 2012 and 2013 class that play for 1a and 2a schools also and hopefully those young ladies will be noticed and get the same award opportunities as the 3a and 4a players....