Stingers A Grade Win Comp.
Stingers Still Going
Stingers Masters Doo it again... 6 yrs in a row....
Bandits Baseball is located at Trinity Beach Baseball grounds, QLD, Australia.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tip of the month - Fielding
Fielding Tips
Throws Are Overthrown And Sailing High. There is a very good chance that you are NOT raising your throwing elbow to shoulder height. I've witnessed it hundreds of times over the years. Watch closely to replays on TV when infielders overthrow their first baseman because the throw sailed high. In many cases, you will see the infielder did not raise his elbow when making the throw. Just remember, elbow low, ball high. Another possibility for overthrowing your target is you may be releasing the ball before your landing foot hits the ground.
Under Throwing the Ball. The problem is usually at your release point. If you release the ball too late, your throw will almost definitely be low. Another strong possibility is that your front shoulder is dipping down below your throwing shoulder. If your front shoulder dips, there is a good chance your throw will be low and short of your target. Whenever possible, make sure that your shoulders stay level throughout the throwing motion.
General Erratic Throwing. There is no substitute for spending time practicing your throwing. If you throw the ball every day, your throwing will improve. It simply has to. Just remember, every time you throw a baseball you should aim for a target. If having a catch with someone, aim for their left shoulder, then their right shoulder, left hip, right hip, etc. Every time you throw the baseball, aim for something! This has to help you. If throwing erratically, the problem could very well be in your footwork. Not getting their feet set up properly is a very common problem, especially with youngsters. Their feet are not set when they throw the ball because of their impatience to want to throw the ball too soon. Their arm is ready but their footwork is not ready yet. They have no balance or foundation when they throw. Like we mentioned above, keep your shoulders level and keep them square to your target. Make sure your front foot is pointing to your target and your back foot lined up like you are using the pitching rubber.
Arm Extension. You should extend your arms almost straight out and field the ball in front of your body. You should NEVER field grounders near your body or underneath your body. I would venture that in at least 90% of the cases where a grounder goes through an infielder's legs, it's because the arms and hands were not out in front of the body.
Back Handing The Ball. Try to keep your glove hand relaxed and don't stab at the ball unless you have to. You want to really focus on "soft hands" and sort of ease the ball into your glove.
Ball Stops Rolling. By far, the easiest way to pick the ball up if it has stopped is to push it into the ground. Scooping it up takes more time and increases the chance of a miscue. By pushing down on the ball, in essence you are pushing the ball into your hand, which is what you want to do.
Bare- Handed Play When Ball Rolling Very Slowly. Many players make the common mistake of trying to scoop it up with a couple of their fingers. The proper way is to "cup" the hand and field the ball with ALL OF YOUR FINGERS. Now comes the tricky part. You have a very small amount of time to go from cupping the ball and getting it into your four seam throwing grip. It takes a little practice but you'll get it.
Bounces. Good infielders read the ball off the bat very well so they determine the type of bounce they are going to get. You have probably heard it referred to as playing the ball instead of letting the ball play you. It's important to charge in and get the sure hop or the short hop. Avoid the in between hop, when the ball bounces about three feet in front of you and can possibly "hand cuff" you.
Butt. Please get your butt down and keep it down, almost like sitting in a chair.
Egg and Not a Baseball. If possible, catch every ground ball like you are catching an egg and don't want the egg to break. Watch the soft hands of all of the outstanding infielders and how they ease the ball into their glove.
Face. When fielding a grounder, no one should see your face, and if they do, that's wrong. They should only see the top of your cap as your face is looking down at the grounder going into your glove.
Get In Front Of The Ball. The real good infielders get in front of almost everything. The error prone infielders do not and stab at too many balls.
Glove Down And Out Front. If I could only give one bit of advice on fielding ground balls, without any hesitation at all my advice would be, never get beat under your glove!!! We play from the ground up. Get the glove out in front of your body and on the ground early. You will notice that almost every time a grounder goes through someone's legs it's because their glove was too close to their feet and not out in front of them.
Hands. Like we mentioned, the hands should always be out in front of you and down. If the ball takes a bad hop and your hands are close to the body, you have very little chance to adjust.
Knees. The knees should be bent and pointing outward. The expression is, "arms and knees out and waist straight."
"Pop Up" After fielding the grounder, "pop up" with the front shoulder facing your target. The real good infielders practice the "pop up" drill to save valuable fractions of a second. That's just one of the reasons they are real good infielders.
Slow Rollers. Call for a slow roller just like you would call for a pop up. It's a shame when two fielders are standing there next to a slow roller and each thinks the other is going to field the ball. That's a tough way to lose a ballgame. You don't just call for pop ups but you call for grounders as well. It will avoid a lot of confusion. If the ball has stopped, you should approach it so that the stopped ball is just outside your plant foot.
Throwing the Ball After Fielding the Grounder. Remember to "pop up" with the throwing shoulder facing your target. Bring your elbow up to throwing height, which is usually about shoulder height. Throw the ball and follow through. Almost every errant throw that sails high when thrown by an infielder is because he did not raise his elbow high enough.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
J-Rods and Smithy's Engagement Party
Linda and Lee
Linda and Ric
KKK and The Bearded Bushman
J-Rod as Vanilla Ice T.
Jason and Adam
Stingers Girls - You Sexy Thing.
Stingers Boys - You lost that Love and Feeling.
J-Rod - September Ends
Ric showing Roz his - Tiny Dancer.
I Think thats enough for one day. Fun had by all....
Thank god the lighting was down otherwise we can put names to faces.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Pete - Living on the edge
Pete did an excellent job, but i have been instructed to remove the video.
You had to be there it was awesome.
Aerosmith-Living On The Edge
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tip of the month - Hitting
Hitting Tips
DIRECTNESS OF THE SWING I think that the "directness of the swing" is one of the most important aspects of hitting the ball effectively. The front elbow should be pointed downward at the very beginning of the swing and not toward the pitcher. Not being direct to the ball is a very common problem for many weak hitters! If the front elbow is pointing toward the pitcher at the very START of your swing, it will create a slight loop which will cause you to be a fraction of a second late to the ball. If it takes a fast ball about a half second to get to the plate, you cannot afford to lose a valuable fraction of a second. A fraction of a second is an eternity when attempting to hit a baseball effectively. This fraction of a second can very well be the difference between hitting a seed or swinging late and possibly missing the ball entirely. If you learn only this one thing about hitting, you will be a substantially better hitter. Please keep the front elbow pointing downward at the very beginning of your swing! |
BAT SPEED IS CRITICAL
Let's keep this very basic. Very simply, the faster the head of the bat is going
when it hits the ball, the harder a hitter will hit the baseball. There are hundreds
of baseball tips on hitting but don't the hitters with the quickest bat speed hit the baseball the hardest? You can talk about many things that are required to be a successful hitter and right near the top of your list should be bat speed. It's very enjoyable to watch a very big, strong hitter clobber the baseball. It's also very enjoyable watching a smaller hitter who is not exceptionally strong clobber the baseball. The only way for the smaller player to be competitive with the bigger
and stronger hitters is with his very quick bat speed.
when it hits the ball, the harder a hitter will hit the baseball. There are hundreds
of baseball tips on hitting but don't the hitters with the quickest bat speed hit the baseball the hardest? You can talk about many things that are required to be a successful hitter and right near the top of your list should be bat speed. It's very enjoyable to watch a very big, strong hitter clobber the baseball. It's also very enjoyable watching a smaller hitter who is not exceptionally strong clobber the baseball. The only way for the smaller player to be competitive with the bigger
and stronger hitters is with his very quick bat speed.
There are several things you can do to improve your bat speed:
- Practice your swing every day. Some professionals will take as many as
500 swings a day in the off season. That's probably one of the reasons
they are now professional hitters. I'm not saying it's feasible to take that many swings every day but practice your swing as often as possible. Remember to take your practice swings exactly like you are swinging the bat in a game. You're cheating yourself if you do otherwise. If you are willing to spend the time practicing your swing, you deserve the benefit from the time you are putting in. What can possibly be better to improve your strength and quickness as a baseball hitter than practicing the swing itself? - Avoid gripping the bat too tightly, which is a common problem especially with younger players. They often have the mindset that "I'm going to grip this bat real tight and really clobber this ball." Nothing could be further from the truth.
It will actually slow down the speed of your bat. It's identical to a pitcher who holds the ball tighter to slow down a pitch and a baseball hitter gripping the bat tightly will slow down his bat speed also. - Make sure you swing directly to the ball. The very beginning of the swing is NOT level at all. It is a DOWNWARD movement and only levels out at the point of contact! You absolutely must be "quick to the ball." Short and quick to the ball is far better than long and strong.
GET TO KNOW THE OPPOSING PITCHER QUICKLY
If you don't know anything about an opposing pitcher, watch him closely and you may possibly get to know a lot about him very quickly. Beating the pitcher is plain and simply, a battle. Good pitchers will stay awake at night trying to figure out how to get good hitters out. Just like the pitcher is looking for your strengths and weaknesses as a hitter, you too better be looking for his strengths and weaknesses!
Some Very Important Things You Should Be Looking For
Look for where his release point is. Quite often pitchers have different release points for different pitches. You may know what pitch he's throwing before he actually releases the ball.
Is the pitcher always throwing a first pitch fast ball all the time?
Does he lean back more toward second base to get more speed on the fast ball?
Does he slow down his windup at the last second when throwing a change up?
On the other hand, does he speed up his windup too much when throwing a change up because he is trying too hard to disguise it?
Does he always throw the curve ball with 2 strikes?
Is the first pitch to each batter too "fat" and an easy pitch to hit?
Does he throw a breaking ball after he shakes off his catcher's signal?
(This tells you the catcher is never signaling for the breaking ball as his first signal)
(This tells you the catcher is never signaling for the breaking ball as his first signal)
Does the pitcher raise his front shoulder higher when throwing the fastball?
Is he always pitching low and away and not using both sides of the plate?
Does he drop his arm slot down a little to get more lateral movement on his breaking ball?
While on the bench, sit next to a very good hitter and talk about the opposing pitcher throughout the game. Remember, the pitcher is thinking of anything and everything he can do to get you out. As a baseball hitter, you should be thinking of anything and everything you can do to have a successful at bat.
You will be very pleased with yourself if you have observed that the pitcher has started five straight hitters off with a first pitch fast ball. Then you get up, see a
first pitch fast ball and hit a seed into one of the gaps!
You will be very pleased with yourself if you have observed that the pitcher has started five straight hitters off with a first pitch fast ball. Then you get up, see a
first pitch fast ball and hit a seed into one of the gaps!
Monday, June 13, 2011
How to use the Line-up Creator
Watch the video double click on the video to make it bigger and ask questions if you like.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Hiro returns to Stingers.
After some time in the wilderness, Hiro has returned to the team he loves best.
He will still have his hand in with Happy Eggs, But he now has been turned once again to the dark side.
Good to have you back with Stingers.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Stingers on Firefox web browser.
Hay if you use Firefox as a web browser, why dont you give this a try.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
WTF
Binghamton Mets vs New Britain Rock Cats AA baseball, May 26, 2011
The hard way to do it.
Jose Coronado hit into fielder's choice double play, first baseman Chris Parmelee to catcher Daniel Rohlfing to shortstop Chris Cates to pitcher Brett Jacobson to third baseman Deibinson Romero to first baseman Chris Parmelee to second baseman Steve Singleton to shortstop Chris Cates to center fielder Joe Benson. Allan Dykstra out at home. Eric Campbell out at 3rd.
Jose Coronado hit into fielder's choice double play, first baseman Chris Parmelee to catcher Daniel Rohlfing to shortstop Chris Cates to pitcher Brett Jacobson to third baseman Deibinson Romero to first baseman Chris Parmelee to second baseman Steve Singleton to shortstop Chris Cates to center fielder Joe Benson. Allan Dykstra out at home. Eric Campbell out at 3rd.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Stingers v Heat on May 15th 2011.
May 15 2011
Scored by Adam Reddacliff
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stingers Masters | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 15 | 3 | ||||
Heat Masters | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 5 |
Game was a draw, for time was not on our side today.
Stingers Masters
| Heat Masters
|
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Masters Game info
13th Australian Masters Games
The 13th Australian Masters Games will be held in Adelaide from 7-16 October 2011.
The Games provide the opportunity for participation and competition for everyone, regardless of background or ability with the aim of encouraging lifelong participation in sport. The only requirement is that you meet the minimum age for the sport, which for Baseball is 30 years old for women and 35 years old for men.
The Games are expected to attract more than 10,000 competitors who will take part in more than 60 sports (including Baseball) that are available. While competition is important, one of the key attractions of this unique event is the social interaction and spirit of camaraderie experienced by participants.
A special feature of this year’s Games will be the City of Adelaide Games Village, which will be located in central Adelaide (Memorial Drive Tennis Complex, War Memorial Drive, North Adelaide) and will be the hub of activity throughout the Games. The village will host an entire social program the Opening and Closing ceremonies as well as house the accreditation centre and various other games services like the Games expo, Games administration, volunteer hub and much more.
There is so much on offer this Masters Games so get the team together, get to the website and get in the game!
To register or for more information about the Games go to www.AustralianMastersGames.com or call (08) 8409 1900.
Important Dates
7 August – Registrations close
7 October – first day of competition commences
8 October – Opening Ceremony
15 October – Closing Ceremony
16 October – final day of competition
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Tip of the month - Pitching
RELEASE POINT IS CRITICAL FOR A PITCHER
The "release point" is the exact position of a pitcher's throwing hand when a pitcher releases the ball to throw it the most effectively. Every pitcher has a different release point. You should know where your personal release point is. The release point is an extremely important part of pitching. A professional pitching coach told me back in 2004 that the release point is everything to a pitcher! If the release point is off a hair to the right, you’ll miss your catcher’s target to the right. If it’s off to the left, you’ll miss to the left. If it’s too early, you’ll miss high. If it's too late, you'll miss low.
The "release point" is the exact position of a pitcher's throwing hand when a pitcher releases the ball to throw it the most effectively. Every pitcher has a different release point. You should know where your personal release point is. The release point is an extremely important part of pitching. A professional pitching coach told me back in 2004 that the release point is everything to a pitcher! If the release point is off a hair to the right, you’ll miss your catcher’s target to the right. If it’s off to the left, you’ll miss to the left. If it’s too early, you’ll miss high. If it's too late, you'll miss low.
Don’t get frustrated when you “lose” your release point. And you will lose your release point now and then because every pitcher does. It can be a very frustrating part of pitching. Simply try your best to maintain yours and when you lose it, hang in there and remember two things. One is that it happens to ALL pitchers and the other thing is that you will find it again. It’s identical to a very successful hitter that goes into a hitting slump. Just don’t get discouraged and be ready when it happens and you’ll be fine because you will rediscover it. You may very well be wondering where YOUR natural point of release is. Here is a very good way to find where yours is. Have someone that’s VERY DEPENDABLE watch you closely. Go in the infield and position yourself where a shortstop would field a grounder deep in the hole. Pretend that you have just fielded a grounder hit deep in the hole. Pretend you are throwing a runner out at first base and make the long throw to first base. Do NOT put alot of thinking into this because you want to find out where your NATURAL release point is. The key word here is NATURAL! Make about a half dozen throws from deep in the hole to first base. The person watching you should be able to tell you where your natural point of release is. You may see it yourself but usually someone else can see it better. Be very selective as to who you pick to watch your throws to first base.
Possible Reasons For Your Release Point Being Off:
It is a very common problem for pitchers to have their body too far ahead of their throwing arm and then either the arm has to rush to catch up to the body or the arm will be too far behind. This will cause many problems, one of them definitely being your release point may be off. Pause briefly on the rubber in the middle of the windup before starting forward to discourage this. It can be the pitcher’s mound itself. It can be a mound that’s very unfamiliar or uncomfortable to you.
Maybe the rubber area where you pivot has too large a hole in front of the rubber where you are pivoting. Maybe your landing foot is going into a deep hole. Maybe the slope of the mound is much too steep or not nearly steep enough, thus severely disrupting your timing and balance. You may be winding up and delivering the ball faster than usual. If you’re struggling in a game, you may be rushing and trying too hard. The opposite may also be true. You may be winding up and delivering slower than usual because you may be struggling with the control of your pitches and are “aiming” your pitches instead of “throwing” your pitches.
GET TO KNOW A HITTER QUICKLY
Quite often, a pitcher may be facing a batter that he does not know anything about, other than that he has a reputation of being very good. If you put a little thought into it, you may get to know him even before he gets to the plate. You can get to know him even more after you see him at the plate. Still, even more after you see his swing. If he takes a practice swing, pay close attention to it. If he appears to be hitting an inside pitch with it, he is probably a pull hitter. If he appears to be hitting to the opposite field, chances are he likes to hit to the opposite field. The same holds true with whether he appears to be hitting a high or low pitch. The reason you may have him figured out is because hitters at all levels have a strong tendency to take their practice swing where they actually like the pitch to be located. Sometimes you can also learn something after the batter is up at the plate. There are some things a pitcher should watch.
Batter Has Closed Stance---He probably likes the ball away. Let's find out if he can handle a pitch that's inside.
Batter Has Open Stance---He probably likes the ball inside. Let's test him low and away.
Batter Stands Deep in the Box---I would be thinking primarily breaking balls.
Batter Stands Shallow in the Box---If he wants to give me a couple of extra feet on my fastball, I'll take it. Let's see if he can catch up to it.
Batter Has Hands Held High-Almost always likes the ball down low. There are very few exceptions to this rule. Pitch him up in the zone until he proves you wrong.
Batter Has the Bat Curled Around His Neck-Test him up and in. The barrel has a long way to travel.
Here Are Some Thought Processes AFTER You've Seen The Batter Swing:
Your first pitch is a real good fastball and he pulls it and hits a seed that’s foul about 350 feet from home plate. You now know there is a very good chance he loves the fast ball. You should strongly consider off speed on your next pitch.The risk is that if he’s a good hitter, he might also be thinking that you are coming off speed after what he just did to your fast ball. This is part of the chess match that takes place between a good pitcher and a good hitter. Remember that good hitters are good hitters for a reason and that’s because they are always thinking. Okay, he has clobbered your first pitch fast ball. I’m not saying that you should not go off speed but you do have another option, considering this guy appears to love the fastball. The thought process goes like this. Okay, you love the fastball, well I'll give you another fastball. But this time it's going to be six inches off the plate. Remember, if he loves to hit the fastball, he may chase one out of the strike zone because he doesn't know if you will throw him another one. After two fastballs, he may think that you are going to stay with your heater and on your third pitch it may be a good time for you to then go off speed. If this sounds like a chess match to you it's because it is a chess match that should be going on between a good pitcher and a good hitter.
What If You Start The Batter Off With a Breaking Ball? I experienced this first hand when I was about 15 years old. I was facing a hitter who I knew very little about. I knew he was a tremendous hitter and that's all. I started him off with a slow curve ball and he was totally confused. After only one pitch, I knew this hitter did NOT like curve balls. He was 0-3 against me and he saw fastballs off the plate and slow and medium speed curve balls. I'm not bragging at all and respect everyone on the ball field. The only point I'm making here is that after only one pitch, I knew this hitter very well. I still had to show him the fastball or after three breaking balls in a row he would adjust and that's what good hitters do. If I threw him all curve balls, he would go from looking terrible to looking very good. I just want to be clear on something. Even if you see a hitter has trouble with a certain pitch in a certain location, it does not mean that you can throw that same pitch over and over again. Hitters will make adjustments. Another word of caution. Be careful that a batter doesn't start out one way and then when actually swinging he changes. For example, a batter starts out with the bat curled around his neck but when he actually starts his swing, the bat is not curled. Another example would be a batter starts out with an open stance but then closes it just before getting ready to hit. You have to observe and watch hitters closely. It's just like the batter when taking a pitch will follow the ball all the way into the catcher's mitt. As a pitcher, you must do the same and pay close attention also. Pitching is not simply getting the ball and throwing the pitch!
WATCH THE BATTER'S FEET
Obviously, if you see a batter's feet are very close to the plate you should be thinking inside part of the plate. Conversely, if you see a batter's feet are far from the plate, you should be thinking outside part of the plate. It’s extremely important to watch the batter’s feet to see if he moves them before EVERY pitch! If you are working a hitter away, away and away again, he may compensate and move much closer to the plate. He'll do this because he realizes how you are pitching him. If ever a hitter was setup to be jammed inside, this hitter is. As a pitcher, your rate of success will skyrocket if you make good use of this very easy thing to do.This will take you about a half second to do before every pitch and the benefit is outstanding!
PITCHING INSIDE OFF THE PLATE
There is nothing immoral or illegal about throwing your fast ball four inches or so off the inside corner of the plate and you better occasionally do this if you are serious about being a successful pitcher! Pitching requires a lot of thinking as well as talent. You can simplify pitching into only FOUR THINGS that are necessary requirements to be successful:
1. CONTROL
2. TOUGH LOW AND AWAY STRIKES
3. CHANGE SPEEDS TO DISRUPT TIMING
4. OCCASIONALLY, PITCH INSIDE OFF THE PLATE
Don't those four things cover it all?
If you don't back hitters off the plate, your tough low and away strike will no longer be tough and no longer be away. The tough strike you throw over the outside corner will no longer be tough if you allow hitters to reach over the plate to get to it. In essence, it is NOT really the outside corner any longer because if you continuously allow hitters to reach over the plate, it becomes the middle of the plate for them. By not allowing them to lean over, the outside corner becomes a “true” outside corner again for the pitcher. This in and out type of pitching is EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE! Like I've said before, a batter can not have both sides of the plate. Low and away strikes are great but if you stay exclusively low and away you are giving the batter permission to reach over the plate and hammer you. Batters should NOT be comfortable facing you and you have to remind them of this occasionally! This is NOT to say you should throw at a batter, which is morally wrong and illegal. The batter’s box is six inches away from the plate so you have every right in the world to throw into that six inch area. Every right! I call that six inch area between the plate and the batter's box "neutral territory." A pitcher has every right in the world to throw into that area. Tips from: larrybaseball.com
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