All Hokie, All the Time. Period. Presented by First Bank & Trust Company

MidloHokie MidloHokie OP
May 18, 2026 at 04:13 PM ET
The most important persons impacting the team's success next season . . .
. . . do not work for Pete. They are the private pitching instructors that most assuredly Mazz, Bree and Avery will work with over the next three months. Pitchers don't magically improve because the FR changes to SOPH behind their name on the roster. They have to put in the work and that work has to be under the eye of someone that understands biomechanics and translates the knowledge into effective drills to drive improvement.

8 Replies

B
BAMAHOKIE
2mo
Also private hitting coaches, infield coaches and conditioning coaches
College baseball athletes play in wood bat leagues in off season. Do college softball players also play on "industrial" sponsored teams in off season ( summer)? ** Edited by BAMAHOKIE at 5/18/2026, 5:06:09 PM
MidloHokie MidloHokie OP
2mo
There are 23U summer ball teams. My daughter played one summer and . .
. . . loved it. Had teammates from a number of other Virginia schools, some of whom she faced during the season. No practice, just show up on the weekends and play. She chose not to pitch much and had great fun playing in the field and hitting. This really was not for development at all. That happened during the week with her pitching instructor who happened to be the pitching coach at a D1 school where she didn't attend ;)
B
BAMAHOKIE
2mo
True But
MAZZ needs a new pitiching coach if it is possible to get her some control. Velocity is great but worthless without control
MidloHokie MidloHokie OP
2mo
No way to know that. Not everyone has the body awareness to make . . .
. . . changes regardless of who the instructor is. Some of it is sort of hard-wired.
WestEndHokie39 WestEndHokie39
2mo
Question for you about that
Is there a particular part of pitching that is more important or you have observed to most often needing improvement? Release point, arm motion, lower body? Or is it a complex mix of everything?
MidloHokie MidloHokie OP
2mo
Well, I'm not a pitching coach but have caught 100's of lessons.
The first thing I always look at is the lower body and how it's connected to the girl's mechanics. Whether you love absolute velocity or spin rate, arm speed crucial to generate both. You can't generate arm speed at release if your lower body is not being used. Unfortunately, I see a lot of kids who are 6'0" and taller who appear the have been coached to simply step and throw. A sad waste of the genetics that have provided them the potential to have elite arm speed.
TomTurkey TomTurkey
2mo
Watching Mazz, and even Holiday Inn Express can't improve my knowledge...
...but whether she squares to the plate, or sort of stays angled and rotates, seems, to me, upon observation, to affect her control. Bottom line, to me, like pitching baseball, it's a synchronization of all mechanics. .
MidloHokie MidloHokie OP
2mo
Yep. Has to all be tied together.