Comments on: My post game thoughts

By: ROCKLAND SOFTBALL

ROCKLAND SOFTBALL — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:01:16 +0000

cd I know Krystn as well as anybody if not better and u are right she does not throw 65mph. Lets move on whats done is done and she’ll be back next year and hopefully Krstyn and her NR teammates can make another run at a state title

By: cd

cd — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:24:00 +0000

to whom it may concern, kristen benson is one of the top pitchers in sec1, maybe the fastest, take my word for it she is not hittting 65 on any radar gun..congtrats to north rockland and their coach on a great season..they are a class act, as are most of the top teams in the area!

By: hotdog37

hotdog37 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:47:16 +0000

How does North Rockland go from # 1 in the State in Class AA to # 7 in the State in Class AA, after losing to the eventual State Class AA Champion – Brentwood? I understand that those paid “HS Softball Newspaper Beat Writers” members of the NYSSWA, in good standing, are among those within the NYSSWA who are eligble to vote on the State Rankings (one has to remember that not everyone who pays a “Subsciption” to the NYSSWA is eligible to vote) met after the State Finals to discuss the final poll/rankings and I could possibly understand being dropped to say # 4, but I cannot understand why they dropped so far. Could it be that the members of the NYSSWA who watched North Rockland play on Saturday were not impressed with them? Pearl River only dropped to # 2 after losing to Floral Park in the finals. Debbie, as a sportswriter covering Section 1, where was your say in the matter? (Or do we have the same situation as we did last year, with Tony P, where neither Tony nor Debbie are members of the NYSSWA and did not nor do not have a vote in the polls?) If this is true, then this is sad that the Journal News cannot have their HS Softball Reporters as members of the NYSSWA (I believe that Kevin Delaney is a member of the NYSSWA for HS Basketball). In my opinion, Debbie needs to be there for Section 1 to support our teams as other Section Newspaper Sportswriters are there to support their teams/players as it relates to State Rankings and All State Selections. WHY ??????????? Here are the final state rankings for everyone to see.

Softball 2009 NYSSWA rankings (Final) Rank

Class AA

Current Rank – Team/Section – Record – Previous Ranking

1. Brentwood-11 24-4 6.

2. Tottenville-PSAL 29-0 2.

3. Long Beach-8 20-6 9.

4. Fairport-5 25-3 3.

5. Columbia-2 20-7 8.

6. St. John the Baptist-CHSAA 27-2 4.

7. North Rockland-1 24-2 1.

8. Liverpool-3 24-4 5.

9. Madison-PSAL 21-1 NR

10. Horseheads-4 19-8 7.

11. Williamsville North-6 21-5 10.

12. Hyde Park FDR-9 24-4 11.

13. Bay Shore-11 22-5 12.

14. Clarence-6 22-5 13.

15. Cicero-North Syracuse-3 20-7 14.

16. Ursuline-1 15-5 15.

17. Niskayuna-2 16-8 16.

18. Valley Central-9 24-2 17.

19. Webster Thomas-5 21-3 18.

20-T Arlington-1 19-3 19.

20-T West Babylon-11 22-3 20.

Class A

1. Floral Park-8 23-4 8.

2. Pearl River-1 24-2 2.

3. Malone-10 19-2 9.

4. Victor-5 27-3 1.

5. Maine-Endwell-4 21-4 3.

6. Lansingburgh-2 20-5 4.

7. West Seneca East-6 18-5 5.

8. Seaford-8 24-4 13.

9. Oneida-3 20-5 7.

10. Cornwall-9 19-4 6.

11. Sayville-11 19-7 10.

12. Harrison-1 20-3 16.

13. South Glens Falls-2 17-3 11.

14. Corning West-4 20-5 12.

15. Hauppauge-11 23-6 14.

16. Mercy-5 19-7 15.

17. Amherst-6 19-4-1 17.

18. Lakeland-1 19-3 18.

19. Phoenix-3 20-7 19.

20. East Hampton-11 15-9 20.

Class B

1. Mechanicville-2 25-5-1 3.

2. Fredonia-6 24-5 6.

3. Chenango Valley-4 25-4 1.

4. Marlboro-9 18-7 12.

5. Poly Prep-AIS 18-2 7.

6. Canton-10 20-3 11.

7. Schuylerville-2 20-4 13.

8. Windsor-4 20-5 9.

9. Canastota-3 25-3 4.

10. Wayland-Cohocton-5 22-3 5.

11. St. Dominic-CHSAA 17-8 10.

12. Carle Place-8 18-9 16.

13. Albertus Magnus-1 16-8 8.

14. Taconic Hills-2 22-2 14.

15. Hampton Bays-11 20-5 2.

16. Immaculata-CHSAA 20-6 17.

17. Putnam Valley-1 20-2 18.

18. Babylon-11 16-6 19.

19. Mynderse-5 18-7 20.

20. Ausable Valley-7 14-6 15.

Class C

1. Rhinebeck-9 18-8 8.

2. Hoosick Falls-2 24-6 2.

3. Tioga-4 21-4 3.

4. Randolph-6 16-2 7.

5. St. Lawrence-10 21-3 4.

6. Chapel Field-9 18-4 12.

7. South Lewis-3 16-9 10.

8. Lancaster St. Mary’s-CHSAA 20-6 6.

9. Duanesburg-2 23-4 14.

10. Greene-4 18-5 17.

11. Perry-5 18-2 1.

12. Ticonderoga-7 19-5 5.

13. Utica Notre Dame-3 16-6 18.

14. Port Jefferson-11 11-8 11.

15. Valhalla-1 16-8 9.

16. Oakfield-Alabama-5 22-4 13.

17. Cassadaga Valley-6 16-5 15.

18. Oyster Bay-8 9-14 16.

19. Pembroke-5 19-6 19.

20. Warsaw-5 18-6 20.

Class D

1. Afton-4 26-3 1.

2. Batavia Notre Dame-5 20-4 4.

3. Stockbridge Valley-3 21-5 6.

4. Forestville-6 17-3 3.

5. Germantown-2 20-4 7.

6. Heuvelton-10 19-2 2.

7. Crown Point-7 16-1 5.

8. Deposit-4 20-4 9.

9. Elba-5 19-5 10.

10. Florida-9 11-11 8.

11. Livingston Manor-9 16-4 11.

12. Northstar Christian-5 16-8 12.

13. Ripley-6 17-3 13.

14. Oriskany-3 18-4 14.

15. Poland-3 18-1 15.

16. Hartford-2 18-4 16.

17. Schenevus-4 16-4 17.

18. Downsille-4 15-3 18.

19. Geneva DeSales-5 18-8 19.

20. Hammond-10 12-7 20

By: hotdog37

hotdog37 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:24:19 +0000

Joe B – Respect for an individuals opinion is what life is all about. We all need to be respectful to each others opinion. You may disagree and present valid couter-points, but be respectful (Debbie – I would imagine that you were reporting the game and doing your internet updates in horible rainy conditions. I respect and understand that. But that is no reason to snap back at me for me comments. PS – you never commented on my correction pertaining to Eastchester and Ardsley being in a State Final? You commented back to everyone else about their comments/corrections. I just wanted to make sure that you received it and was able to verify that my comments about Eastchester and Ardsley were correct (I am not correct and you can show me where I was wrong, I will certainly come on here and apologies to you). Debbie, the ball is in your court.

By: joe b

joe b — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:22:46 +0000

Hank.. who the hell cares about your family tree. Give it a break. PLEEEEEEEEEEZ

By: hank greenberg

hank greenberg — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:39:45 +0000

“There is no excuse for the ump’s (strike) zone to dissappear off the face of the map”.... Heather Hansen, catcher, North Rockland Red Raiders. The Waterloo umpires were “personally selected as being the Best of the Best,” hotdog 37. So why did the ump make so many bad and questionable calls against the North Rockland pitchers?? The answer may be found with an analysis of the Red Raider pitchers. To begin, how fast did Red Raider Krystn Benson pitch? I was at the FDR game at Nanuet highschool, and I saw both Krystn Benson and FDR’s Jennifer Reitemeyer. Benson consistently threw faster than Reitemeyer. This was perfectly obvious to me. Earlier in the season Reitemeyer was timed officially at 63 miles per hour. This meant that at Nanuet Senior highschool Krystn Benson was probably pitching at at least 64 mph or 65 mph. During the game Benson often shook off (with head nods) the signs from Hansen for curve balls and change-ups. Instead, Benson insisted on throwing 65 mph heaters. The end result was 12 strikeouts for Benson, with only two walks. Two days before in the game vs Horseheads, Benson had 15 strikeouts with only one walk. Now returning to the Waterloo game vs Brentwood, the plate umpire’s strike zone for Benson dissappered off the world map. Why did this happen? Krystn Benson is a tall girl with long arms, and she wore the sleeveless and shoulderless bright red uniforms of the Red Raiders. The overall result was a very imposing and powerful physical presence. She pitched heaters at 65 miles per hour. These 65 mph heaters and her imposing physical presence was too much for the plate umpire to comprehend. He was dazzled by Benson’s awesome physical appearance, and he was gun shy from seeing Benson’s 65 mph smoke. The end result was that the plate umpire never saw a gosh darn thing. He could only hear the sound of the ball entering Heather’s glove. Consequently, as being selected as the “Best of the Best” umpires in New York State, he was too proud to honestly admit to himself that he couldn’t see a gosh darn thing when Krystn Benson was pitching. Regarding Samantha Welsh, who came in in relief, Sam has more of a variety of pitches than Benson. Sam has a rising fastball, a great change-up, and an effective curve ball. But the problem was that the plate umpire never before had seen Sam pitch. So in effect Sam was a total stranger to the ump. Hotdog 37 made the comment in a post: “Pitchers will have to ‘prove themselves’ and ‘show the umpires the kind of pitcher they are’ in order to get what they want.” Well, in the case of Sam coming in in relief, there was no time for her to prove herself to the plate umpire. So the ump treated Sam as a nobody with no credentials. The result was that the strike zone became even smaller, so that it was figuratively undetectable by high tech lasers or global position systems. What if my cousin Randee McArdle was pitching for North Rockland vs Brentwood? And the plate umpire knew absolutely nothing about Randee, so that Randee was a total stranger to him. Randee was a better pitcher than either Samantha Welsh or Krystn Benson, or Jennifer Reitemeyer. Randee was offered a full softball scholarship from the University of Arizona. Arizona has won many NCAA Division I National Championships at the College World Series in Oklahoma City. The World Series games have national television coverage. Arizona is very fussy about whom they give pitching scholarships to. This is because Jenny Finch played on the Arizona team. Finch was the winning pitcher on two United States Gold Medal winning teams. So Arizona knows exactly what a super talent is regarding pitchers. Randee McArdle’s fastball was timed at 68 mph. In addition she had four other basic pitches—a wicked curve ball, a nasty screwball, a sinking slider, and a super change-up. In addition she had several of what she termed “experimental pitches”. Randee rarely pitched down the middle of plate for a perfect strike. Instead, she had pin-point control to the outer limits of the strike zone. Randee also had very long fingers to get maximum rotation of the ball. Arizona University was very impressed by all of Randee’s pitching talents. Returning to Waterloo, if Randee was pitching for North Rockland vs Brentwood, and she was a total stranger to the plate umpire, then the result of the first inning would be as follows: after walking the first nine batters in a row, Randee would have walked off the field to the dugout and said to her coach, “I’m voluntarily taking myself out of the game, it’s ridiculous for me to pitch here with that ump, he called all of my pitches balls, he can’t see a gosh darn thing that I have pitched.”

By: SBalways7

SBalways7 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:13:22 +0000

As an alumni North Rockland softball player I would like to congratulate these girls on an amazing season! Especially the seniors, it’s a great ending to great high school careers. You girls should keep your heads held high and be proud of what you accomplished. I had the opportunity to play under Tony Toronto with Coach Shaw at the time, his assistant. He is a big part of North Rockland’s success, and Coach Shaw learned alot from him and is continuing on with the success. She will continue on producing a strong program in the years to come. North Rockland will be comming home with a state title down the road, I can almost gurantee you that. Again, congratulations to North Rockland, you have made the entire community proud!!

By: hotdog37

hotdog37 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:06:07 +0000

Where are all of the other HS Softball Fans here in Westchester County? We should all be on this blog passing along our “Congrats” to both Pearl River and North Rockland. I would have figured that allot of people would be on here passing along their comments (all positive) to both teams. Let’s here it Westchester County.

By: hotdog37

hotdog37 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:30:59 +0000

Heather – I can’t thank you enough for such a very professional, mature and sound response to my post. You are a credit to your school, community and area. Your parents should be very proud of you. I know that you are very proud of your teammates, coaches, and your school for what they have accomplished this year. Take care, have a great summer. Play hard and have fun, because that is what Softball is all about.

By: pick'r off

pick'r off — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:25:41 +0000

Thank you all for your congradulations, and it was a great season to end as a senior. I would just like to quickly address hotdog. I’m not sure if you completely read my post, but i will reiterate what i stated. We left NRHS at 8 AM and after stopping to eat on the way we arrived in Waterloo by about 1:30. We did not arrive late by any means. We then practiced at 2:30 til about 4 and arrived again at the hotel by 4:45. We rested for about 30 minutes then went to dinner. From there we went and participated in the opening ceremonies and games til 8:30ish. By the time we got back to the hotel we had about an hour to do what we wanted. We had to be in the rooms with doors shut by 10:30. There was tape on the doors so at 11 for lights out Coach Shaw could see if we left our rooms or not. I don’t think it could have been handled any better. And as for travel and umpires being used as a reason, i don’t recall mentioning travel as an excuse, I was simply outlining our day for you all. We were exhausted, but that’s expected after such a long day. Umpires, on the other hand, can change the entire dynamic of the game. Being a catcher, not only does the ump affect the way I call a game, it affects my judgement of the strike zone at the plate as well. I can see what he’s calling for us and i expect it to be the same for both sides. However, that is no excuse for not hitting the ball. On another note, you could be in a different country and the strike zone should be the same if not similar. The people who are playing it change, but the game doesn’t. It’s the same rules, same standards, and moving someplace shouldn’t alter it enough to completely affect the game. I’ve played travel since i was 10 and I know that umps zones can be up, down, in and out, but that is just a variation of a standard zone your taught at school. Trust me, i’ve been to an umping clinic. We know to adjust our pitching to the ump’s zone, and if your able to work that to your advantage that is a sign of a good pitcher. However, Traveling 5 hours north is no excuse for an ump’s zone to dissappear off the face of the map. His wasn’t in any of the directions and 2 of the same pitch were called differently. We would hit just above the knee and just below the letters and nothing, moved up to thigh high and we would get 1 out of every 2 calls. The zone was waist high and no outside corner. So much for the best of the best.

Don’t take what i say out of context. I will not say we lost because of an ump or because we didn’t get enough sleep. I just said they were both factors in the way we played the game, and in the end, affected the results. No reason to bash a coach for something they did or didn’t do, or to second guess decisions made. We did what we did and it happened. Everyone has an off game, ours just happened to be in the state final four.