Ok, I admit it: I'm not the best slow-pitch pitcher to ever play the game. At best, I'm only a decent pitcher. My pitching early on in game one was lousy as many of my pitches were deep and not necessarily hittable. That’s expected when you haven't made a single pitch in 8 months. Now, I understand that this will lead to deep pitch counts and will yield some walks, but there is a limit.

In the games I have played, if the pitcher is clearly struggling and has just pitched the forth straight ball in a row, you intentionally swing and miss the pitch. This gives the pitch a “second chance”. If the pitcher still fails to make a good pitch on a 3-1 count, you then take the walk. Why? Because it’s the classy thing to do. This is an amateur co-ed softball, not the big leagues. People are out to have fun, not get weaseled into an unenjoyable contest because a team wanted to be overly competitive.

My gripe with the "underdogs" is that even though they hammered-out a 32-0 lead, they still drew walks. Very unclassy. Oddly enough, once our teams started to draw walks, the pitcher started taking some heat from him team for giving up walks. Why? Were they afraid that a 32 run lead would not be enough?

Not only that, who in their right mind would intentionally walk a batter in this league? If I walk someone, it’s not because I did so intentionally, it’s because I'm not hitting the strike zone, period! In my book, unless you have a good explanation, a male batter has no excuse for drawing a 4-pitch walk. If your excuse is “I can't bat”, then do what I did: practice. For two seasons, my hitting stunk so I relied on drawing walks part of the time. But as I began to practice more and more, my hitting improve. Eventually, I stopped drawing walks altogether. Don't believe? Check out my stats for the past 3 seasons!

But even with my inconsistent pitching in game one, each batter did get a few “meatball” grade pitches to swing at. Some took a swing at them, which I commend, others just watched them go by so they can try and draw a walk. Why? Well, they there’s a motivating factor in play.

For those that are unfamiliar with league rules regarding walks:

If a male batter draws an “intentional walk” and the next batter is a female, the male batter gets two bases. An “intentional walk” is defined as any walk, regardless of pitch count.

So, if I'm at bat and the person on deck is a lady, I can either choose to hit the ball into play and risk getting out or just stand there and try to draw a two-base walk. Which am I going to choose? The easy two bagger, that’s what!

I personally hate this rule with a passion. There is nothing more discouraging than watching a heavy hitter come to the plate only to place the bat on their shoulder and try and draw a walk. I've seen good competitive games degenerate into a “walk draw-off” in the last inning. Yah, it’s a strategy to win games, but it’s a weak strategy. If you are going to win, win from the barrel of your bat, not by standing idle.

Now, you might be thinking, "well, just pitch strikes". Easier said than done. Rarely have I seen a pitcher who can delivery 3 straight strikes to any batter, game after game. Finding someone who can is not easy. After all, this is an amateur league, not the bigs. And if a pitcher is having a bad day, it's not like you can make a call to the bull pen.

In a league that I once played for in 2004, (the Softball Complex in Pittsfield, MA), enough teams got upset with the “intentional walk” rule that it was removed the following season. Ironically, the worse offenders were the teams that had won the most games! (IE, the competitive teams… more on that later.)

But even then, an intentional walk was four straight pitches being called a “ball”. A strike in the middle of the count limits the walk to just one base. It at least gave a struggling pitcher a chance.

Today’s game marked the first time I had drawn a walk since the second playoff game of the 2004 season. Don’t believe me? Check my stats! Even then, I only drew the walk today because I got sick and tired of people drawing walks against me.

Now, I’ve been told that this rule is necessary for really competitive teams. From what I gather, pitchers will try and walk the guys so they can pitch to the girls and try to get them out. This does not make any sense to me. After all, I’ve played against such “competitive” teams. They tend to have ladies that can hit the ball better than many male batters. If a competitive team has a female player that can’t hit, may I ask… WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING WITH PEOPLE THAT CAN’T HIT IN THE FIRST PLACE??

Finally, I just want to mention this: working the pitch counts during the course of the game can fatigue a pitcher. This leads to a pitcher’s pitches becoming flat. Flat pitches tend to lead to get hit towards the pitcher. It should go without saying this can be dangerous, especially for an amateur league. If a batter thinks it’s cool to wear out a pitcher, then why is it that most people don't want to pitch?

That’s my two cents.

Andy Wolan is a reporter and photographer for BWCS. This story was not subject to the approval of the league or its clubs.