What's Your "Wow" Factor?

Tonight at 7 p.m. we’ll be releasing an interview I did with Wright State Head Coach Laura Matthews and DePauw University Head Coach, Erica Hanrahan (yes, we’re related) in a live Zoom meeting. How good does a player need to be if she wants to play in college? How fast? How accurate?

Maybe there’s even a bigger question - why would i want to play softball in college, anyway?

Both stressed the importance of having at least one thing you are exceptionally good at. Coach Erica calls it your “Wow!” factor. Coach Matthews said at the very least, have enough command to work both the inside and outside of the plate. You can’t get stuck on one side.

What’s your WOW factor? When you go to a camp or play in an exposure tournament, what will make you stand out from the crowd? Is it….

Command, change of speed, movement, velocity, or poise?

In the first or second year of high school you want to change from being a “jack of all trades and master of none,” to an “expert” of at least one of these factors. Before then, Coach Matthews says, you need to try everything to see where you might excel. You don’t want to cut an aspect of your game without giving it a go.

You need a very good base in all these factors to be considered for high-level play, Coaches won’t be knocking down your door or whispering about you on the sidelines if you just have a good base. You won’t be winning every single conference game (as DePauw did in 2019) or be able to compete with “hitters who’ve gotten really good compared 5 or 10 years ago,” as coach Matthews says.

Pitching school students, please join us tonight at 7pm. If you’d like to see the interview please join pitching school for a week. We are operating on weekly-only subscriptions. You’d have access to 20+ live pitching classes/lessons in the week you sign up for.