Book update:
Long delay but we’re shooting video for the book in Aug + early Sept.
1st book (RAD: Foundational tag skills) goes live on Oct 20.
This will be an ebook with TONS of video, including drills + in game footage from NCAA games.
Promise it will be worth the wait!!
Outfielders: I can’t stress enough how important your position is in this era of softball.
FACT: Mistakes in the infield cost your team bases; mistakes in the OF cost your team runs.
Embrace your role + cover ground like a race car. Your team needs you now more than ever.
Beautiful day for high school tryouts/practice!!
Players: Embrace the opportunity to play softball 6 days a week for your school and your community.
There’s something special about high school softball…
So I’m excited and nervous to announce that I’m writing a fastpitch softball instructional book!
Plan to have the finished product published in April 2023.
Lots of detailed descriptions, photos, graphics + supplemental video links. If you love softball, you’ll love this book!
Found this list floating around the Twitterverse. Love it!
In your softball career, you will have far more opportunities to be a great teammate than you will at bats.
Let’s make part of “The Grind” learning how to be a great teammate!!
#LetsBeLegendary
#WJSoftball
@LasersTeal
Prediction: The teams that will be most successful in the upcoming OHSAA will be the ones that remain focused and motivated NOW through this unprecedented string of cancellations and day to day uncertainty…
Can finally reveal the title for my book I'm writing!
RUTHLESSLY AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE:
Successful secondary plays, stolen base coverages and pickoff plays for fastpitch softball
I promise it'll be the most thorough book on the subject ever written!!
* Pic below is NOT the cover.
Catchers are ATHLETES!
Check out the reflexes on
@mje_51
of
@FSU_Softball
+ then the awareness to double up the first base runner.
Note the positioning of the 1B at first base to receive the throw. Gives a wide target so Edenfield can throw outside of the running lane.
#RAD
Your WJ Softball Warriors lost to North Canton Hoover 10-2 in the Regional Semi-Finals this afternoon.
Our season is over, but our journey has just begun...
Thank you, Warrior Nation!!!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
WJ Softball earned an amazing 8-7 victory over a very strong Holland Springfield team today.
Down 7-4 with 2 outs in the 7th inning,
@mcgeemckayla
blasted a walk off grand slam to win it for the Warriors
Legendary!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
We often take for granted how special it is to play a team sport.
There ups + downs for sure, but being a part of a team that sacrifices and plays for each other is like no other experience.
The bonds you forge are ultimately what you'll remember most when the season ends.
I told our WJ Softball players today that I couldn’t predict how our season would go…
but if it came to it, I’d rather go 0-20 with them than 20-0 with anyone else.
I meant it from the bottom of my heart. Truly blessed to coach
@WalshJesuitSB
Happy to announce that I am the new head coach of the Beverly Bandits Futures 14u team for the 2019/2020 season.
We have big plans for this team and look forward to providing an incredible learning experience for this amazing group of 13-year-olds.
#Bandits
#VLB
To me, the most rewarding lessons are the ones where the athlete STRUGGLES almost the entire time to learn a movement but finally has a breakthrough moment where it all clicks.
Athletes: Moments of change require hours of failure. It's a price worth paying.
#softball
#fastpitch
From our first tourney in June to 4th place finish at 16U USA Softball Nationals!
Super proud of how we got things moving in the right direction.
Very excited for what we have planned for the 2022/2023 season!! Stay tuned.
#DontJustDoIt
#DoItWell
The WJ Softball Warriors were ready for their first lift of the fall.
Truly blessed to have such committed student athletes!!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Warriors stepping up on the big stage. So proud of our fight. We could have folded many times today, but we answered the call. Amazing stuff.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Always love how beautiful our campus and softball field looks this time of year. So many colors. No place I'd rather be!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
#AMDG
A little water balloon fun at practice today.
Note: Several minutes after this pic was taken, these same smiling WJ Softball players viciously assaulted me with the balloons…
“Run, Forrest, run!!!”
I am proud to announce that I have been named the new head coach of the Walsh Jesuit softball program. So many great things in the works... Can’t wait to get started on our journey together!
#Thankful
#WJSoftball
@WalshJesuitSB
Always look for secondary plays!
Here's a rare DP from 2 tag plays: CF throw home results in a diving swipe tag by the C, who throws to the 3B in V tag body position.
This is what ruthlessly aggressive defense looks like!
#RAD
#fastpitch
#softball
Happy thanksgiving to all of the wonderful people I have met in the softball world.
Thankful to have you in my life and for the moments we have shared.
#ThankfuReflections
Can't wait for September 1st...Because that's our first WJ Softball player meeting!!
Super pumped for this year. We have such a great group of returning players + incoming freshman.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
#BeTheLoudest
The high school season is as much a grind for coaches as it is for players.
Summer and the August no contact period have given me time to appreciate the blessings of this season’s successes and to feel pure excitement for what is to come at
@WalshJesuitSB
We WILL be Legendary!
Our run came to a close this evening, losing 8-2 to the defending state champion Austintown Fitch.
It’s the end of this chapter…but not the end of our story.
Best of luck to
@SoftballFitch
represent NE Ohio well once again.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Sunset over Walsh Jesuit Softball Field.
So excited for all of the great things that are going to occur here this spring and beyond!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
High school practices start today! Here’s an insightful old tweet with updated stats for 2020:
1.1%
* Percentage of softballs that successfully make it into buckets when shot like a basketball.
99.8%
* Percentage of players who continue to shoot softballs into buckets any way.
What a way to end our fall season!! The girls earned a berth to PGF Nationals with their fantastic play in KC. Strange feeling watching from 700 miles away..l
California here we come!!!
#PGF
#Bandits
So excited about this new addition to our WJ Softball field! This sign helps honor our program’s past while connecting our current players with the great achievements that took place before them!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Perfect song lyrics for regional finals:
“ Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes” - from ‘Drive’ by Incubus
Heart is full of joy + love for this team!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
First practice with
@LasersTeal
this evening. Had a great time working with these phenomenal athletes. Lots of promise with this team!
Looking forward to summer.
#LasersTeal
#NewBeginning
One of my favorite pics from this season.
Looking forward to the banquet June 10 with these maniacs… Party rock is in the house!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Happy Thanksgiving!! Thankful for all of the wonderful players I've been blessed to coach and instruct over the years.
20 years and just getting started!
#Thankful
#LetsBeLegendary
#RAD
Super stoked to be getting “the band” back together on Sept 1!
Comeback season 👍🏼👍🏼
Coaching goal - Less passive aggressiveness … More positivity.
Who’s with me????
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Very impressed by our amazing WJ Softball players tonight in their JV victory over Mentor 18-2
On a side note: I was happy to be able to demonstrate to Bella DiSanto the newest yoga stretch I learned: “the Cramping Coach” pose.
#FirstBaseCoachProbs
WJ Softball moves on to the district championship game after earning a 10-0 run rule victory over
#2
seed Wadsworth.
Excellent job, Warriors!!
#WJSoftball
#GreatExpectations
Unpopular take: In the last 5 years, social media + individual player ranking lists have done more damage to our sport than anything else that had happened in softball in the 100+ years prior.
I am so thankful to have a “Team First” group of student athletes!!
#BeingHonest
Good luck to all the players and coaches starting their high school seasons today.
High school ball can be such an amazing opportunity to play for something bigger than yourself! The moment is here.
Let’s Be Legendary!!
Another nice run by these young ladies, finishing runner-up at the PGF Super Select in Indianapolis. We are continuing to make positive strides!
Congrats to Bandits Chow on the championship.
#HardHat
#PGFSuperSelect
In my 23 years of coaching, I’ve never seen a player develop skills by going through the motions in a drill.
Be focused + intentional on every rep. Make your movements matter in practice and improvement will inevitably come.
#TrainingThought
#PlayerDevelopment
Had our WJ Softball parent meeting last night. Our program is truly blessed with parents who are bought into what we are trying to do!
Great parents and incredible players are what makes coaching WJ Softball such an amazing privilege.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
LIKE this tweet if this is your favorite “basketball hoop” to shoot baskets in.
Softball players: You know what I’m talking about!!!!
#FrontTossCleanup
WJ Softball moves on to the Sweet 16 with a 12-2 victory over Massillon Perry in the district finals.
@mcgeemckayla
walked it off with this 3-run shot in the 5th inning!
More pics to come!!
#LetsBeLegendary
So apparently this is some kind of dance or something…
@mcgeemckayla
adding the tongue out approach ties the whole thing together!!! Way to be the MVP of the line!!
So fun to start working with this awesome group of athletes. Tons of talent + competitiveness in this group.
The sky is the limit!
#Bandits
#1000LittlePieces
Here we go again… Really excited to start working with these athletes. They are IMPRESSIVE: lights out pitching, solid defense and incredible mix of speed + power on offense.
Going to be fun!
#Round3
Really impressed with the commitment and effort our WJ Softball players have been demonstrating this off season.
We’re very blessed to have such amazing student athletes.
Can’t wait to see the girls circle up this spring!!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
So great to see our girls play with heart and energy tonight.
We grew closer as a team!
The smiles and enthusiasm you see in the pics below remind me exactly why I love this crazy sport!
#LetsBeLegendary
Adversity can be debilitating… but it can also be exciting!
It’s a mindset thing.
I’m psyched and ready for the roller coaster ride. We’re riding hands up!!
#WJSoftball
#TimeToBeLegendary
Tough season opener for our WJ Softball varsity team this evening but we fought through some late inning adversity to pick up the 10-9 victory over North Ridgeville.
@natalie_susa
picked up the victory in her first game in almost a year.
The journey begins.
#WJSoftball
Definitely the deepest team I’ve ever coached. But more importantly: the best chemistry throughout the program (including the parents).
We’re not a team, we’re not a program, we’re a community.
Very blessed to be coaching in Warrior Nation.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Good luck to all the teams playing in Nationals/World Series across the US this week and next.
Avoid the inevitable end of season drama by staying focused on the fun + competition taking place on the field. Be an asset to your team any way you can.
Just win, baby!
#Nationals
Your 2019 Barberton district champions: WALSH JESUIT SOFTBALL!!!
WJ Softball earned the title with a 10-0 victory over Brunswick in 5 innings. That’s three straight playoff run-rule shutouts for the Warriors.
#GreatExpectations
#Champions
In 21 years of coaching + instruction, I’ve worked with 100s of players.
Those who progressed the most, had these 2 qualities:
1. Body control - ability to make their body do different things.
2. Eagerness to learn + work to improve
Both are crucial to long term success!!
Gotta love the playoffs! Came into the game with lots of energy and pep. It makes a difference!
@RHSFastpitchOH
is on fire and will be a very tough opponent. We know we are in for a dog fight. Going to be a very exciting game.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
WJ Softball’s season came to an end today, losing 4-0 to a talented Solon team.
We finish 2019 with a 14-3 record. We made great strides, and the future is bright.
SENIORS: We will never be the same without you. We will miss you dearly!!
#WJSoftball
#GreatExpectationsMET
No one better to model the WJ Softball Way than Natalie Susa: Team-first, intensely competitive but immensely positive, elite-level skill coupled with true poise under pressure. Unbelievable season!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Last but certainly not least, congrats to
@natalie_susa
who earned First Team All-Northeast Ohio + First Team ALL-OHIO.
Natalie has had a come back season for the ages: 0.764 ERA, .082 batting ave. against + over 2 K per inning ave.
Amazing stuff!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
WJ Softball Warriors Brynn Mineard +
@ReneeBrown08
demonstrate the shear awesome power of a sliding-mit high five.
Gotta be very careful with something so magnificent!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
WJ Softball went 3-0 at the Prebis tourn, against 3 state ranked Division I teams.
After beating
#9
Amherst 7-0 yesterday, we earned a tough 1-0 victory over
#2
Anthony Wayne
Then beat
#8
Brecksville 3-2.
Clutch hitting from
@schmittz24
+
@ReneeBrown08
Amazing job, ladies
Big time player!! Ultimate competitor.
PS - you do not want to get hit in the forearm with one of her line dries. Take my word for it!!!
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Thank you
@ENQSports
for ranking me as one of the top 22 high school softball athletes in the state of Ohio! Very grateful to be recognized with such a talented group of athletes!
@WalshJesuitSB
@The05Thing
The Walsh Jesuit softball team were crowned the NCL Co-Champions with an 8-0 victory over NDCL.
With the win, WJ Softball ends the regular season with a 12-2 record. Great job, Warriors!
#Champions
#GreatExpectations
Finally saw the 2020 Walsh Jesuit Softball varsity team photo. This team was ready for great things! Will always wonder what could have been.
#WJSoftball
#GreatestShowOnDirt
Here's the 1st of my Ruthlessly Aggressive Defense technique compilations:
Whether you're diving for a ball to your left, right or head first, your throwing hand + forearm should slide along the ground. True for IN, OF or C dives.
Think jet airplane landing on a run way...
Putting the finishing touches on the plan for our upcoming WJ Softball spring training.
It’s fitting that staff and I will be wrapping up planning on Valentines Day: WJ Softball truly is a labor of love for us.
Looking forward to our journey.
#WJSoftball
#LetsBeLegendary
Played two quality outlaws teams today: Accord and Leggins.
Wonderful weather and field. Some less than wonderful play from us but we’ll learn and grow from the tough moments.
PS - This is definitely NOT a hat I will be seen in often.
TIP TUESDAY:
Our dominant eye naturally wants to move down toward the ball - especially on low pitches. This usually brings the shoulder with it, messing with our posture + barrel accuracy.
Combat this by maintaining horizontal eyes from stance through the entirety of the swing