Shattering the glass ceiling

I’m sure someone is going to get upset at my post. Brown is a perennial Ivy League doormat. I see this as a completely woke, politically correct move. I know this has been done at Oberlin which is Woke U on steroids.

Dicing up hitters with an 82 mph fastball?

Give me an effing break! It’s an insult to all the players who have worked hard to become a D1 player. it’s a bigger insult to whomever tried to walk on at Brown who is more talented. I don’t believe for a second a better player wasn’t cut.

Note: Before anyone says you can always tell the guys who don’t have girls my daughter played four high school sports and college softball. She would scoff at this story.

Wonder if they will let boys play college softball.

She's from my kids' LL. My son played against her at about 8.

I don't know the details of this. I do see Brown's spring roster has 32 players.

@nycdad posted:

She's from my kids' LL. My son played against her at about 8.

I don't know the details of this. I do see Brown's spring roster has 32 players.

I just looked up the 2022 roster … 27. This may have been a nobody cares about baseball. Whomever shows up makes the team.

Thats a pretty legit swing.  And there is some pretty good movt on the pitches.  AND she gets a pretty solid psychological edge on whomever she is facing...  It's not a Power 5 state school.  If Brown is a perennial doormat, what have they got to lose?   

Don’t get the psychological edge, Part. I would think it would be the opposite. I would think every guy that faces her wants to get her out of the park.  I bet she gets hit if she bats.  

This has definitely opened the door for a guy to try out for the softball team. I know someone will argue that it’s not as easy as it looks, but I can also guarantee once the guy figures out the swing, people would start getting hurt and it has been proven that guys can figure out how to pitch it to a lot higher level, I do not see how NCAA could keep a guy from playing  

@PitchingFan posted:

Don’t get the psychological edge, Part. I would think it would be the opposite. I would think every guy that faces her wants to get her out of the park.  I bet she gets hit if she bats.  

I admit.  Maybe.  Having a son at that level of baseball, you would know better than I.   That said, those dudes look pretty despondent striking out against her.  lol. 

But... the NCAA will definitely not let guys play softball.  That would require NOT having double and nonsensical standards.  ie. It's apparently OK for a trans genetic male to crush the hopes and spirits of elite female athletes. 

Hmmm…

I saw the young lady in the photo below pitch in juco. She wasn’t in the top tier physically of the freshman I saw that season, but she was certainly there mentally, and it didn’t seem like a travesty as I watched her pitch.

Things are certainly changing, and you can complain about wanting it the way it always was, or you can be a voice of reason regarding where it’s heading. If someone strives to get to the highest level of anything, I don’t think uncontrollable things (like birth sex) should be a hindrance. I also don’t think a transgender athlete should be able to use a genetic birth advantage to compete in their new classification (IMO).

These gender (and other) paradigms will continue to be broken, and at some point, maybe we can just be people. Sports classifications should be fair, but if you can hang at the highest level (regardless of sex) then by all means compete there!

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a baseball team where there wasn’t a player or two that there might have been a better option. Heck, there was a dad on one team my son played on that felt that way about my kid – and voiced it. If the coach thinks it a good fit for the team, then you should respect it – there are many players that contribute in ways beyond on the field.

I didn’t get a birth daughter, that blessing came later through remarriage. However, if I had a daughter through the kid sports years, I wouldn’t have put any cultural limits on her passions – life and reality sorts that out in the end.

Edited to include her (Sarah Hudek, pictured below) Wikipedia page. I don't see one thing about this that isn't great for the game.  

@PitchingFan posted:

Don’t get the psychological edge, Part. I would think it would be the opposite. I would think every guy that faces her wants to get her out of the park.  I bet she gets hit if she bats.  

I don't think an opposing team would intentionally target her. Of course she could get hit but if a team would throw at her 3 times in a game the media would absolutely rip that team. Don't think the headlines would be pretty.

Regarding her playing I'm certainly not of those "men's rights" guys and I can live with a woman occasionally getting a small edge somewhere with all the disadvantages they face in other areas but I do hope she is actually qualified to play at that level. She doesn't have to be great, if she can hit 0.240 or have a 5 era that would be fine but if she goes like 1 for 20 with 16 Ks or has a 13 era and gives up a lot of bombs that wouldn't be great as she and her team would face a lot of scrutiny for doing that as a pure marketing stunt even though I'm sure she worked extremely hard and is a fine ballplayer.

But D1 is tough, many boys, even good ones who hit 0.400+ in their HS team and have tools can fail at that level so it won't be easy.

I can guarantee you the old school coach out there would hit her every time she came up. I watched a high school state championship in football that had a girl kick off for one team and the other team sent their middle linebacker at her every kick off the entire game, even though it cost them a 15 yard penalty three times.  

@Dominik85 posted:

I don't think an opposing team would intentionally target her. Of course she could get hit but if a team would throw at her 3 times in a game the media would absolutely rip that team. Don't think the headlines would be pretty.

Regarding her playing I'm certainly not of those "men's rights" guys and I can live with a woman occasionally getting a small edge somewhere with all the disadvantages they face in other areas but I do hope she is actually qualified to play at that level. She doesn't have to be great, if she can hit 0.240 or have a 5 era that would be fine but if she goes like 1 for 20 with 16 Ks or has a 13 era and gives up a lot of bombs that wouldn't be great as she and her team would face a lot of scrutiny for doing that as a pure marketing stunt even though I'm sure she worked extremely hard and is a fine ballplayer.

But D1 is tough, many boys, even good ones who hit 0.400+ in their HS team and have tools can fail at that level so it won't be easy.

Sadly, I think the bolded part is what you'll see.

@PitchingFan posted:

This has definitely opened the door for a guy to try out for the softball team. I know someone will argue that it’s not as easy as it looks, but I can also guarantee once the guy figures out the swing, people would start getting hurt and it has been proven that guys can figure out how to pitch it to a lot higher level, I do not see how NCAA could keep a guy from playing  

I watched a video from a few years ago of Jennie Finch dominating some MLB all stars in a batting cage. One of them was Pujols in his prime. But, I agree with you. Give them time to learn and adjust and they would own her.

There are high levels of men’s competitive softball. Those guys throw 95-100. Eddie Feigner (King and his Court) hit 104 seventy years ago. As a little kid, when Feigner was in his Forties I watched him whiff hitters pitching from second base. Finch was only in the 70’s. The biggest difference in hitting softball pitching is picking up the ball off the pitcher’s hip.