LEXINGTON — Mike Hamman has coached a handful of All-Ohio pitchers during his tenure at Lexington and Abbey Sgro compares favorably with any of them.
The hard-throwing junior will never have the stats to prove it, though.
As overwhelming as she is, Sgro will never pile up strikeouts like Heather Jones, Jill Tomaszewski or Holly Tomaszewski. The deck is stacked against her — and every other power pitcher in the state.
Jones, who led Lady Lex to its only state appearance in 2002, and the Tomaszewskis came up at a time when the distance from the pitching rubber to home plate was still at 40 feet. It was moved back to 43 feet in 2011.
Thirty-six inches doesn’t sound like much, but Hamman would like to see his All-Ohioan — Sgro was an honorable mention selection last spring — deal from the shorter distance.
“She would dominate,” Hamman said. “I have no doubt that she would have 300-plus strikeouts.
“Some of the girls before would strike out 310 or 320 batters in a season and she had about 260.”
Holly Tomaszewski was the pitcher of record in one of the most improbable games in state history in 2009. She struck out 32 batters in a 20-inning 1-0 win over Wooster. Generals pitcher Kasey Kelly whiffed a state-record 44 Lex batters in the loss.
“It used to be if you had one very good pitcher, you could have an average team behind her and still dominate,” Hamman said. “The longer pitching distance has evened the playing field. You have got to have good players at every position now because the ball is put in play a lot more often.
“It really gives the advantage to the good offensive teams.”
Madison coach Tim Niswander agreed. Niswander led his alma mater to its first district title since 1998 last spring. The Rams won a school-record 25 games, captured their first conference title since 1995 and played in the regional championship game for the first time since 1995, falling to Granville 2-0.
“What the rule change has done is made offense a bigger part of the game,” Niswander said. “You don’t see as many 1-0 scores as you used to.
In the three years since the new pitching distance was introduced, there have been just four shutouts in 12 state championship games. In the three years prior to the change, there were nearly twice as many. In 2010, the final year before the switch, three of the four state title games were shutouts and the fourth was a 2-1 win by Hillsdale over West Liberty-Salem in the Division III game. The four state runner-ups in 2010 scored a combined one run.
By comparison, last year’s Division II state championship game featured 11 runs and 16 hits as Licking Valley beat Kenton Ridge 6-5. In Division IV, Strasburg beat Colonel Crawford 7-4 in a game that featured base hits, including a pair of home runs.
“Softball is still a short game,” Niswander said. “The kids today hit the ball all over the yard.”
And they run, too. The extra three feet gives would-be base stealers an extra split-second.
“The longer distance has opened up the running game,” said Clear Fork coach Jeff Gottfried. “That extra tenth of a second can make a big difference.”
Clear Fork’s Taylor Kline stole a state record 72 bases last spring. Any time the speedy leadoff hitter gets on base, she is a threat to steal.
“We were talking about that not too long ago,” Hamman said. “If you move the pitching rubber back to 43 feet, maybe you should move the bases back to 65 feet instead of 60 feet to compensate.”
Added Niswander, “We’ve always stole a lot of bases. We’ll put runners in motion and try to put pressure on our opponent.”
The added distance also gives pitchers a little extra time on balls hit back up the middle.
“Ultimately, it is a safety issue,” Niswander said. “The extra half-second doesn’t sound like much but it could be the difference between a pitcher getting a glove on a ball coming back at her or getting struck by the ball.
“I’ve seen players take shots on balls hit back up the middle. If we can protect them by giving them more time to react then that is what’s most important.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“Ultimately, it is a safety issue,” Niswander said. “The extra half-second doesn’t sound like much but it could be the difference between a pitcher getting a glove on a ball coming back at her or getting struck by the ball.”
