College is expensive, and unfortunately is getting worse by the year. BUT many colleges, aren't really as expensive as they seem. The sticker price you see when you google "college x tuition" is not always what it would really cost you to attend said school. 

Example A-
Messiah University's total cost (including dorm, meal plan, etc.) for the 2020-2021 school year is $49,590. Yikes, right? Also remember, they are a Division III school so they do not offer athletic scholarships. If you dig a bit deeper into their financial aid (check it out here) you'll find that the average 2020-2021 freshman student received $27,614 in financial aid (grants, scholarships, etc.). This means that Messiah could possibly only cost you $21,976/year to attend. To compare - Shippensburg, a Pennsylvania state school about 45 minutes from Messiah, costs $22,540/year to attend for in state residents. 

Example B- 
Mount St. Mary's University's total cost (including dorm, meal plan, etc.) for the 2020-2021 school year is $57,280. They are a DI school, so they do offer athletic scholarship. IF a DI school is fully funded (most in the Northeast are not) they have 12 scholarships to split up between an average roster of 20-25 athletes so you cannot rely on athletic scholarship even at DI or DII schools! The class of 2023 at Mt St Mary's University has an average financial aid package of $30,866, which could possibly bring the cost for you down to $26,414. (Check it out here.) 

The moral of the story? Consistent good grades and solid test scores (SAT or ACT) matter more than your athletic ability when looking for scholarship money to help pay for college. This was true before COVID, during COVID, and will still be true after COVID! 

Data analysis is awesome, and overwhelming, and insane all at once! We recently added Rapsodo Pitching to our tool box and are absolutely loving the way our pitchers are responding to it and rising to the challenge! 

BUT it has also come with a lot of conversations about what data really means about our pitching and how effective we are. We are noticing this the most when we work on change ups! Often, Rapsodo considers change ups to have poor spin efficiency and doesn't count them as strikes. Our pitchers immediately go to the place of "ugh, that was a bad one." In reality, their change up was hidden well in their motion, and was a perfect speed floating over the plate finishing low - it's EFFECTIVE in real life even if Rapsodo says it isn't perfect. Data is great, but must be combined with the "human" side of pitching to help pitchers become next level. If we only relied on data and what's on paper we wouldn't bother playing the game at all, we'd just give the win to the team with better stats before we even stepped on the field! 

Here's another great example on how data can skew the way we view things. This is an absolutely FANTASTIC curve ball from 2025 RHP Bailey Livermore (Yes, you read that right..she's only in 8th grade!) at 55mph, with 97% spin efficiency and 11.5 inches of break it's one of the best curve balls we've seen since setting up Rapsodo! BUT this is her best curve ball, not her consistent curve ball. Right now, her curve consistently sits at 53-54 mph and breaks 4-5 inches. Can she get to where this is her consistent curve? Absolutely. Is she there yet? Nope, but we'll continue to work at it! Data is great and gives athletes new heights to strive for, but we have to remember that we aren't who we are on our best day OR our worst day. The consistent pitcher we are sits in the middle of those two days! We often share and showcase our best, rather than who we are day in and day out! This is important to remember when we see stats and new speed/spin records thrown around on social media! 

When we communicate with college coaches we share our pitchers' best data and their consistent data. We do the same thing when high school coaches and travel ball coaches reach out to see how their pitcher is doing in lessons. It's important for all coaches to see who you are day in and day out, while also seeing the potential you have if you continue working hard! ​

Heck yeah I'm a "1-2 pitch" person! Chatting with a new-ish lesson family today and I took so much pride in the fact that this is part of my reputation in our Central PA softball community. And no, I don't mean liking the 1-2 count....like you only need 1-2 solid spin pitches! 

There is this insane push for pitchers to be learning every spin pitch in the book. Every time I meet a 12 year old with 3+ spin pitches my heart sinks. We are doing these young pitchers such a disservice by continually pushing new spin pitches before they're ready just to keep parents paying for lessons and athletes happy. Perfecting pitching is repetitive, fundamental, and sometimes straight up boring. It takes YEARS to truly master a pitch. 

If college and professional pitchers are relying on one fantastic spin pitch with 1-2 solid supporting spin pitches, why in the world does a middle school or high school pitcher need 5 spin pitches? Being a jack of all trades and master of none just hurts pitchers (especially pitchers who want to play in college). As a college coach, I looked for something my current staff didn't have. For example - if I have a great rise ball pitcher, curve ball pitcher, and a pitcher who changed speeds well I was on the hunt for a great drop ball pitcher to compliment the pitchers I already had on staff. More often than not, when I couldn't tell what a pitcher's go to pitch was while watching them I moved on from recruiting that pitcher. 

How are you making your best spin pitch better and multidimensional? THAT is the question we as coaches and athletes should be asking rather than what spin pitch can I learn next. Learning is not mastering. What does mastering a spin pitch look like? If your drop ball is your go to can you cut both corners with it, throw it 2 balls off the plate, off speed, break it waist down, and break it knees down? If you curveball is your go to can you throw it back door, cutting the outside corner, and off speed? 

I am a huge fan of pitchers working up and down in the zone rather than side to side...I'm basically on a one woman mission to create more up down pitchers in the world! Think of Cat Osterman who is known for her drop ball, or Kelly Barnhill known for her rise ball. Their best pitch is so dominating that most people don't even think about the fact that they throw other pitches! When in doubt, change planes and change speeds! 

Should you learn multiple spin pitches? Absolutely. Once our pitchers master their mechanics, hitting spots, and throwing a consistent change up we then introduce a spin pitch. Notice I don't do this based on age, but on ability and mastery! This winter I taught a 6th grader her first spin pitch based on her progress, and "reset" a high school freshman for 6 months of mechanical work before we reintroduced her two spin pitches. Generally, we work on a spin pitch for about a year (give or take again based on ability) before introducing a second. After having two, that's usually where we start to work on taking the better of the two pitches and making it multidimensional.

I use "usually, generally, and based on ability" a lot when discussing timelines for learning spin pitches because EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I repeat, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. You cannot compare your own progress and journey to that of others. At the end of the day, focus on your own progress and what you can be the most successful at!