Virginia/A-C Central’s win over Liberty in the Virginia Sectional championship game last Saturday was a masterpiece in a lot of ways. But it was certainly a masterpiece of coaching.

VAC was having problems breaking through all game long. The Redbirds were getting people on base, but they couldn’t quite reach Liberty’s fastball/riseball pitcher for the hit that would finally produce a run.

But even before the game, Virginia knew things would change.

VAC coach Ty Gebhardt had known Liberty would probably change pitchers at some point in Saturday’s contest, whether it needed to or not. He’d seen them do it in earlier playoff games. The team’s second pitcher specialized in changeups; the thinking being that it would be hard to hit a change after seeing the fastball for four innings. The strategy had worked for Triopia’s Heather Wilson in the sectional semifinals against VAC; she started throwing changeups in the late innings, and that had kept the Redbirds from blowing the game open. By that time, however, they already had enough runs to win.

So, knowing Liberty would change pitchers, Gebhardt had his team work on hitting changeups leading up to Saturday’s game. The practice was one thing; but can you just imagine the psychological lift? You’ve worked specifically on hitting changeups, you’re expecting a changeup pitcher to enter the game, and in she comes, right on cue. And with the team’s best hitters coming to the plate.

The result was a four-run inning that led to a 4-2 win.

Coaches often downplay their role; after all, they can’t go out and pitch or hit or field. The players have to do that. But this little piece of coaching was a stroke of genius that helped make the team’s best season ever just a little better.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.