The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Sooners beat FSU 3-1 tonight to earn their third-straight WCWS championship.

"Greatest ever" arguments are pointless because different eras, different opponents, different playing conditions, etc.

But this team had the best-ever season record (61-1). Had the longest win streak at 53 (and counting). Won three straight national championships, tying 1988-90 UCLA for tops in that category.

I'm not even sure they're better than last year's team. But they've got the best record, and that counts for something.

Congrats to the sooner softballers.  3 in a row is something for sure.

I actually watched a few minutes of it, I certainly couldn't hit anything they pitched.

Oh, and it seems to me they are way off the rubber when they throw the ball.  In baseball, they call that a balk.

They are, and it's almost never called. Sort of like those phantom touches of 2nd base on double-plays from time immemorial.
Hope Trautwein, who pitched for OU last year and is now a volunteer coach there, and who I think is also playing professional softball, pitches against baseball players:


https://youtu.be/uRK7Yh3kRZk

Hope is the only NCAA Div I softball pitcher to pitch a perfect game with 21 strikeouts. She did that playing for UNT in 2021.

The "phantom touch" is usually a safety consideration. There's a base runner legally in the base path running towards 2nd base. Insisting that everyone maintain a perfect line is asking for either the runner to get hit in the face, or the shortstop to break a knee.

True, but it's still a subjective non-enforcement of the rules.

If doing it by the rule is inherently unsafe, then change the rule.

Heh. They did. The rule is "in the vicinity".
<revision: It was never in the rulebook, but is now in the rulebook as &quot;reviewable&quot;
now in the rulebook as "reviewable" to ensure there was a touch>

For the record, I agree fundamentally with what you're both saying.
I also know there's like 9 million parts to pitching a baseball that, failure to do so, count as a balk. Touching the rubber, putting the ball in your glove, not putting the ball in your glove, dropping below the belt, hesitating in the delivery, not pausing at the appropriate time, not stepping past the 45deg angle to first base, etc, etc.

In the vicinity sucks and makes me hate baseball at least briefly every time I see it.  

Is "in the vicinity" the same at home plate?