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Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

My area recently got hit by an incredible microburst this week that did a lot of damage to trees and caused the power to go out all over. People have had to abandon their homes and live in hotels until power is restored. It's a mess.

What does that have to do with fastpitch softball? We've all experienced those "microburst innings" — the ones where everything seems to go wrong at once.

Your pitcher walks the first hitter. The next batter hits a sharp ground ball that should result in an out, but instead ends up with an error and runners on first and second. Then a good, solid hit brings in a run, and an overthrow brings another one. Before you know it everything is out of control and you're wishing you were somewhere else — anywhere else.

It can happen to anyone — even the best of teams. You see it in the WCWS. You see it in professional baseball. But it's always hurts worse when it's happening to you.

So what can you do about? The first priority is to stop the bleeding and get an out. Doesn't matter where, or what you have to give up. Get that out. Then another, and another.

The mistake teams make is continuing to play as if the game is under control. For example, trying to cut the run off at home with runners on second and third. When you're struggling, that can be a tough out to capture. Yes, it hurts to give up another run but get the out.

For whatever reason, these things tend to cascade. Bad plays beget worse plays beget walks (as the pitcher starts to over-throw in an effort to strike out the side) beget trouble.

The important thing is to get your team off the field as quickly as possible, whatever it takes. Because the thing about microbursts is they depart as quickly as they come on. That's why they're called microbursts instead of macrobursts.

By getting your team off the field you can give everyone a chance to breathe and relax for a bit, regain their composure, and start working on the comeback inning at the plate. With any luck at all the next inning will go better and you can work from there.

The worst thing you can do with a microburst inning is prolong it by trying to do too much. Get your team to get an out as quickly as you can and kill it before it gets too far out of hand. Then work on preventing the microburst at your next practice.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.

What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.

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