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The player in the play, the most important player on your team at that moment!

Ok, quick question for all you softball fanatics. Who is the most important player on the field? Is it the pitcher? The catcher? The shortstop with the sure hands and strong arm? The center fielder with wings on her feet? The cleanup hitter who can change a game with one swing?

Take a second to get your answer before I give you mine. Ok, are you ready? The most important player on the field is…

…whoever is in the play at the moment. It could be any of those players I listed above. Or it could be the weakest player on either team.

The reason is our sport is so conditional. In any other sport you can try to manipulate the flow of the game to take advantage of your best player. But in fastpitch softball, you're kind of stuck.

Think about it. In basketball you can try to work the ball to Lebron James or Tamika Catchings when the game is on the line. In hockey, you want Sidney Crosby to have the puck, or Roberto Luongo in the goal. In football you're going to hand the ball to Adrian Peterson or try to throw the ball to Calvin Johnson. And you're preferably going to have Tom Brady or a Manning to do it.

But in softball, you have very little control. If you need a long fly ball and you have your weakest hitter at the plate you're stuck. Sure, you can pinch hit for her, but odds are if the hitter coming in was that much better she wouldn't be available to pinch hit. She'd be playing already.

It's even worse on defense, because it's totally reactive. You can try to pitch to get a ground ball to your stud shortstop, but if the hitter doesn't cooperate and loops a blooper out behind first base there's not a whole lot you can do about it. And we all know that the ball always has a tendency to find the weakest fielder in a crucial situation when we're on defense. That's like a law.

Or take a situation where you pull the infield in to cut off the run at home. If the hitter hits a shot between two infielders, either a line drive or a ground ball, that run is going to score and maybe another one behind it. You did the right thing, but the other team simply didn't cooperate by banging a ball right at your fielder.

There are all kinds of situations like that. Sure, it would be nice if the ball went to your strongest fielder, or your best hitter came to the plate with the bases loaded and you in need of a couple of runs. But you can't make it happen like you can in other sports.

So what can you do? Basically, remember that the most important player on the field is the one in an important situation at a given time and make sure you're working with all your players.

Instead of relying on your studs all the time, train up your weaker players so they can contribute more. Plug your holes. Encourage your players to get outside help if you don't have the time or knowledge to help them yourself. Do something, anything, to avoid having to hold your breath and hope that the ball doesn't go to so-and-so, or finding yourself praying to whatever deity you worship that today is the day the kid in the clutch situation finally gets a hit.

In softball, the most important player changes game by game, inning by inning, and sometimes even pitch by pitch. Keep that in mind and it will help you ensure you're training your team for all eventualities. It'll save you a lot of heartache.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.

Please share your thoughts on this by posting a comment below.

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