almost like playing on asphault. Zona has learned to hit the ball hard on the ground- almost like topping the ball. It hits the ground a couple of feet in front of home plate and takes a real high bounce - by the time you field it and throw to 1st base it is too late to throw the runner our. Impossible to defend. We could do the same thing but do not have the experience to do it nearly as well as zona. They would laugh you out of a baseball stadium trying to win this way.

Back in 2004 when the US Women's Olympic softball team was touring the country prior to going to the games they stopped in South Bend at the Belleville Softball Complex. Before the game Watley, a great slapper, stood at home plate and hit several balls five to fifteen feet in front of the plate gauging the hardness of the field and the bounce of the ball. Once the game started she used that knowledge to consistently pound pitches into the ground and by the time the fielder was able to field it, she had already crossed first base.

host ncaa events if their field exceeds a certain degree of hardness. This would take away an artifical advantage a school could have.