Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast · Tory Acheson & Don McKinlay

Umpire Shortage / Year Round Softball / Rule of Thirds / Pitchers and Fielding / Small TV Strike Zone

April 8, 2026·48 min·3 clips

A Tennessee high school cancels varsity softball games because no umpires are available.

Episode 415 starts with a packed list: the warm-up, a listener question, year-round softball, the rule of thirds, pitcher fielding work, and a strike-zone complaint before the patron and sponsor notes arrive. The softball calendar gets most of the heat. Torrey pushes back on the idea that quitting another sport automatically creates better softball training, because those freed-up hours can drift into social time, video games, or something less useful. He is not arguing against softball. He is asking whether 52 weeks of total focus can create its own problems. Don is with him on balance. When he thinks about strong athletes he has trained, most also ran track, played basketball, or kept another activity during high school. That break matters. Even a little time outside softball mode can help, and both coaches treat that as common sense, not softness. Parents get called into the conversation too. Don says moms and dads sometimes have to protect players from themselves when the training load gets too heavy. Torrey wants pushback from listeners on both sides, whether they believe great players can stay multi-sport or think full dedication is the only path. The rule of thirds sits close by. Torrey says he heard it about 30 years ago and treats it as something players and coaches have to face. Pitchers get a reminder as well: fielding and throwing cannot be occasional extras. Torrey says that work belongs in regular routines and team practices. The excerpt ends at the plate. Torrey argues that the strike zone has moved from any part of the ball over any part of the plate being a strike to any part of the ball not over the plate being a ball. He calls it opinion, but it still sounds like an old coach noticing how the game has changed.

As heard by us

A coach to coach look at year round softball, balance, and the habits that still matter.

Coach Don and Coach Torrey spend this one on a question that feels simple until it is not: if softball keeps stretching toward year round play, what gets lost along the way? The strongest part is the coaching talk.

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Why you'd press play

If you're weighing year-round softball, this is the dugout talk you want.

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