April 14, 2009
In collegiate baseball, having the catcher call pitches is almost unheard of. In softball, it's a bit more common, yet far from universal.
With the Stanford softball team, the responsibility is given to junior catcher Rosey Neill. Her calls and Missy Penna's pitches have been an effective combination. Stanford is 36-4 and ranked No. 2 in the nation.
"Rosey makes every pitch look good," Penna said. "She knows every batter's strengths and weaknesses."
Neill won the trust of head coach John Rittman and pitching coach Trisha Ford by midway through her freshman year.
"We're two days away from playing Arizona and I got a voicemail," Neill recalled, saying it went something like this:
"OK, Rosey, this is Coach Ford. I just wanted to let you know I've been talking to Coach and both of us think you're ready to call pitches. I have film on Arizona. Let's talk. Have a nice week."
Neill's reaction? "I immediately freaked out. Talk about being thrown into the fire."
That 2007 season began with Ford calling games, and then Neill making calls in practice. When the coaches felt she was ready, Neill began by calling some innings, and Ford others. Finally, Neill took over full time.
"Rosey is an extremely smart player and has really developed that aspect of her game," Ford said. "Once things were running smoothly, Rosey took over."
Ford says it works because Neill works hard extremely hard to make it so. She watches video of each opponent before each game and then discusses her impressions with Ford, as they determine a plan of attack.
"Coach Ford understands that there are things that I see that she's not going to see," Neill said. "It could be if a batter's on the plate vs. off the plate, or whether she moves four inches up the box between pitches. All of that matters.
"If the girl's up in the box, I'm going to throw a different sequence than if she's in the back of the box. To be honest, Coach Ford might call the pitches the exact same way. We joke and she says, `I knew you were calling that.'"
Ford admitted an ulterior motive.
"I also believe that with Rosey calling, it promotes a great relationship between the pitcher and catcher," Ford said. "There is a lot of trust that comes with that responsibility and she has taken it in stride."
Neill said Ford will sometimes question a pitch, but when Neill explains her rationale, Ford most often is fine with it.
"As a catcher, I couldn't ask for a better pitching coach," Neill said. "I hear of pitching coaches and catchers not getting along, but it doesn't make sense to me. We're on the same team."
-- David Kiefer, Stanford Athletics Media Relations