April 30, 2004
by Gabi Weisel

Bunting strategy carries GVS
In an age when baseball is dominated by monstrous home runs, the girls varsity softball team has taken a different approach. Rather than smashing home runs, the team often relies on scoring runs without hitting the ball out of the infield.

Since the beginning of the season, Head Coach Mick Neustadt has coached sophomores Sharon Byer and Hannah Lieberman to bunt virtually every time they have come to the plate.

photo by Zachary Krame

Sophomore Shira Gabry awaits a throw from the pitcher during a game on April 20 against the Model Eagles. Sparked by its bunting strategy, the Lions’ offense has carried the team to an 6-2 conference record.

“I got the idea to bunt from some high school coaches I knew who had success with it. When I heard the idea, I wanted to try it because Lieberman and Byer are both good bunters and both have a lot of speed,” said Neustadt.

Once Byer and Lieberman reach first base, Neustadt takes advantage of their speed by encouraging them to steal second or third base.

“One of the things I like about having the girls bunt is that once they get on base, with their speed, they can steal some bases and turn a single into a double or triple,” said Neustadt.

“Stealing bases can throw the other team off. When we are stealing bases the pitcher gets nervous and it also gets everybody on our team pumped up,” said Byer.

As part of his strategy, Neustadt taught Lieberman and Byer to bunt left-handed, even though both are naturally right-handed.

By bunting left-handed, the batter stands several feet closer to first base, increasing the chance they will reach base safely.
“Bunting from the left side gets them two or three extra steps closer to first base, which is often the difference between a hit and an out,” said Neustadt.

In order to help Lieberman and Byer improve their bunting from the left side of the plate, he began by putting them through simple drills in practice.

“At the beginning of the season we worked on left-handed bunting with wiffle balls. As they got better, we began using the pitching machine. I knew they would pick it up quickly,” said Neustadt.

Although the results of this bunting strategy have been inconsistent, the Lions still find themselves with a 8-2 record.

In the games the Lions have won, the bunting has given them an early lift and helped them keep in front.

“When we get on base and score it really helps the team because it is a good way to energize the team early in the games,” said Lieberman.

In the Lions’ two losses against the Grace Brethren Eagles and Covenant Life Cougars, however, Lieberman and Byer struggled, going a combined zero-for-15 in the two games and not reaching base.

“Against the better teams, the pitching is faster and it’s harder to place your bunts away from the fielders,” Byer said.
Byer also feels that her bunting is beneficial to her teammates’ approach at the plate.

“When Lieberman and I don’t get on base some of the other players on the team get nervous because they judge the pitcher by what we do,” said Byer.

Although successful, Lieberman said that the Lions still have much room to improve on.

“We’re still trying to get comfortable bunting. It’s early in the season and we are going to keep working on it and hopefully we will improve and be able to jump-start the offense every game.”