Why Bat First at Home?

[Ole Colony]

Something about on a neutral field the team that scores first wins most of the time.

[alum81]

I don't think you get a choice in a tournament.

[MelRock]

I don't think you get a choice in a tournament.

Even when he wins the coin flip he chooses to bat first.

[RaisingCajun08]

Whatever his real reasoning is, its working! We need about 5 understudies to soak up his knowledge. Same thing with Robe. I would love to see Babb's notebook. haha

[CajunPride]

So I've seen 3 good arguments for doing it:

1) Allows your potent offense to "jump" on an opponent early
2) Allows you to have an extra at bat if you're leading, which is valuable for player development at the plate
3) Gets your team ready for playing on the road where you will have to bat first

These are 3 good reasons to bat first.

Just an observation I noted in a softball game 30 years ago. A really good team won the toss and was asked if they wanted to be the home team or visitors. The captain replied " We'll score first!" There was something about that response that exuded confidence, without being too cocky, that struck a little fear in the opponent. They backed it up and blew out the home team.

[cjr3888]

It all depends on your team. In our middle school league (baseball and softball), the rules lead most teams to bat first. Normally, I would do the same, but the team I have this year is different. Our pitching is outstanding so us "jumping" on a team is not by scoring runs but is instead by shutting down their offense. Coach Mike is offense first (even though our pitching and defense is normally stellar) so his mindset is to jump on the other team by scoring runs early.

[Just1More]

Coach wants to give the team 21 outs. If home team and leading after 7... pitchers have pitched 21 outs but his offense would have only batted for 18 outs. Trying to give the ladies additional bats against outside competion early in the year.

This is precisely what Mike said in an interview. He gave no additional reasons.