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Real name:
Audie Hollis
Location:
Jacksonville, FL
Division:
Men's 60
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| Dec. 9, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Classic Spring Training Challenge This is going to be like taking candy from a sleeping baby! Football!, we're talking football. This isn't a game, it's football. Lets see, how many years has it been since Georgia beat Florida? Somebody hand me a calculator! This should be a blast as the Florida seniors pound the rest of the country into submission.......again! Bring it on girls! |
| Nov. 20, 2008 audieh | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: who hits it the longest I just talked to Curt Hollis and he thinks the long ball contest is a great idea for his ClassicSpringTraining.com this February and in addition to having the flat belly and senior home run hitting contest he will also have a long ball hitting contest. Don't know the format yet but it should be fun. |
| Nov. 20, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 2009 Classic Spring Training Well, just to get the competitive juices flowing and seeing how the Kitrell bunch is now going to be Major Plus here is the challenge. The senior Florida boys challenge the senior Georgia, Alabama, Carolinas, Colorado, etc, etc boys to a best 2 of 3 on Saturday! Also, what are your thoughts on Friday going back to the prison and whipping up on some of the inmates. That was a great experience 2 years ago and we can arrange it if there is enough interest. |
| Nov. 20, 2008 audieh | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: who hits it the longest There are many great hitters in senior softball. The best 2 long ball senior hitters that I have ever played with are Bruce Meade and Mark Martin. Both of these guys are gentle giants with Meade being about 6'6" tall and 275 pounds and Martin being 6'5" tall and 260 pounds. Both of these fellows have great swings, are team players and fine ambassadors for the senior game. I personally saw Mark Martin hit a ball 1.5 years ago in Vegas 535'. Now, the wind was blowing out, the air was dry, the balls were good, the altitude is over 2,000' and a senior bat was being used. Never the less it was awesome. Most likely in his prime no one could consistantly out distance Bruce Meade. Other big time senior long ball hitters that I have played with include Gary Deaton, Pat McLellan, Bobby Davis, Baer Chandler, Mattie Digennario, Cecil Whitehead, Davie Reed, Ed Rose, Curt Hollis as well as a number of others. All of these guys can consistently mash it. In retrospect, I have truly been blessed to have played this game on a competitive level with some of the finest players and people I know. Every area of this vast country has exceptional hitters and people so I don't know that we could ever come up with one answer but the last time I checked the Guiness World Book of Records does list Bruce Meade as the longest hitter of all time at 510' wind unaided! At about 60 years old now I would not bet against Bruce still being the man as he is in fabulous shape! |
| Nov. 10, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Florida half Century Hellbender, Firebird. The FHC has the best rules of any association with unlimited runs per inning, senior bats, unlimited homeruns and they place your team in brackets of 5 according to your ability. Our team is ranked #4 and this weekend we played the #1, #2, #6 and #7 and went 2 and 2. It was alot of fun and very competitive. I would guess that the #67 team playing against the #70, #68, #66 and #69 had just as much fun with the same rules. I talked to Duane Jones who pretty much runs the show and he indicated they may be interested in opening the FHC up to Georgia and Alabama teams. Their questions would be how many teams from the adjacent states and how would they divide the states. Florida is broken into 5 districts. Maybe they could divide Georgia and Florida into north and south divisions and then hope for an additional 10 teams to join the FHC. I know the membership would be in favor as the more teams the better and I can pretty well asure you that south Georgia and south Alabama could assemble some very competitive teams. Give Duane a call at 813-453-8302 and give him your feedback or just post it here as he monitors this board some. |
| Nov. 7, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Florida half Century Nancy has it just about right. Anyone or any team from outside of Florida can play 2 tournaments a year. However, you do need a lifetime ID card and application filled out that I believe is $25. If it is a team they will also need a team fee of $125. Nancy is also right in that you can play in any monthly but not in the state championship in December since it is obviously for in state teams. The man in the know is Duane Jones - 813-453-8302. I have been lobbying for years to let it be open to others as I'm certain we could pick up some Georgia and perhaps Alabama teams. The more the merrier! |
| Oct. 31, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Dirty: Bats & ball info The type of balls and their ratings make a difference in how they fly but humidity, air temperature, and altitude do as well. I live in Jacksonville, Florida at an elevation of 19.7' above sea level in a high humidity area. Nobody but a true monster hits a ball over 400' if it is a 44/375 ball. When we have played in Phoenix at an altitude of 1086' and dry air the ball travels much further. The same can be said of Las Vegas at 2001' of elevation and very dry air in the desert. I have not been to Reno but at an altitude of 4498' and dry air I would assume that the balls must surely fly. Trumpball is right. On the east coast with the high humidity (read that heavy air) balls just do not travel as far. I only know of one player in Florida that is a senior that can hit a 44/375 over 400 feet pretty consistently and that is Mark Martin. At Vegas last year he hit a ball 535' that we measured. Maybe, different balls are needed for different locales and different weather conditions. Now wouldn't that open up a can of worms?! Trumpball, can you make us some 44/375 balls that hit like Reno rockets? |
| Oct. 27, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: TOC Florida - Tampa or Orlando airport? In my mind both are equal. We typically check the costs of flights and times and let that determine which airport. Both airports offer a direct line on I-4 to the ToC. |
| Aug. 25, 2008 audieh | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Senior events I like and why my own personal list Joe, I have been playing 5 years now and would rate my overall experiences as follows: 1) Tournament of Champions - last 2 years is the best overall tournament I have played. Well organized, good balls and bats, great refs, nice banquet, excellent awards. This has been held in the Lakeland area of Florida. Yall come on down, ya hear! 2) Vegas - worst fields, great competition, good bats and balls, high elevation makes those puppies fly. Best town for softball. The girlfriends and wives always want to go! 3) Spa -Tulsa/Plano - well organized, great competition, good refs, nice people. Good bats needs better balls this year. 4) Winter Nationals in Ft Meyers, Forida. Good fields and refs. Well run tournament with good competition from all over. Good balls and bats. 5) Phoenix - well run, good balls, bats and refs, well organized, fantastic competition especially from the california teams. Only minus is distance for a Florida team. 6) ISA - St Louis 2007, good fields, nice concession, well run, limited competition, good bats and balls. 7) ISSA - Manassas, Virginia - good fields and refs, well organized, numerous sites to see including Washington DC just 20 miles away, limited teams with bad ASA bats. 8) Burlington, North Carolina - good fields and refs, restricted ASA bats. 9) Milwaukee, Wisconsin - decent fields and refs, nice folks, limited bats and limited competition. 10) Any Florida Half Century tournament - good bats, balls, refs, organization, and fields. Only downside is they meet once a month and many times they are they same weekend as national tournaments. Allows out of state players for only 2 tournaments a year. 11) Maui, Hawaii - last 5 years. Beautiful setting, girlfriends and wives always make this trip. Good balls, restricted bats. Nice people but limited 50 and over competition. I have played several others but these would be how I would rate the ones that come to mind. I just wish that all senior tournaments would use good balls and bats as the whole purpose is to have fun while competing against others of similar abilities. |
| Aug. 17, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: injured players in Manassas Fellows here is the update on Jimmy. He has arrived back in Jacksonville and released from Baptist Hospital until surgery which will probably be on Thursday. He is home right now and very thankful for his buddies looking after him. His nose was crushed, all of his front orbital bones beneath his eyes were scattered and will have to be rebuilt with titanium. His eye socket bones are fractured and his sinus ducts have been crushed. His face is in pretty rough shape aa they had to stitch him in a couple of places. However, his spirits are high and he is looking forward to getting back on the field in a few months. Mike and Jimmy are similar players being very muscular and fast. They hit full speed head on and no one was at fault. It was an accident that happened to two very experienced and great fellows. Jimmy was more concerned with Mike who took 9 stitches in the head and suffered a concussion. Mike, mean while was fighting the EMTs to check on Jimmy. The doctors expect Jimmy to fully recover over time. However, he thanks you for your concern and covets your prayers. We'll keep you posted as we know more. |
| Aug. 4, 2008 audieh | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: Looking for team Papo, call Curt Hollis at 904-262-9500 and he should be able to help you find a team depending on your skill level. |
| Aug. 4, 2008 audieh | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: LVSSA end of August roll call who's coming Joe, Pete, Hollis Appraisals 55 Major Plus with be there and hope to do better this year. Would like to have dinner with both you guys on Friday or Saturday night. A buffet at the Rio sounds good! |
| July 13, 2008 audieh | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Peach State Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia Airbosn, I read through almost every article of Dr. Russells relating to softball bats. Some entertaining information but by no means conclusive. Obvious to me are a number of items that affect bat breakage; weight of the ball, weight of the bat, speed of the bat, and position the bat strikes the ball readily come to mind. All things being equal, ie swing speed, bat weight, ball weight, etc. Which causes a greater compression of a composite bat an end load or a balanced? Does the more a composite flexes increase the potential for breakage? Also, does a more flexible handle reduce the breakage potential and perhaps increase the batted ball speed and hence distance. Other have stated on here that breakage occurs more often when the ball is struck in the middle thus creating the knuckle ball affect. They would tell me to hit the bottom one third of the ball to put a reverse spin on the ball and give it added lift and preserve the bats. However, I can barely hit the ball square much less hit just one third of it and have tried resulting in numerous infield pop ups. we have thrown out all obvious heavy balls and we do not hit wet balls. Personal experiences has shown me that the balanced Ultra II and Worth Launch have little flex and tend to break after about 50 swings. The Combat (Gray) end load tends to flex more when hit and gets about 100 swings before breakage. We tested 3 new prototypes recently that have a flexible handle, hit comparable to the Ultra/Combat and lasted from 163 to 500+ and still counting swings. Maybe this is the key to endurance. According to Dr. Russell the heavier the bat the further the ball will travel. I totally agree with this. The questions becomes can you swing a 30 ounce end load as fast as the 26 ounce balance and my guess would be no. However, I tend to hit further with the heavier end load and change my swing to go centerfield instead of left center to counter the slower bat speed. I do know this though, my brother Curt will break just about any bat you give him and he does not hit knuckle balls. I tend to hit knuckle balls and he breaks 2 bats to my 1. Now most of us hide our sticks when he is around and he is forced to pound on some dead Worth Mayhems (compared to senior bats) which by the time he is through with them become hot about 20 swings before they break. Interesting topic though and fun to hear others thoughts. |
| June 12, 2008 audieh | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: NW Ideas for major plus summit Jim, I believe on the major plus level that we should not have to "live with" any self imposed rules to dumb down the game. Let the best players play the most umlimited ball there is. Let this division be a showcase for what softball should be. I believe this will create a desire in other to play on this level and there are many players who should be playing this level who are not. Why limit runs to 7 per inning. That takes away from the dramatic 14 run comebacks. Limited runs per innings also allows a lesser team to stay close and then have one big last inning and win. Why would we want to do this on the top level? Why are we afraid of competition? If we get pounded by 20 runs. Big deal, congrats to you and we will be ready next time. Why limit home runs on the top level? Just because the young guys do? No, this is an opportunity for us to have it the way we want it. Why settle for something less? Let us be the leaders, not the followers. DBO if hit at pitcher seems reasonable from a safety point of view but if safety is the issue than unlimited homeruns is the only way to go. 70 minute time frame seems reasonable. Personally I'd rather play 4 innings in 70 minutes than 7 innings as so much time is wasted changing sides. 70 minutes of softball is 70 minutes whether it is 3 innings or 7. Actually 3 innings results in more actual playing time. Purchase of extra balls from the tournament and chase your own is definitely the way to go. Jim, these are my thoughts as well as the vast majority of major plus players I have spoken to in the Florida/Georgia area. Our job is to develop a comprehensive survey, send it to the major plus managers, analysis the results and then make recommendations that may or may not be followed by the powers to be. I look forward to speaking to you tonight and getting the ball rolling. You can reach me by email at audieh@comcast.net if you like or 904-568-1436 and we can discuss off of the board. |
| June 4, 2008 audieh | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: New Rules at Reno Joe, total agreement that limiting the home runs in major plus wil result in more balls hit up the middle and hence at the pitcher. Major plus should be unlimited as a truly great hitter will say why hit it out and take one base for the on base runner when I can whistle the pitcher's head and score the runner from second. If a compromise is needed then make a homerun a single but unlimited would be much safer. |
| April 26, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Why Play Down? Why do teams want to play down. I do not understand the mind set and honestly want to know what the thinking is. Is it more of an accomplishment to have a stacked team and win a AAA or AA tournament then to compete in major or major plus and say come in fourth in an eight team tournament? It seems to me that you would want to compete on the highest possible level and even if you do not win you can at least know where your teams abilities are. Now, before someone gets offended here I recognize that some of my own teammates and friends are perfectly content to have a stacked team and win a lower division or small tournament. I just want to understand the thinking. |
| April 23, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Has Anyone Tracked Where The Offensive Team Hits The ball Nancy, fantastic information. Breaking it down as percentages would indicate that the pitcher gets only 6.2% of the action which is less than I would have thought! The catcher gets little activity at .6%. First got only 1.9% which appears low to me. Second got 10.6% which is suprising high considering first got so little. This could be a function of the number of lefties but also the level of ball as I assume the AA teams will be trying more for base hit and you may get more opposite field hitting than with major and major plus teams trying to hit power. Third got 11.2% which seems right but is comparable to second which seemed high. The shortstop got 21% of the action which means that one of every five balls goes there. The left fielder got 11.8% which is similar to third and second and just a litle less than left center which got 14.3% of the action. Right field got 5% which is suprisingly high since first got only 1.9%. Right center got 9.9% which seems high and is almost as much as left field and twice as high as right field. A lot of interesting points to consider. Approximately 41% of the balls went to the outfield. Appromximately 57.8% of the balls went to the left of the pitcher. Third and left field had about the same percentage. The shortstop had the most balls hit to him at 21% with the left center fielder having the most in the outfield at 14.3% I think these stats verify what most of us thought. The interesting thing would now be to compare these with a couple of major plus games and see if it changes our thnking of playing a five man infield or where to put an extra defensive player when you have an equalizer! Nancy, thank you for all of your efforts. Very good information! |
| April 17, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Has Anyone Tracked Where The Offensive Team Hits The ball Nancy, that is incredible information that you have and takes a tremendous amount of work to not only keep but compile. I can tell you though you have a great basis for some interesting research and discusions points! |
| April 16, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Senior Article Nancy, I really enjoyed the article. I can see that as we play longer and longer into the twilight the game becomes more about the people that play with a touch of competition to keep it fresh and alive! |
| April 16, 2008 audieh | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Has Anyone Tracked Where The Offensive Team Hits The ball Nancy, bless you. i knew that some resouceful lady would have that type information. Would it be possible for you to go over your books for a five game period and tell us how many balls went to each position. Then we can figure what percent was hit to each position. So a grounder hit between 3rd and short, even though picked up by the outfielder would be scored as a ball to third or short, whoever was the closest. A homerun in center field would be assigned to left center or right, whoever was closer. We would also need to know what division of 55 ball you are scoring as i suspect the higher divisions hit more for power and thus to left and the lower division are shooting for base hits and may hit the middle and right at a higher percent. If you have any questions or if i can be of any service please contact at Audieh@comcast.net |
