GameChanger of the Week (5/4)

No-hitters abound!

by Jeff Kamrath (@GCSports)

Player of the Week: Stephen Bonser – P/OF/IF, Washington University

It seems like no-hitters are a theme this week, but unlike Francisco Liriano, Stephen Bonser, of Washington University, had a more conventional line score when it came to his no-hitter this past Sunday.

View the Auto-Recap of the game.

Bonser held Fontbonne hitless over the course of the 7.0 inning no-no, striking out nine and walking none.  He was almost perfect save for a dropped fly ball in the 6th inning. 

Contributing to his success, Bonser threw 70.8% of his pitches for strikes as well as delivering 63.6% of his first pitches for strikes.  He averaged just over 10 pitches per inning and had an incredible swing and miss percentage of 15.7%.  Bonser dominated early and often by attacking Fontbonne hitters, registering a 74.4% strike percentage with his fastball.

Liriano-no

Ugly.  Gross.  Unclean.  Impure.  Surely we can’t be talking about one of baseball’s most revered single game accomplishments.  But, with six walks and only two strikeouts, Francisco Liriano managed to get sportswriters and fans everywhere to cringe when they look at the stat line of baseball’s 249th no-hitter.  In addition to his unimpressive stat line, Liriano entered the game with a 9.13 ERA and in jeopardy of losing his slot in the Minnesota Twins’ rotation. 

She Does It All

While it’s tough to outdo a no-hitter, Madi Savell gave it her best shot with a great week at the plate for the 99 Texas Elite.  On the weekend, Madi was 6 for 12 with five Quality At-Bats and three RBI’s.  Four of those QAB’s and two of her RBI’s came in one game alone.

Congrats Stephen and Madi!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Feature of the Week: In-app Tutorials

Step-By-Step Tutorials

by Dane Menten-Weil & Jeff Kamrath (@GCSports)

As intuitive as the GameChanger Scorekeeper app is, we understand that there is a learning curve when it comes to becoming comfortable with digitally scoring a baseball game.  Keeping this in mind, we have designed a series of step-by-step tutorials for the iPhone / iPod version of GameChanger’s Scorekeeper app that can be found inside the app.

These tutorials are particularly useful for the coach or scorekeeper who are not especially tech-savvy.  Each tutorial takes just a few minutes to complete and guides you through the intuitive scorekeeping and lineup flows.  Once complete, a new user should be knowledgeable enough to score their first game immediately following completing the tutorials.

What’s In the Tutorials?

The tutorials walk users through some of these basic scorekeeping flows:

Scorekeeping

• Scoring individual pitches;
• Balls in play;
• Advancing runners;
• Putouts / defensive plays.

Lineup Management

• Adding a batter to lineup;
• Editing player info;
• Substitutions;
• Viewing in-game spray charts.

Practice a Game

Once you have completed the tutorials you may want to access an additional feature to further aid you, called Practice Game.  Also located in the app, beneath the tutorials, the Practice Game feature allows you to score a few plays or even an entire game at your own pace.  For example, follow a Major League game on TV, scoring every play as best you can and you will be a pro by the time the starting pitcher hits the showers..

Note: Practice Game data is not synced to your team page online.

Watch a Video About Tutorials

GameChanger Support

If you have questions about the Tutorials or any other feature, please visit the GameChanger Help Page for more FAQ’s and our blog post for a complete listing of our Features Videos.

“Like” us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter.

GameChanger of the Week (4/27)

Mr. Perfect, El Perfecto, Perfection!

by Jeff Kamrath (@GCSports)

Player of the Week

Will Roberts – RHP, University of Virginia

You all can call me a homer all you want, but I have to give a little credit where credit is due.  And even though this one took place almost a month ago, it still bears a belated GameChanger of the Week honor.

On March 29, 2011, Will Robert tossed the first perfect game in University of Virginia history (my alma mater – golf clap please) and only the eighth 9-inning perfect game in NCAA history (since 1957).  Additionally, it was the program’s 2,000th victory.

Roberts led #1 UVA to a 2-0 victory over George Washington, retiring all 27 batters he faced in order, striking out 10 along the way.  It is the first no-hitter thrown by a Cavalier hurler since Mike Ballard’s no-no against Boston College on April 16, 2006.

Roberts was so effective that only one ball left the infield all game. As you can see in the Box Score, Roberts threw 68.4% of his pitches for strikes and was ahead of an incredible 85.2% of hitters.  Adding to that,
of Robert’s 27 outs, 14 came via groundout,
while only 3 were of the fly ball variety.

However, as the superstition goes, there is always one spectacular defensive play that cements a perfecto and this game didn’t fail to deliver. In the eighth inning, George Washington’s Tyler McCarthy laced a rocket right back up the middle for a sure base knock.  However, the ball clipped Roberts’ right calf and died right there on the spot, allowing the pitcher to easily pick up the ball and make an easy toss to first base for the putout.  As is the case with any no-hitter, you need to be both lucky AND good.

Congrats Will!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Video Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com     Release Date: 3/29/2011

East Coast Demo Days

Come see for yourself.

by Jeff Kamrath (@hoorayjeff)

Those magic words are upon us: “Play ball!”

With baseball and softball season cranking up in the Southern half of the country, we are getting close to Opening Day in the north, and we are excited to offer new ways to experience GameChanger. In addition to our daily free online demos, we are hosting Demo Days across the East Coast. Come meet the team, demo the product, and get yourself ready to scorekeep using GameChanger. 

Long Island, DC / Northern Virginia, Atlanta: we’re coming to you next! If you round up a dozen interested friends and have a local watering hole, please email Jeff and we’ll get a Demo Day set up.

Demo Days Info & RSVP

Wednesday, March 30: GameChanger HQ (NYC – Flatiron District)

• Where: 116 W 23rd St, Floor 5, New York, NY (Conference Room)
• When: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
• RSVP NOW »

Monday, April 4: The Ginger Man (Greenwich, CT)

• Where: 64 Greenwich Ave, Greenwich, CT 06830 (2nd floor)
• When: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
• RSVP NOW »

Tuesday, April 12: Professional Baseball Instruction – PBI (Northern NJ)

• Where: 107 Pleasant Ave, Upper Saddle River, NJ (Party Room)
• When: 7:30 – 9:30 PM
• RSVP NOW »

Can’t make it? Join us for a free online demo instead.