Playing the softball time game

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
Let me start out by saying I’ve made it pretty clear in the past that I am NOT a fan of time limits in fastpitch softball. The game was designed to be played across seven innings, no matter how long that takes. Yogi Berra’s statement “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” doesn’t make as much […]
b.gif


More...
 
Dec 15, 2012
102
18
Very well said. I remember, when my daughter stated playing at an early age that most teams (ours included) played the time game. As she progressed we moved to a higher level team where the focus was on player development. Coach told us that's not how we win the game. We are going to win or lose the right way. In the long term it will your players better when they are placed into stressful situations where they have to win close games on the field!
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
Ken, good topic but we will agree to disagree on some points. First of all, timed games in softball and baseball is a travesty in my mind, but the reality is that in order to complete a tournament with lots of teams and to get all of the games in, the TD has to have game time limits. So if you are going to have time limits, I think it's important for coaches to use the clock to their advantage (i.e. clock management) just like any other timed games that are played in other sports. In soccer, for example, once a team gets a goal or two lead, you see the team slow the pace of the game down by passing the ball around more and making less aggressive passes on offense. In football, teams that are behind use a hurry up offense to get the next play off and preserve the previous amount of time left on the clock. No reason why timed softball games should be any different.

Point 2, smart coaches don't wait until the last inning to start thinking about clock management. Clock management can and should happen several innings before the end of the game. If you are ahead, you subtly slow the game down with having players take more pitches on offense, exchange a pinch runner for a base runner, take a visit to the pitching circle, etc. If behind, you make sure you are ready to go whether its being in the on deck circle, ready to hit or taking less warm-up throws between innings. Many timed games come down to a few minutes of making it to the next inning or not, and smart clock management can make a difference.

Point 3, I don't buy the argument that if a team has to resort to clock management techniques they don't deserve to win. As we all know in softball, no lead is big enough and teams can score runs in bunches, sometimes with two outs. Why leave the balance of the game to chance when you can tip the game in your favor if you would have taken the time to think more about the clock and how much time was left.

Last point, the comment about the $10 plastic trophy has nothing to do with whether a team should or should not utilize clock management in an attempt to preserve the win. For example, should we never appeal a bad umpire call because of a stupid plastic trophy or medal. It's a meaningless game, right? Why take it so seriously? I'm not suggesting that coaches should have players fake injuries or swap out a catcher mid-inning for no reason but to stall, but legitimate slowing down or speeding up the game can make a big difference in the outcome of the game.

The bottom line is subtle clock management should be used by coaches whenever timed games are part of the tournament rules, just don't resort to obvious bush league tactics to do it.
 
Aug 12, 2014
644
43
In soccer, for example, once a team gets a goal or two lead, you see the team slow the pace of the game down by passing the ball around more and making less aggressive passes on offense. In football, teams that are behind use a hurry up offense to get the next play off and preserve the previous amount of time left on the clock. No reason why timed softball games should be any different.

Then you should stop the clock when time is called in softball, just like in all those other sports. In other sports, you still have to play to run the clock down. In timed softball and baseball games, you can run the clock down without actually playing. That is a huge difference. I agree with your other points, but you can't honestly believe that calling time to tie shoes that are already tied is the same thing as slowing the pace of a soccer game.

As long as the clock continues to run when time is out, timed softball is different than other sports.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
I would like to see the clock stop for time outs. It would get rid of a lot of that nonsense.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
Then you should stop the clock when time is called in softball, just like in all those other sports. In other sports, you still have to play to run the clock down. In timed softball and baseball games, you can run the clock down without actually playing. That is a huge difference. I agree with your other points, but you can't honestly believe that calling time to tie shoes that are already tied is the same thing as slowing the pace of a soccer game.

As long as the clock continues to run when time is out, timed softball is different than other sports.
I disagree. They don't stop the clock in soccer (unless there is an injury). Teams slow the pace of the game down all the time with a lead. Same with football with the no huddle vs taking the full amount of time to hike the ball etc. Timed games in softball are no different.

Also if you reread my post, I don't like bush league tactics but subtle clock management is the way to coach timed games from both dugouts.
 
Aug 21, 2011
1,345
38
38°41'44"N 121°9'47.5"W
I agree with the points that Rocketech1 makes. Do you get on a football coach for running the football and taking the full :45 seconds after each play while clinging to a 4 point? Do you say that he doesn't have the confidence in his defense? No. It's said he's a smart clock manager. We recently did a tournament where all the games were a full 7 innings. I would take that any day over the 1:20 that seems to be the norm. The truth is, the strategy changes with a clock and to say using methods within the rule book are good and some are bad is ridiculous. It comes down to this, "My strategy is right, because I do it that way. You're is wrong, because I wouldn't do it that way!" That's a crazy way of thinking. Is a delayed steal bad, too, because it catches the other team relaxing? Is a squeeze play also bad, because they are not expecting it? How about a flex/dp? I had a manager last week get upset because I used that. I subbed out the girl playing flex mid game. Later I dropped my dp, put the flex in the batting lineup and subbed my original girl at flex back in to hit. When she got on I brought the dp back in to run for my flex. I took advantage of the flexibility of the rule book. Opposing manager was ticked and thought it was "bush league".

Just where do you want us to draw that arbitrary & invisible line?
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
The difference between all those sports you mention and baseball/softball is that in our sport the defense starts with the ball and therefore can control the tempo of the game by stalling. In football, for example, the defense can't do anything to stall other than call a time out (which they only have three of per half), fake an injury or be slow to get off the pile. The latter two are against the rules. If a defender tries to stall to tie his shoe the play will go on and the defense will be short a player.

On offense at most levels, the offense must get the play going within a certain amount of time. They can't hold up the game to tie their shoes either.

More importantly, to me anyway, all those other games were designed to be played with a time limit from the beginning so other accommodations have been made. In the old days in basketball, if a team built a huge lead they could just pass the ball around the rest of the game. The shot clock was introduced to prevent that. It was an adjustment made to ensure that teams played the whole time rather than sitting on the ball.

Time limits in softball have been imposed to get more teams playing more games on the same number of fields, not to improve the quality of the game itself. I think we're all agreed they take away from the intention of the game. Calling a conference that has no time limitation in order to run down the clock or telling a player to tie her shoe when it doesn't need to be tied is bush league in my book. If you want to play that way, that's your prerogative. But what are you telling your players?

Personally I wish they would introduce a rule that in a timed game any coach conferences, on offense or defense, would result in the clock stopping as was suggested earlier. That would stop some of the nonsense. Maybe award an automatic strike to a hitter who is taking excessive swings in the box relative to what she did earlier, or a ball if a pitcher doesn't deliver the ball within 10 seconds of the hitter stepping in. If we're going to have timed games, adjust the rules to get rid of the nonsense. Just like nearly every other sport has done.
 
Aug 12, 2014
644
43
I disagree. They don't stop the clock in soccer (unless there is an injury). Teams slow the pace of the game down all the time with a lead. Same with football with the no huddle vs taking the full amount of time to hike the ball etc. Timed games in softball are no different.

Also if you reread my post, I don't like bush league tactics but subtle clock management is the way to coach timed games from both dugouts.

The have the extra time added on in soccer to account for the stoppages of play. And again, I agree there is nothing wrong with slowing the pace in softball, but allowing the clock to run when time is called makes it completely different than other sports.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,474
Members
21,443
Latest member
sstop28
Top