Gotta Love Creativity -- New Stalling Tactic

Fastpitch_Dad · Sep 27, 2016

Sparky, thanks for sharing. To date I have yet to have a team slow play us when they had the opportunity to prevent the next inning. So far it hasn't affected the outcome but in some cases it did make for exciting games and learning opportunities with more pressure.
The class showed by those other teams are good reminders to us coaches to resist the temptation to "win" the game for the kids. I also like Riseballs take on little to no warmups after the 1st inning, it works just fine every time we were in a hurry so why not every inning?

John

Phathead · Sep 27, 2016

One I always hated was coach outside of dugout calling pitches on D and ahead other team catching up. Calls time strolls behind dugout onto field gets his alloted time strolls back thru gate to his bucket and then gives pitch signal. I saw one ump who put a stop to it. "YOUR NOT IN DUGOUT AND SPECTATORS CAN'T CALL TIME" . I've noticed now several TD have implemented it to stop that tactic.

BB875 · Sep 27, 2016

DNeeld said:
The door swings both ways. I've seen teams stall and I've seen teams get intentional outs in an attempt to start a new inning before time expires. Both are against the "spirit" of the game. But then again, so is a clock.

We played a team from Chicago area last year. The clock was running out, they were home team (offense) and we were up by a couple of runs. They had 2 outs with a runner in scoring position & it really this was their last at bat. The coach then told the batter to step on home plate next pitch. The kid didn't understand so he yelled at the her. Next pitch she swung & stepped on the plate, umpire didn't see it. The coach blew a gasket on the umpire. The clock is still running and now I am pissed he's trying to not only manipulate the game so they can quickly get that last out, he tried to take the bat out of his players hands. What an inspiring coach! So, like any good stalling coach, when the commotion settled down, I called time and talked to my defense and I ran the clock out. Game over. It works both ways. Not too often have I seen the offense trying to do this, but it happens.

When I called time, my players were asking why is he wanting her to step on the plate. I said because he has no faith in his players. Who knows, they could have pulled the game out on a two-out rally. Wouldn't that have been a cool memory the coach robbed from them!

Cannonball · Sep 27, 2016

junkball said:
Quit making excuses. The other team didn't make "mental and physical errors" even though they had the same opportunities to do so. You lost. Learn from it and get better. There's a long line of shoulda coulda woulda teams out there that you are in danger of joining.

Only reason I bring this up is because you are trying to justify why your team is losing and will use the "they stalled for time and killed the clock" as another excuse.

Edit - sorry for the harshness, but we played for a coach like this once. We never "got beat" by a better team, but the umps, the weather, the clock, the errors, the sun, the schedule, the field, the....

Wow! I didn't see him make an excuse.

My take is this. Coach the darn game. Sure you are able to manipulate the ending of the game. I was never raised that way. Some feel that it is strategy. I'll coach my players the way that I do. You coach them the way you want to. You can bet that I'd point out the stalling to my team as a way of pointing out strategy for some and why we won't do it.

MTR · Sep 27, 2016

DNeeld said:
The only reason it is controversial is because the game is designed to be played without a clock. Organizations want timed games so they can squeeze six pool games into one day. If people insist on making a clock part of the game, it will become part of the strategy.

Kneeling is more accepted simply because football has always had and is designed around a clock. Clock management is a big part of the game. Why do teams kneel instead of going for another touchdown or running plays? To preserve a win and give the other team no chance. Same reason teams stall.
.

To cover the under

MTR · Sep 27, 2016

Phathead said:
One I always hated was coach outside of dugout calling pitches on D and ahead other team catching up. Calls time strolls behind dugout onto field gets his alloted time strolls back thru gate to his bucket and then gives pitch signal. I saw one ump who put a stop to it. "YOUR NOT IN DUGOUT AND SPECTATORS CAN'T CALL TIME" . I've noticed now several TD have implemented it to stop that tactic.

Neither can coaches or players

Westwind · Sep 28, 2016

Of course good coaches engage in game management. They take their conferences. They know how much time is left. Switching catchers or having "equipment issues" isn't game management.

BB875 said it best and he's right, when coaches do that stuff it gives the kids the impression that he thinks they can't win without shenanigans.

One of DD's played 10u for an older coach who taught those kids and parents so many things about the game that I have found to be true at every age level. We were in that position to stall, we were batting. One of the parents yelled something suggesting they all might need to tie their shoes when they came up to bat. I don't remember what it was. Usually he acted like he didn't hear the parents but on this occasion he simply turned to where the voice came from and said "we don't do that." He looked at the kid in the box and said "Hit it." She smoked the first pitch. He didn't usually give big post game speeches but that day he explained to the girls that while he really liked it when they won, we were going to pitch and hit the ball until time ran out. "We came here to play". He also reminded the parents that their job was to clap and yell "good job" when something good happened.

He was good at managing a game. He took his conferences. He also had respect for the game and knew some games we would hit pitch and field our way to a win, some times you wouldn't. Old dude taught those kids a ton.

CoogansBluff · Sep 28, 2016

Westwind said:
Of course good coaches engage in game management. They take their conferences. They know how much time is left. Switching catchers or having "equipment issues" isn't game management.

BB875 said it best and he's right, when coaches do that stuff it gives the kids the impression that he thinks they can't win without shenanigans.

One of DD's played 10u for an older coach who taught those kids and parents so many things about the game that I have found to be true at every age level. We were in that position to stall, we were batting. One of the parents yelled something suggesting they all might need to tie their shoes when they came up to bat. I don't remember what it was. Usually he acted like he didn't hear the parents but on this occasion he simply turned to where the voice came from and said "we don't do that." He looked at the kid in the box and said "Hit it." She smoked the first pitch. He didn't usually give big post game speeches but that day he explained to the girls that while he really liked it when they won, we were going to pitch and hit the ball until time ran out. "We came here to play". He also reminded the parents that their job was to clap and yell "good job" when something good happened.

He was good at managing a game. He took his conferences. He also had respect for the game and knew some games we would hit pitch and field our way to a win, some times you wouldn't. Old dude taught those kids a ton.

Good post, but when you say good coaches take their conferences, do you mean for the sake of running clock out?

If so, then rather than telling parents who suggested shoe-tying that ''We don't do that,'' it would be more accurate to say, ''That's not how we do that.''

BB875 · Sep 28, 2016

Westwind said:
Of course good coaches engage in game management. They take their conferences. They know how much time is left. Switching catchers or having "equipment issues" isn't game management.

BB875 said it best and he's right, when coaches do that stuff it gives the kids the impression that he thinks they can't win without shenanigans.

One of DD's played 10u for an older coach who taught those kids and parents so many things about the game that I have found to be true at every age level. We were in that position to stall, we were batting. One of the parents yelled something suggesting they all might need to tie their shoes when they came up to bat. I don't remember what it was. Usually he acted like he didn't hear the parents but on this occasion he simply turned to where the voice came from and said "we don't do that." He looked at the kid in the box and said "Hit it." She smoked the first pitch. He didn't usually give big post game speeches but that day he explained to the girls that while he really liked it when they won, we were going to pitch and hit the ball until time ran out. "We came here to play". He also reminded the parents that their job was to clap and yell "good job" when something good happened.

He was good at managing a game. He took his conferences. He also had respect for the game and knew some games we would hit pitch and field our way to a win, some times you wouldn't. Old dude taught those kids a ton.

I like that coach's attitude. Here is a lesson to teach the kids. If you want to maximize your game time, hustle in/out of the dug out every inning, become efficient between innings, hustle up to bat, be ready when you're on deck, "pick up" the stranded runners between innings, etc. It amazing how that time builds up over a game. Finally, when a good team is focused & hustling, they don't need to "manage" the clock.

Westwind · Sep 28, 2016

CoogansBluff said:
Good post, but when you say good coaches take their conferences, do you mean for the sake of running clock out?

If so, then rather than telling parents who suggested shoe-tying that ''We don't do that,'' it would be more accurate to say, ''That's not how we do that.''

Well, I can tell you that the conferences he took usually didn't have to get broken up by the ump and it was obvious he was telling them exactly what to do. And it didn't look or seem to be stalling. It was more like an intervention to change momentum if the other team was coming back. You know, the way it's supposed to be.

I will say it took him awhile to get out there and back. You could tell his damn hip hurt!

Gotta Love Creativity -- New Stalling Tactic

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