Sandbag Pool Play to play Lower Bracket on Sunday???

[SCDad]

It is common practice to rest your ace when it is to your benefit to do so.

Happens at every level. Not one good coach will deny it. There are games the ace needs to play, games she should maybe play, but does not always. And games possibly mentioned here where the ace simply should not pitch.

 

[FP26]

I am not sure why anybody would want to be in a Silver bracket. The goal is to do well and missing the cut to at least half the other teams in a tourney would seem to go against that. I've seen everything in travel ball, though, so this wouldn't surprise me, either.
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I agree with this. I wish there was a better way of dividing teams into A, B, and C other than taking a coach's word for it. Virtually every team in our area is listed as B yet I know of one that has won over 90% of their games in the past year. How can that help them?. If I was coaching that team I would be looking for tougher competition instead of trophy hunting.

 

[Jquick823]

A few weeks ago we went to a "B" tournament in VA and went 1-1-1 on Saturday. Easily should have been 2-1 and if we flipped pitchers 3-0. 7-6 loss to the team that finished 2nd overall, 8-0 win and 6-6 tie to the team that pulled the tournament champs in first round elimination. We were in the Silver bracket and took 2nd in the Silver. While to us it's 2nd best of the worst, to some of our girls that don't have travel trophies it was nice to hand them one. Now we don't have to worry about that aspect anymore. Last season we worried about going 2-0/3-0 in pool play and getting #1 seeds, this year we don't really care. It's about reps for the roster. If we go 0-3 and then win a silver bracket so be it. I would rather win the silver and play 4 extra games then lose in the 2nd round of the gold at 12U.

 

[ConorMacleod]

The scores of games was the main reason I believed this team sandbagged. They gave up 23 runs in their two losses, and 1 run in their 3 wins. They scored 8 runs in their two losses, and scored 41 runs in their 3 wins. Maybe they rested their #1 pitcher. But how do you explain the scoring difference of their losses to their wins? It's not like I filed a complaint the tourney director. I'm aware my team will always be in the silver/lower bracket on Sunday. We are taking out beatings this year, but hopefully learning a thing or two on how to win in the future as well. Heck, it's still better than the 12U team here that's 20-1 and still playing in 'C' tourneys. That team I did complain about to USSSA director. He obviously didn't care. If we play that team again, in pool play or otherwise, I doubt we will take the field. Losing 15-0 for the 3rd time this year against that team is not teaching my team anything.

 

[Jquick823]

The scores of games was the main reason I believed this team sandbagged. They gave up 23 runs in their two losses, and 1 run in their 3 wins. They scored 8 runs in their two losses, and scored 41 runs in their 3 wins. Maybe they rested their #1 pitcher. But how do you explain the scoring difference of their losses to their wins? It's not like I filed a complaint the tourney director. I'm aware my team will always be in the silver/lower bracket on Sunday. We are taking out beatings this year, but hopefully learning a thing or two on how to win in the future as well. Heck, it's still better than the 12U team here that's 20-1 and still playing in 'C' tourneys. That team I did complain about to USSSA director. He obviously didn't care. If we play that team again, in pool play or otherwise, I doubt we will take the field. Losing 15-0 for the 3rd time this year against that team is not teaching my team anything.

We just got bumped out of "C" with a 9-1 record in C ball. Best finish was 5th in a "C" tournament. The issue is we lost to trophy hunters that are now 10-1 in "B" and we lost close games so now we are "B". USSSA needs to do a better job of tracking and moving teams. We lost 14-0 last year in world series to a team that was "B" all year and somehow moved to "C" at world series. Leaves a bad taste when that happens.

 

[29dad]

But how do you explain the scoring difference of their losses to their wins?

You're kidding, right?? Scoring differences occur all the time. In every sport. At every level. Especially in sports like baseball and softball when so much depends on pitching matchups. My son's 13U baseball team just played their arch rivals in consecutive weekends. Lost the first meeting 7-0. Won the second 12-3. Happens ALL THE TIME. Don't know how many times i've seen where Team A beats team B by a lot, and then Team B beats team C by a lot, and then everyone assumes that Team A will destroy Team C but it doesn't happen.

 

[SoGASoftball]

Not playing devils advocate here, but I've seen 12u pitchers walk too many in a game on Saturday and have 10 k's in a game on Sunday and vice versa. Also have seen great overall play one day and sloppy the next. Don't know if age has anything to do with it.

 

[Carsonsig]

we are entering summer as a B team. we only had 3 teams in our rec 12u to draw from, and I assume we will get ROLLED in most weekends as a B. BUT. the goal we have is to play good competition and improve... I plan on treating saturday as more developmental... not losing on purpose, but I want to get game innings and ABs for my lower end players so they improve, and we can be a much better team by our championship... we dont get 2 brackets at most of ours... so it is to no advantage. Some coaches just want the jewelry and that awesome picture for their facebook page. it usually gets lost in the static that you won the 12u silver against a glorified 10u rec team...

 

[Dabears17]

My team came in second in the Silver bracket in a tournament last summer. I almost didn't bring my team over to get the trophies, but finally wandered over since my team was an 8u team playing in their 3rd tournament. A third of my team had already gone home. I don't really want a 10th place trophy.