Umpire question

obbay said:

I think this needs to be said again:

I think machine pitch at 10U isn't right. At U8 LL we had kid pitch until they walked 4 batters in an inning then the coach would finish the inning. how else do pitchers learn to pitch and batters learn to hit live pitching?
(and no, it was not like watching paint dry. it was actually pretty fun!)

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It's been machine pitch since I played 15 years ago. Girls move to live pitch at 12U. This year they only had enough girls to form one team...oh and that was 12U-16U. Finding a coach to actually teach live pitch around here is pretty hard too. I can imagine it's kind of hard for a girl to learn to pitch when she doesn't have anyone to teach her the basics.

Sparky Guy said:

Need to back up the banana cart here. Stealing in machine pitch 10U? Two umpires? It sounds like a true beginner rec program that may have it's focus on the wrong things. At that level it should be more about teaching, fun and game flow rather than intense games.

JMHO

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Are you suggesting that we're more focused on intense games? That's what I'm getting from your post. Girls are allowed to steal one base at a time and aren't allowed to steal home. This allows our catcher to learn to throw without suffering the consequences of a bad throw. It is possible to learn something while having a fun and intense game.

riseball said:

So in this 10U machine pitch scenario the umpire prevented your catcher from firing a laser beam to the 3rd baseman who would have caught this rocket, executed a perfect swipe tag to the runners feet and then sold it to the umpire? Is that what happened?

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Lol, I don't know what the umpire prevented, but he did prevent her from attempting to make the play. She might have thrown a rainbow that ended up halfway to 3rd or she might have overthrown the ball into LF. Then again she might have made a really good throw where the girl on 3rd could have easily tagged the runner because she didn't slide. I'm just going to assume your sarcasm is all in good fun and not actually condescending since you put a smiley face.


****Also please don't think I'm being condescending! I know that communicating via text can sometimes get misinterpreted

**** Additional edit: I also don't want to be the "well that's how we've always done it" person when it comes to machine pitch. We might have low numbers of older girls because they start live pitch so late and maybe it's not as "fun" to them.

CRJC said:

It's been machine pitch since I played 15 years ago. Girls move to live pitch at 12U. This year they only had enough girls to form one team...oh and that was 12U-16U. Finding a coach to actually teach live pitch around here is pretty hard too. I can imagine it's kind of hard for a girl to learn to pitch when she doesn't have anyone to teach her the basics.



Are you suggesting that we're more focused on intense games? That's what I'm getting from your post. Girls are allowed to steal one base at a time and aren't allowed to steal home. This allows our catcher to learn to throw without suffering the consequences of a bad throw. It is possible to learn something while having a fun and intense game.



Lol, I don't know what the umpire prevented, but he did prevent her from attempting to make the play. She might have thrown a rainbow that ended up halfway to 3rd or she might have overthrown the ball into LF. Then again she might have made a really good throw where the girl on 3rd could have easily tagged the runner because she didn't slide. I'm just going to assume your sarcasm is all in good fun and not actually condescending since you put a smiley face.


****Also please don't think I'm being condescending! I know that communicating via text can sometimes get misinterpreted

**** Additional edit: I also don't want to be the "well that's how we've always done it" person when it comes to machine pitch. We might have low numbers of older girls because they start live pitch so late and maybe it's not as "fun" to them.

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Don't get too worked up. Most of the "regular" rec umpires aren't going to be great. Now, when you get to your sanctioned event with Allstars, chances are the officiating will be trained a little better.

This year they only had enough girls to form one team...oh and that was 12U-16U. Finding a coach to actually teach live pitch around here is pretty hard too. I can imagine it's kind of hard for a girl to learn to pitch when she doesn't have anyone to teach her the basics.

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yeah, I hope I didn't come off as condescending either! At the end of the day, it always comes down to doing the best you can with what you have available.

I think the concept of machine pitch at 10U triggered the "Whaaaaat?" response from many of us who are fortunate enough to have more kids to fill the teams and leagues available.