Blatant cheating USSSA tournament. thoughts?

[radness]

Imagine if you will
( the beginning of a twilight zone episode)
A coach getting so much negative attention.
The organization drops the coach.
Then families can decide there own right or wrong.

It has happened!

 

[flash277]

Once it was found, I would have refused to play on until the TD and the UIC had been contacted, brought over, shown the ball. and appropriately dealt with the situation.

And TD or UIC that wouldn't have immediately thrown the team from the tournament is a disgrace.

If you didn't have the TD and UIC informed immediately and left it in the hands of the umpires (who should have done this themselves), then you really have no complaint. I know if I had been the umpire that would have been my immediate reaction.


Yes - I have seen some blatant cheating from some real pieces of scum. Sometimes it gets called out... other times (like this) they get away with it.

Say Marriad, can you explain the penalty for this? I’ve read the USSSA rules on altered balls, and it says it’s the same rule as altered bats. When I read that, the penalty is not clear. It basically says that if you use a altered bat and called on it, it is first checked by director, then if they find it altered, it’s sent to a committee or manufacturer of the bat. If bat indeed altered, the offender is suspended for 5 years. Does that mean if a pitcher uses a altered ball, she could be suspended for five years? Immediate penalty for altered bat is batter and coach ejected, so I guess the pitcher and coach would be ejected for altered ball, the team would not be kicked out.

 

[ANNASDAD]

So tell me about this hollowed out hole in the ball trick.....benefit of it??

I'm thinking this new 10U Rec league is going to be super competitive, looking for any advantage I can find!

 

[_MIA_]

So tell me about this hollowed out hole in the ball trick.....benefit of it??

Outside of making the ball a bit lighter and making it compress a bit more on contact, probably nothing in terms of movement if the pitcher doesn't know how to take advantage of it. Not sure how much the first two things I mentioned would help....

 

[BrianTx01]

So tell me about this hollowed out hole in the ball trick.....benefit of it??

I'm thinking this new 10U Rec league is going to be super competitive, looking for any advantage I can find!

I am thinking it would give the ball more compression and the ball wouldn't travel as far.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Probably nothing if the pitcher doesn't know how to take advantage of it...probably more of a security blanket
for the pitcher more than anything else.

I'm definitely not an Aeronautical engineer, but I can't think of one benefit / advantage for a dad or coach to drill out a hole and then glue it back on for a 14U girl to throw? Am I missing something here?

 

[_MIA_]

I'm definitely not an Aeronautical engineer, but I can't think of one benefit / advantage for a dad or coach to drill out a hole and then glue it back on for a 14U girl to throw? Am I missing something here?

I modified my response to give two possible advantages..no idea what their thought process was but what I do know is that particular team needs a lot of help...

 

[BrianTx01]

They could have also put something in the ball to weight it differently.

 

[OsDad]

I hear what you are saying... Since there was nothing that could be done after the fact, I was reluctant to name names. But since you brought it up, It was Oklahoma Xplosion 07 out of Bethel Oklahoma. If you ever run into them, I'd keep a sharp eye!

Not surprised to hear it was them and I'm even less surprised that the tournament director in question didn't do anything. Big Show Productions is known around here colloquially as "Sh!t Show Productions" for a reason.

 

[Vertigo]

I've never dealt with a team "doctoring" a ball in FP (baseball is a whole different set of stories, though). The one we see periodically is the defensive team trying to slip a practice ball or mushy ball in after a game ball gets fouled off.

When my son played LL there was coach who would give his pitchers a mush ball until he got called out on it. You could hear the difference! Nine y/o rec ball and this is what he was stooping to to hopefully make the championship game. So ridiculous.