Delaying play to run clock time off

[SESwildfire]

This past weekend during upper flight bracket play, top of last inning down 3-2 with 6 minutes remaining, two down nobody on bottom of our order. We were visitors. (yes we put ourselves in this position, with an error that gave up 2 runs that is on me to work on later). The opposing coach makes a pitching change in the slowest possible way one can imagine. Then immediately follows that up with a "defensive positional change" where he instructs his left fielder to unlace and relace her shoes. My girls are ready to go. Batter line drives out to short.

He instructs his team to walk off the field, our girls are sprinting to positions, He holds a team meeting on the field and the ump instructs me he has 60 secs in between innings. He calls time to talk to his batter, and instructs her to take every single pitching with a fake bunt. His delays ran off almost 5 minutes of clock time when there was no ball in play and was allowed. After the game as we are leaving my assistant coach is a few strides behind the blues and over hears the plate ump say and i quote "you can bet if the shoe was on the other foot they would have no problem doing the same exact thing" to which my loudmouth assistant ( i will address this later) fires off "no our teams comes to play ball not pull that busch league crap that you just allowed) and the ump replies "you dont even know what the hell we are talking about brother" and that is when i pulled him away knowing we can and will see them at a later time.

now aside from the "dont be in that situation to begin with" comments and the drama from my own team what are the actual rules here? UTRIP and what are your views as a coach on pulling this.

 

[_MIA_]

Not right but it won't be the last time it happens to you. Baseball/softball were not designed to have clocks and the fact that they do opens up the possibility for all kinds of legal but unsavory behavior to take place.

 

[marriard]

now aside from the "dont be in that situation to begin with" comments and the drama from my own team what are the actual rules here? UTRIP and what are your views as a coach on pulling this.

Plenty of threads on here about this but in summary:
You can go over the top - the whole shoe tying thing is garbage, going overboard in pool play is garbage. Doing catcher swaps mid-inning and so on. Where that line is can be hard to really determine - it is probably really what you as a coaching staff are comfortable with. As an umpire I can move them along as best as I can, but there really isn't much we can legitimately do for the most part.

However on bracket day as a coaching staff - these tournaments are expensive. We owe it to the girl and the parents to play as many games as possible, get as far as we can on the day, and get as much value for our money and playing time as we possibly can. Pool days we rarely do anything - unless we need a win to avoid 8am games. If there is 30 seconds left and we are home and winning with two outs, you can bet this is going to be the last batter.

On top of this, pretty much every team has limited pitching and too many games to potentially play in bracket play. If I can win and move on to the next game, without having to throw unnecessary innings, I am going to do so.

BTW - by 14U 99% of teams and parents never say a word unless it is REALLY stupid. And even then, they say little and just make sure they remember to beat up on that team next time. It is just what happens and part of the game. It is only the untrained 12U and below coaches and parent groups who become unhinged over this.

 

[fuzzy2651]

I agree with marriard. It's going to happen, especially with the games being timed. Coaches can go over the top, but it becomes part of the game when there's a clock involved. Coaches are obviously stalling, but you can't take away a coach being able to make a pitching change, or calling time to talk to his team. If roles were reversed you can't say 100% for sure you wouldn't do the say thing to guarantee you'd be moving on.

 

[DNeeld]

This is what happens when you add a clock to a game that was designed to be played without one.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

So what you can do is vote with your dollars and play in events that do not use a clock (PGF is better than most about this). Mention to tournament directors why you are (or are not) playing in their events.

From my region ASA is the worst with clocks and PGF is the best (no time limit in qualifiers, etc.).

 

[Strike2]

When you're the visitor, behind in the score, and the clock is running out, you're in a tough spot. Nothing can be done about the coach calling "time out"...the conference in the circle... followed by the umpire walking out...followed by a pitching change. That said, the umpire can and should ensure that the change and warmup is done in a reasonably expeditious way. There's nothing that says an umpire can't stop the clock if there is obvious stalling..."I can't find my glove" or "I need to re-lace my shoes". The umpire can also start calling balls and strikes, as appropriate, for delays in delivering the pitch or the batter not getting into the box.

A few years ago, I watched a team trying to stall their way into a win during a drop-dead. Mid-way through an at-bat, there's a pitching change. The umpire kept things moving, and made them pitch to the batter. They intended to walk this batter, but she drilled a not-high-enough pitch into the RCF fence, cleared the bases, and that was the game.

 

[marriard]

There's nothing that says an umpire can't stop the clock if there is obvious stalling..."I can't find my glove" or "I need to re-lace my shoes".

Actually, no umpires can't do that. There is no rule that allows the umpire to stop the clock for 'stalling'. You don't get to make up rules.

Even if you wanted to call it unsportsmanlike, which I wouldn't, that is just a warning for first offense and an ejection for the second - which I guarentee will run WAY more time off the clock which is NOT STOPPED for either decision.

The umpire can also start calling balls and strikes, as appropriate, for delays in delivering the pitch or the batter not getting into the box.

This we can do. There are rules about this.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Had a coach pull a really unique one a few years back. They are home team and up by one run. Two outs with a few minutes on the clock. The catcher comes out of the dugout with her shin guards on. Makes a big deal about taking them off and one of the straps "sticking" on her. The coach has to come out to "help" her. After several tries he finally gets the sticky strap off. The girl then goes to put her batting helmet on. OMG..... It's not my helmet!!! It doesn't fit. After trying several helmets on the one she walked out with miraculously now fits her head. She takes the first pitch and he calls time to talk to her. Waits until the umpire comes and breaks it up. Takes another pitch then steps out of the box for 27 practice swings. Time expired when she stepped into the box.

 

[OK04dad]

Frustrating for sure, but as long as they are going to use time limits then it opens it up for this type of behavior. Our coaches will play it straight, but we've had opposing coaches (as the home team) tell a runner to leave base early and/or their batter to step on the plate to hit the ball in order to get to the next inning.