That was the score of my 12 YO DD's first little league game of the season. She was on the "right" end of it. This was in little league Majors division which is for girls league age 9-12, but is mostly 11 and 12 YOs in our area.
The game started with our team putting up 8runs to open the game with 4 hits and a few walks. Then our pitcher had a three up three down inning striking out three batters.
Our next at bat was even "better". When the score got to 16-0 I went to the manager of our team and asked him if maybe he'd like to have runners leave early in order for us to end the inning. He wasn't familiar with this tactic so I explained and he agreed to do it, but then asked me to confer with the opposing manager to see if she was OK with this.
I am not an official assistant coach on the team, but I help out when I can. At this game I helped with warm ups and then went and sat in the stands to watch with my wife. The manager of our team is a great guy and isn't in little league to be competitive. He absolutely does not care about the score at all or winning or losing.
Anyway, I walk around to the opposition dugout and say, "Excuse me, coach, would you be offended if we had runners leave early in order to get out of the inning?" to which she replied, "I'm not offended that you asked, but I'd rather let them play it out". OK.
I relay this info to our manager and we end up scoring 12 total in the second inning. Our defense again goes three up three down.
In the 3rd the other team changes pitchers and she gives up three hits while walking 10 or 11 before our manager instructs his players to swing and miss at anything close. He also stops stealing home, I think at the start of the inning. We score another 13. I go talk to the umpire from behind the backstop and ask if the game will be ended due to the mercy rule after 3. I am informed that they must play four innings.
We change pitchers and put in a girl who plays select soccer and hasn't thrown a pitch since little league ended last May. She hits the first batter giving the other team their first baserunner. This base runner steals second then on another pitch a high, outside wild pitch, attempts to steal third, but the catcher leaps up, turns, catches the ball as it bounces of the backstop and throws the runner out at 3rd. Not the other teams day. Our new pitcher settles down and gets the next two batters out.
The 4th inning is pretty much the same story with our team getting 9 more runs on walks. Pitches anywhere near the plate that our girls could feasibly swing and miss at were a rarity.
This is an inter league game against another community. Our community has two majors teams and when our players start texting their friends on the other team about the score our VP of softball, who's DD plays for our other team finds out and he's not happy. He calls me after talking with the coach to get my version of what happened. He says he's going to have to send a letter of apology to the other league.
I do feel bad for those girls who were on the losing end of this debacle, but I also feel bad for our manager who has never been in this position before and doesn't have an unsporting bone in his body. I know that sounds crazy given the result, but it's true. He's now being verbally reprimanded by our VP of softball and the league President. The teams were very unevenly matched. There was no way of them playing without it being a beat down. I think the situation could have been managed better, but there was nothing malicious about the coaching.
The ironic part of all this is that our league has always been the one to give players equal playing time and not care about the score, while surrounding leagues run their teams as if every rec game was a gold bracket championship. Our league has suffered countless drubbings and then we go out and hand out the biggest thumping perhaps in area history.
Anyway, that's how you win 42-0 without really trying.
The game started with our team putting up 8runs to open the game with 4 hits and a few walks. Then our pitcher had a three up three down inning striking out three batters.
Our next at bat was even "better". When the score got to 16-0 I went to the manager of our team and asked him if maybe he'd like to have runners leave early in order for us to end the inning. He wasn't familiar with this tactic so I explained and he agreed to do it, but then asked me to confer with the opposing manager to see if she was OK with this.
I am not an official assistant coach on the team, but I help out when I can. At this game I helped with warm ups and then went and sat in the stands to watch with my wife. The manager of our team is a great guy and isn't in little league to be competitive. He absolutely does not care about the score at all or winning or losing.
Anyway, I walk around to the opposition dugout and say, "Excuse me, coach, would you be offended if we had runners leave early in order to get out of the inning?" to which she replied, "I'm not offended that you asked, but I'd rather let them play it out". OK.
I relay this info to our manager and we end up scoring 12 total in the second inning. Our defense again goes three up three down.
In the 3rd the other team changes pitchers and she gives up three hits while walking 10 or 11 before our manager instructs his players to swing and miss at anything close. He also stops stealing home, I think at the start of the inning. We score another 13. I go talk to the umpire from behind the backstop and ask if the game will be ended due to the mercy rule after 3. I am informed that they must play four innings.
We change pitchers and put in a girl who plays select soccer and hasn't thrown a pitch since little league ended last May. She hits the first batter giving the other team their first baserunner. This base runner steals second then on another pitch a high, outside wild pitch, attempts to steal third, but the catcher leaps up, turns, catches the ball as it bounces of the backstop and throws the runner out at 3rd. Not the other teams day. Our new pitcher settles down and gets the next two batters out.
The 4th inning is pretty much the same story with our team getting 9 more runs on walks. Pitches anywhere near the plate that our girls could feasibly swing and miss at were a rarity.
This is an inter league game against another community. Our community has two majors teams and when our players start texting their friends on the other team about the score our VP of softball, who's DD plays for our other team finds out and he's not happy. He calls me after talking with the coach to get my version of what happened. He says he's going to have to send a letter of apology to the other league.
I do feel bad for those girls who were on the losing end of this debacle, but I also feel bad for our manager who has never been in this position before and doesn't have an unsporting bone in his body. I know that sounds crazy given the result, but it's true. He's now being verbally reprimanded by our VP of softball and the league President. The teams were very unevenly matched. There was no way of them playing without it being a beat down. I think the situation could have been managed better, but there was nothing malicious about the coaching.
The ironic part of all this is that our league has always been the one to give players equal playing time and not care about the score, while surrounding leagues run their teams as if every rec game was a gold bracket championship. Our league has suffered countless drubbings and then we go out and hand out the biggest thumping perhaps in area history.
Anyway, that's how you win 42-0 without really trying.
