Officials talking to catcher after game

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Mar 7, 2016
242
28
Back story: First brkt play game of the day. Single elem tournament. Score is 2-2, we are away team. Home team is up to bat 1 out bases loaded. My catchers lets 3 passed balls get by her and they score all three on base. A few batters later its runners at the corners still one out. (in hind site I should have made a change at both pitcher and catcher by now but due to injuries options were limited at pitcher). Pitcher throws a drop ball that gets by catcher again, catcher instead of sprinting for ball just walks back to it without a care in the world letting girl on 3rd score and runner advance clear to 3B. We finish the inning and I ask my catcher what happened. Her reply "i didnt see the girl on first base and didnt think i could get to the ball in time for the girl coming home so I just didnt try". At that moment i made a change at catcher.

After the conclusion of the game the HP ump calls my starting catcher over and tells her "That was not your fault, no one on your team was telling you where the ball was and you caught a great game."

She tallied a total of 8 passed balls in the game giving up 5 runs on those 8 over 3 innings behind the plate. Including telling her coach she basically gave up on a ball. Now every player has a bad game, i get that but would anyone else here take exception to the HP ump telling her this? especially when her parents bring it up to the coach later saying they agree with the HP Ump. I am all for a HP telling players they did great, keep their head up kinda thing but i think this one went too far essentially tell her the coach was wrong and justifying the lack of effort.

Now these were not wild pitches by any means, with some not even in the dirt. Mostly change ups and drops. One I did not count was a rise ball that was pitchers fault. So while not technically an error on catch, not an earned run on Pitcher either.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
14UB at a State level tourney

At that age, there is no excuse for not hustling or not knowing where the runners are - especially something like 1st and 3rd. If I'm the coach, that alone is a reason for me to put another catcher in the game. If she's missing multiple easy catches, I will also be looking to put someone else behind the plate. Maybe it's just not her day, but a bad day doesn't mean it's okay to take the whole team down with you. I would have no problem justifying my decision to the girl's parents, regardless of the ump's opinion.
 
Mar 7, 2016
242
28
At that age, there is no excuse for not hustling or not knowing where the runners are - especially something like 1st and 3rd. If I'm the coach, that alone is a reason for me to put another catcher in the game. If she's missing multiple easy catches, I will also be looking to put someone else behind the plate. Maybe it's just not her day, but a bad day doesn't mean it's okay to take the whole team down with you. I would have no problem justifying my decision to the girl's parents, regardless of the ump's opinion.

Normally she is rock solid behind the plate, so this was not a common theme. I have zero issues justifying my decision to parents. Esp after the player said she just didnt try. So the player and I are on the same page why she was pulled. Its the officials that chap me. telling her it was the teams fault for not directing her to the ball.

Not sure how other teams handle this but I have only seen a few times where a catcher didnt know where the passed ball was headed. Not sure how directing a player to a ball would ever work successfully to get the girl coming home.
 

Top_Notch

Screwball
Dec 18, 2014
512
63
I know there are differing levels of play, but if it was my daughter's team, that catcher would have been pulled long before that final play where she gave up. Sounds like the catcher had given up prior to that last play. I say this not knowing the catcher's ability.

I could let the umpire comments slide thinking he was trying to help, but hustle and attitude don't require athletic ability and that's solely on your catcher.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
Sometimes these players get going downhill fast and make multiple mental and physical errors. And of course the ball is gonna find them. Lack of hustle and the don't give a sh$t attitude is what burns me.

We had a CF that misplayed play after play in an inning meanwhile we were getting pummeled by a far superior team. Top 10 in the country. We could not get an out to save our lives. It was clear that her head was not in the game, and she was not getting it together. Coach calls timeout and makes a triple move while pulling her from the game. Sometimes you have to pull them to save them from themselves. Luckily there weren't any college coaches watching. Was the player upset. Yes. I made sure to tell her she is gonna get another shot next game and we just need her to take a deep breath and reset. Next game she made a phenomenal play on the run to the gap. I made sure to let her know that I am proud of her...in front of her teammates.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
"Normally she is rock solid behind the plate "

3 pass balls n 3 ABs and 8 pass balls total????? At 14u??

Did she forget her glasses? Is your DD the pitcher?

I am calling BS!
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
Only thing that I'm hedging on is you said two things 1) I should have puled my pitcher but didn't 2) it was not pitchers fault.....

My guess sounds like you know pitcher had a hand in this debacle as well but for some reason don't want to throw her under the bus. Now on the other hand I am a HUGE there are a ton of things you have no control over out there but your ATTITUDE and HUSTLE are two things you control regardless of whether or not the team is crumbling around you or not. I have a super low tolerance for lack of hustle and have actually pulled players to the detriment of the team to make the point, I honestly don't care if you are the best player on the team if you aren't gonna hustle you are gonna sit. As far as the officials talking to player I'm not worried about it, as an ump I tried never to say more than good game but sometimes you say extra stuff that really not in your lane but on the whole I wouldn't worry about it, stay confident in your decision to pull her and let her know next game is always a chance for fresh start go out there and show me what you can do...
 

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