Over Officious?

[smddad]

ASA regional qualifier this weekend. Umpire in final game will not allow the girls the quick huddle at the beginning of each half inning before the leadoff batter was up. As they tried, he would start yelling, "No huddle! No Huddle!" I'm not sure if this was by direction of the tournament director or not, as he was the only one all weekend that I saw doing this. He also got on a team for being too loud for their cheering. Albeit, they were screaming pretty loud, but not in a way that was disrespectful to the other team.

Is this just an over-officious umpire, or is there justification with this?

 

[SCDad]

I am used to a quick high five between the infielders and pitchers as they return (after throwing around the horn) the game ball in between every out. Very similar at the beginning of the half inning.

But you said "huddle". Even though you included the adjective "quick". The umpire probably did not think it was "quick".

I have seen more and more umpires doing their best to "move the game along". I applaud them for it, because way too many hitters, pitchers, infielders, and coaches do not seem to have a clue that these are usually timed games. Limit the extra-curriculars.

I have seen the same with rain approaching in a high school game. Umpire signalling "batter-up", only giving a very limited amount of warm-up pitches, and calling out "throw down". Making sure to be quickly present during any coach/player/pitcher conference, to break it up short.

I wish more would do the same. My gosh, if someone does not do something, the game will soon be as slow as baseball.

As for the cheering ... he obviously thought the team doing the loud cheering was doing it to distract the other team. There is a "right" way to cheer, and a "wrong" way to cheer. Someone, likes this umpire, wants to draw "his" line here. So he did.

Shoot, if he does not, it will be more like pro wrestling.

I am sure the rules-makers will jump all over me on this. But the game is getting over the top with noise and delays, and in my opinion is not good for the game. I side with the umpire, and wish there were more like him.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

ASA rules only allow 1 minute for pitchers to throw no more than 5 warm-up pitches.

Huddling as they come off the field shouldn't be an issue as long as the first batter skips it to get ready.

 

[Comp]

Most of our local tournaments have gone to a no huddle on the field policy. They may be quick high fives but when they do it at the start of every inning and every put out with no runners on it starts adding up to a considerable amount of time over the course of a game.

 

[eddieq]

I worked a showcase this weekend. Verbatim, here are the rules I received on that subject:

The 1 minute rule (ASA Rule 6; Section 9) between innings will be strictly enforced. There are to be NO huddles on the pitching mound after the 1st inning

We reminded them at the plate meeting and if it happened, shooed them away. Of course, the TD didn't offer us what penalty to enforce if they continued doing it.

 

[smddad]

I worked a showcase this weekend. Verbatim, here are the rules I received on that subject:



We reminded them at the plate meeting and if it happened, shooed them away. Of course, the TD didn't offer us what penalty to enforce if they continued doing it.

Thank you. That very well may have been the case and it wasn't one of our games, so I didn't ask him. Although it was just the one umpire. We thought it was a bit odd. He said something to the girls on both teams just as the infield headed to the circle.

 

[JAD]

I worked a showcase this weekend. Verbatim, here are the rules I received on that subject:

The last showcase we played we stopped taking warm ups between innings to speed things up. Both coaches agreed to "one pitch and throw down". I bet our girls got 10-15 minutes more playing time vs. warm up time in front of the college coaches in attendance.

 

[BretMan]

Around these parts, I haven't seen any tourneys flat out ban huddles. But once the warm up pitches have been thrown, I'm not going to let a lot of time get wasted with a huddle. All I usually do is say, "Let's go, girls. It's time to play ball". Works just fine is a lot less goofy than standing there screaming, "No huddles! No huddles!".

 

[Umpire]

I absolutely HATE when tournaments change rules, notwithstanding the fact that they may be permitted to do so. How about this: 1 minutes = 1 minute? Do whatever the hell you want, but you better be ready to play in one minute. Why? Because it is in the rule book. When it doubt, defer to the rule book. I know, it's a scary thought. BS tournament rules screw everyone up for real tournaments. If I find that a team is going to huddle, I just ask the catcher to throw it down quicker. And no, I don't yell, "BALLS IN," I simply take my brush out and approach home plate. The catcher almost always says, "Coming down" when I do that. Or, if she hasn't gotten the clue yet, I say, "Next one down please." The next inning, she'll throw it down without me saying anything. That way if they want to huddle, so be it. They still only get 1 minute.

That is a way that umpire's can manage the game without being an OOJ.

 

[nanotech14]

Sorry, but the whole huddle and glove slapping thing is out of control. Play the game. Cheer for your team, but leave all the stupid chants and songs at cheerleading camp. Play softball or become a cheerleader. I love when your team is getting their buts handed to them and they are doing their stupid cheers. Maybe just shut up and learn from the other team by watching what they are doing right to kick your butts. By the way, it is my dd's team that is always getting their butts handed to them. My dd hates the cheerleading and all the huddles.