Shameful!

[grcsftbll]

i had the greatest week of my daughters softball career on sunday last. my dd plays 14u though she is 12 in softball years and we played up to 16u. her team beat the team expected to win the tourney and then...heres the proud parent moment....they forfeited their next game bc they had a special needs game to play. our org has a special needs game every year and it happened to conflict with our schedule. maybe the coach thought we would not do as well as we did nevertheless not 1 child nor parent complained bc they understood the importance of this game to people whos children cannot hit, run, steal or pitch above the level of what we would think a 3 year old child could do. it was magnificent, watching our athletes push the wheel chairs to first, helping the other team steal bases, hit the ball, enjoy the game. i am in complete awe to see our girls give back. it was incredibly humbling. it really put things in to perspective for the girls and the parents as well. i honestly believe we got more out of this game than had we stayed at the tourney and competed for a plastic trophy. if anyone who reads this has the opportunity to participate in one of these fantastic events...please for your own good do so.

Teaching them what's important. I love it.

 

[The Maj]

Just wait until you are playing a clock game to advance to the championship and the plate umpire calls the game with 20 minutes left and the tournament director claims the game was over and he checked the time it started by his watch... That is when your girls have been robbed of a game... Milking the clock, clock management, whatever you want to call it will always be a part of the game as long as the game is timed...

Now, I have seen umpires add time with blatant stalling tactics and I once saw an umpire add an inning but it was clearly spelled out in the tournament rules that milking the clock "could" result in time being added or an additional inning at the umpire's discretion...

In any event, I always told my DD's the clock should not matter and if there had been one more hit earlier or one more timely out earlier, one routine out made it would have been a different outcome... In other words, focus more on doing things right early and the game will work itself out... No one can control time...

 

[grcsftbll]

We played a bracket game in my older one's baseball tournament and they called it 15 minutes early for no reason we could discern. We were down 9 to 1, but our first bracket game we'd also been down 9 to 1 and came back in the end to win it 10-9. Unlikely to do that twice in one tournament but you never know.

 

[wheresmycar]

Shameful!

Yeah first year 10U and we had the most horrible deal that was just beyond my wife and me.

Game has 8 minutes and we’re down a run. The other team is home and is running the clock out with the slowest walk to the plate ever and the 3rd base coach telling his 1st and 2nd batter to step out between each pitch to 3-4 practice swings.

Performs an illegal substitution with players taking more time away.

Two out and telling the 3rd batter to tie her already tied shoe. She takes a knee and takes off each batting glove and stacks them in a nice pile and basically does nothing to her laces except fiddle with them with her back to the home plate ump.

The entire bleacher for our team is going ballistic telling the ump her shoe is tied and your going to just let her run time off like that and the ump does nothing.

She does the O.J. and can’t seem to get the gloves back on and then performs her best Nomar impersonation with the Velcro like a dozen times.

Again the entire bleacher for our team is going ballistic with the crap being so blatant and still the ump does nothing.


By the time the girl makes it back the plate after several practice swings the game is called.

What other Mickey Mouse B.S. to run a game out have you done coaching. Don't be shy if your "that guy or girl" post it up so we know who you are!!

Out coached. Clock management is an important part of softball, at least until you advance to full games.

Your team's parents need to be educated that "going ballistic" towards the umps, NEVER HELPS, and usually hurts the team. Maybe the ump would have added time for the blatant stalling, had it not been for your team's bleachers telling him how to umpire a game.

End of the day, both teams had equal number of "at bats" and your team came up 1 short.

 

[Rocketech1]

Regarding "plastic trophies" has really nothing to do with it. These players and coaches work their tails off to get ready for the games and tournaments and the trophy is just a by-product of the years of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and discipline they have exhibited for a long time. It's a game, with a scoreboard and winners and losers, if you don't like the fact that someone is giving 100% to try to advance to the next game, and the next game, etc. than sports is not the extracurricular activity for you. Said another way, I expect the other team to use clock management against my team and will adjust my coaching strategy accordingly, if not, these teams are doing their players a disservice.

 

[grmerrill]

There's a difference between out coached and out chumped. We work hard to improve skills and teach fair play. That is what I want to continue into my DDs life. The time she spends playing is short, the plastic will sooner or later end in the trash. Your low brow tactics will however carry on for a long time. You stood in the way of teenage girls living to their fullest. Congrats on your time management.

 

[smddad]

There's a difference between out coached and out chumped. We work hard to improve skills and teach fair play. That is what I want to continue into my DDs life. The time she spends playing is short, the plastic will sooner or later end in the trash. Your low brow tactics will however carry on for a long time. You stood in the way of teenage girls living to their fullest. Congrats on your time management.

Not sure why you're so butt-hurt over a manager doing his job by managing a clock. You could petition the TD's to go to a straight up 7 inning game. I'd actually prefer to coach the game that way. But the fact is, there is a clock and there comes a time every so often when it might need to be managed. The girls get better by playing more games. I am sitting here laughing as you try to impose your own set of rules on everyone and then tell us that's best for everyone. You go ahead and coach that way. It's your right.The rest of us will do our jobs and manage the clock within the rules to play deeper in the tournament. As an FYI, I do not, nor have I ever, made a monstrocity of the game. If you're not doing your best as a manager to keep the team alive in bracket play, it's you that is holding them back.

Either way, keep up the childish name calling. It's rather entertaining.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Out coached.

It doesn't take any skill to run out the clock with needless timeouts and lineup changes. So I wouldn't call it being 'out-coached.'

What you have is a coach who values winning more what many consider good sportsmanship.

 

[grcsftbll]

There's a line here, IMO. Managing the clock isn't bad coaching, it's part of the game. If you're down to minutes, up by one run, trying to stretch it out is part of the game, within reason. To me it can fall into not cheating but playing cheap, if it gets excessive.

 

[Rocketech1]

It doesn't take any skill to run out the clock with needless timeouts and lineup changes. So I wouldn't call it being 'out-coached.'

What you have is a coach who values winning more what many consider good sportsmanship.

Good clock management happens earlier and more subtle than you suggest and if done right can be very effective. It certainly is a skill and should be at least considered as one of many strategies that a coach will use during the game. Basketball, football, soccer, etc all have timed games (any skill there in clock management?) and if fastpitch is going to have a clock, no reason not to use it to your advantage, as needed.