Timed games--Play more innings!

[Orange Socks]

So DD2 plays on JV and their games are timed to end at about 1hr 15min and Varsity takes the field 15 minutes later. It's basically 12U rec ball for most teams. The first game they only got 2 innings but the umps stopped play at 1 hour. Score does not matter, and they do 5 run limits per half inning. The last several games they only played 3 innings. Why can't we play more innings to get the girls more reps??? Here's where I get all twisted, and I'm sure the parents and the coaches don't understand why I get all wrapped around the axle on this. I started monitoring how long it takes for the players to switch sides and do their warm ups. It was taking at least 2-3 minutes. There was a lineup change in between innings that added 2-3 more minutes for the ump to talk to both coaches. Blue!!! This is a timed game, can we play ball already!!!! I was already irritated with these umps with obviously bad calls.

I figured they wasted about 18 minutes of time during the game. There is no sense of urgency with the coaches or umps. Back in 10U rec ball days we had an umpire (George) that was an acquired taste, but he was pretty good. He would tell us to get our players on the field quickly. He says it's your money, wouldn't you want to play as many innings as you could? So my DD isn't in the starting lineup so she basically gets to play one inning in the field and max 1 AB a game. So yes. I would like for my DD to get more playing experience but the other players as well. I'm gonna email the coach and let her know what I think! She likes me for the most part. Except when I emailed her after my DD was snubbed for all team awards for 4 years even though she was 1st Team All District for 3 years, lead the team in every category for all 4 years. And gave the Defensive MVP to the very same player who was awarded Most Improved Player. I already posted that.

I believe there are rules in place already to speed up the inning transition somewhere. DD1 played her full 7 inning college games in a 1 hr 30min.

 

[mmeece]

I have started umpiring, and for the life of me I don't understand why we even need to keep track of subs in a JV game. Just play free subs, bat the entire team. If you have too many kids to do that then you probably need to look at some cuts or not bringing every kid to every game. If there are too many to bat everyone then there are too many to get anyone much time anyway. It would streamline things for the coach, speed things up, and remove the pressure of making a "wrong" sub from the coach.

 

[Shiloh]

If the rules limit the pitcher to 6 pitches between innings, or 6 pitches for a new pitcher coming into the game, or batters can't have more than one foot out of the box....you could remind the coaches and umpire of these rules. That would give them the levers needed to help speed things up, rather than just pointing out the slow pace.

 

[Schmick's Gloves]

Why doesn't the JV play on the JV field? Or a different day if there's only 1 field?

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[flash277]

Around here jv has the same rules as varsity. When varsity plays at home against a team, the jv travels to that school to play their jv team.

 

[ang2bmd]

So weird that JV wouldn't play regular games. Isn't the idea to prepare for varsity the kids aren't 7. At our school we have 2 fields and JV and varsity play full games at the same time. Sometimes JV gets hosed when we travel if the place has only 1 field and no lights.

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[mmeece]

So weird that JV wouldn't play regular games. Isn't the idea to prepare for varsity the kids aren't 7. At our school we have 2 fields and JV and varsity play full games at the same time. Sometimes JV gets hosed when we travel if the place has only 1 field and no lights.

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In many schools around my area (North Texas, especially mid-level to small schools) the varsity coach is also the JV coach, or they have an assistant to help with JV that is just pulled over from another sport. That makes it tough to play at the same time. I've never seen a school in our area that has 2 softball fields.

 

[Schmick's Gloves]

In many schools around my area (North Texas, especially mid-level to small schools) the varsity coach is also the JV coach, or they have an assistant to help with JV that is just pulled over from another sport. That makes it tough to play at the same time. I've never seen a school in our area that has 2 softball fields.

Here they don't all have football stadiums but every school has 2 baseball and 2 softball fields. The JV fields may not always have fences or covered dugouts but all the schools seem to have fields. Some are not on school grounds though.

For football some districts will have 1 or 2 stadiums that the schools will share, or they play at a JC near by or something, it's weird. Some districts do it right and every school has a football stadium

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[Rolling Hard]

Umps need to move the game along. Hustle in, hustle out. As soon as the pitcher takes the mound and throws one pitch you can hear some dad yelling, "balls in, coming down." I don't know who he is but I like him.

 

[NBECoach]

I have coached HS JV since 2013 and if my memory is correct we have only played 7 innings 4 times. While the conference rules for JV are identical to varsity (7 innings, no run rule) we generally agree to a run rule of 15 after 3 or 10 after 4. The JV and varsity play at the same time obviously on different fields. That's not to say we run rule everyone. We have played good teams 5 or 6 innings, 7 is rare.

I try and remind the players to hustle on and off the field so we have time to get everyone in the game win or lose.