Tournament Game Scheduling; VENT!

[CMMom1740]

We played in a 3-day tournament this weekend (16U). Our Saturday pool game schedule was reasonable; games at 9:00, 12:30, 4:00 (one game break in between). Came in second in our pool and had our first game Sunday at 10:00. These were seven-inning bracket games. We won our first game and the girls were on fire! Because we won, we had to play again immediately (12:00). Girls had a 10-minute break maximum with barely enough time to go to the bathroom, much less quickly eat a snack. Most didn't even do that (mine didn't because she is a catcher and was warming up the pitcher for the next game). Girls played pretty tight for the first few innings and then things got away from them and we got run-ruled. If we had won, we would have had a break, but since we lost, we had to play again at 2:00. Girls leaked oil the whole game and had zero energy. They were exhausted and hot (did I mention it was 95 degrees?) and just fell apart. We were eliminated from the tournament.

The families had an entire barbecue cookout ready to go, but we had no time to eat. I think that the scheduling for this tournament was crazy. College players don't even play three seven-inning games in a row with no break. We were almost destined to be eliminated based upon the schedule we drew. 16 out of 26 teams in the tournament were eliminated on Sunday. Why not stretch the games out a bit if you've got three days? Or not play full seven-inning games with that many teams in the hunt? Especially given the forecast for brutally hot weather?

Just venting. Our girls are not robots and they need time to cool down, nourish themselves and rest. Please take note, tournament directors!

 

[justanotherguy]

I agree 10x over. Game scheduling is ridiculous. Anything in the name of money. Playing ALL DAY and well into the evening isn't good or healthy. Especially when most are expected to be back the next morning. We very much had the same thing happen to us. 5th game Saturday at 10pm. The girls just fell apart against a team we normally crush. My DD was ready to call it a day after the 3rd game.

 

[grcsftbll]

We played one recently that was at 2 different parks. They were separated by a walkway/bridge, so they were close together. But it was a very long way to walk. We played 4 games on Saturday and literally bounced back and forth every single game. Pool 1 at Park 1, Pool 2 at park 2, bracket 1 back at park 1, bracket 2 at park 2. They could've arranged the pool and bracket so that some teams were on one and some on the other, consolidating into bracket in a single park. I got like 30,000 steps that day; the girls had all that PLUS the games. It was ridiculous. Not to mention we play the same teams in pool all the time. Heaven forbid they put us against someone we haven't played a bunch of times already.

Oh! And we had one last month with one umpire all day long. Got a whopping $40 back in compensation. That was awful.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Full 7-inning games in a tournament? Oof. Most tourneys I work use “no new inning after 1:15” time limits (up to 1:45).

I am with you on wishing tournament directors would look at schedules when they put them together. It is rough and impossible to give everybody an ideal schedule, but you can try to apply some common sense. Cap the number of games in a day, provide adequate breaks (not too long, not too short), and don’t give teams an inadequate turnaround time overnight (if you play the last game of the night, you shouldn’t play the first game in the morning).

On the other side ... If you’ve ever followed Little League, their World Series tournament (and especially the road leading up to it) takes forever because they have limits on how many games teams can play in a day.

 

[grcsftbll]

We played in a PGF in Franklin, TN last month. 5 stars. They did a great job, some weird rules but nothing too crazy (ITB started w/ runner on 3B and one out, for example). Fantastic umpires. It made coming back home to the ones we have that much more painful.

 

[CMMom1740]

Yes, seven inning games. Which is great for the girls in terms of learning how to play in untimed games (more like college ball), but three in a row is insanity. Those teams who got lucky and had breaks (like the team we played in the third/2:00 game yesterday) were rested and fed and ready to play. We were out of gas.

 

[_MIA_]

Some people (not saying you) want to have their cake and eat it too. They will only sign up if the tournament is a Xgg (fill in X) but then complain they get no rest and games start too late/early...

 

[CMMom1740]

Some people (not saying you) want to have their cake and eat it too. They will only sign up if the tournament is a Xgg (fill in X) but then complain they get no rest and games start too late/early...

Understood, but if you've got 3 days to work with, why does the schedule have to be so crammed? There's only 10 teams left playing today.

 

[_MIA_]

Understood, but if you've got 3 days to work with, why does the schedule have to be so crammed? There's only 10 teams left playing today.

Are they playing all day today or are they ending early so that teams traveling a distance can get back to go to work tomorrow (of course they don't do this for Fr-Sun tourneys but Memorial day tournaments seem to operate this way). We have a tourney this weekend that ends today and the championship game was supposed to be at 2pm..unfortunately rain moved everything back 2 hours.

 

[CMMom1740]

Are they playing all day today or are they ending early so that teams traveling a distance can get back to go to work tomorrow (of course they don't do this for Fr-Sun tourneys but Memorial day tournaments seem to operate this way). We have a tourney this weekend that ends today and the championship game was supposed to be at 2pm..unfortunately rain moved everything back 2 hours.

The Championship Game is scheduled for 4:00 PM today.