What would be the right game time length in travel ball?

[JayW]

Impossible to run a tournament with games running consecutively on the same fields without time limits.

 

[clarity]

Nothing shorter than 80 minutes, finish the inning

 

[Hustle LI]

i think league and friendly, non-tournament games should have no limit. let them play the full 6 or 7 innings so you can get the most time for the most players. i think tourny play needs it to keep the tourny going and to keep the girls from injury and wear. i think time limit should be different for age group. i would like 1:15-1:30 per game depending on pool or elimination game to be good.

 

[quincy]

IMO it changes on all the factors OP mentioned. I am not sure anwser.

Some HS games finish like 60-55. How is that even possible and how long was the game?

Mostly DD played with an hour half time, but not drop dead. So pretty much 2 hours between each game.

 

[_MIA_]

If development is your main focus, as it should be, the only valid reason for making it not time limited is so that players can learn to play in that environment as this is what they will do when they play HS/College. In general longer timed games will do the same thing (pitchers need to learn to go longer and adjust to hitters seeing them 3 or 4 times, hitters need to learn to adjust to facing a pitcher more than twice a game, etc.)

Complaints about coaches using the clock to their advantage, drop dead not being fair, etc are silly. Who cares if the outcome of 15% of your XU softball games are effected by such things..

 

[quincy]

If DD pitched to batter 4 times, things are not going well.

The 5th or 6th time was a killer. I think 1 Team is still batting against her.

 

[Eric F]

i think league and friendly, non-tournament games should have no limit. let them play the full 6 or 7 innings so you can get the most time for the most players. i think tourny play needs it to keep the tourny going and to keep the girls from injury and wear. i think time limit should be different for age group. i would like 1:15-1:30 per game depending on pool or elimination game to be good.

If you run TB friendlies as full 7-inning games, with no time constraints, you will significantly reduce the number of games played in a day, and you can bet that the last games of the day will start way later than scheduled. Also, a team would probably only play 2 games in a day, not 3. 2 long games vs. 3 short games - time on the field is going to be similar.

 

[Cougars]

Most tournaments around here seem to be 75 min, finish the inning. Personally, I don't like any shorter than that, and only play in that situation if weather screws things up.

90 minutes would be my personal preference, but no matter what the time is, should always be finish the inning. Drop dead is the worst for the time "games" that coaches play.

My biggest issue is keeping things moving in between innings. MLB is running commercials, and even they have a 2 minute clock in between innings. We played a tournament last summer, and the team we were playing took forever in between innings. I timed it, and it was a full 5 minutes from their batter making the last out and their pitcher throwing the next pitch. We were winning, so just went with it, but it was crazy how slow they did everything.

 

[_MIA_]

If DD pitched to batter 4 times, things are not going well.

That is the case for most pitchers at any level of softball/baseball where the hitters are any good. You can learn to better manage this though..which is not really something MLB does anymore as starters rarely go more than 5 or 6 innings nowadays.

 

[jsoftballcoach]

For most age groups, certainly 14u upward, 1+30 finish the inning or 1+20 finish plus one is about right. Game lengths are mostly predictable and the clock becomes far less of a factor.

Some tournaments offer an untimed championship round and some showcases play full games regardless of time. On the other end, one-hour pool games suck, and I wouldn't sign up for a tournament that had one-hour bracket.

This sounds right to me. I think triple crown nationals does 7 inning games, in my opinion that’s too much for a tournament format. 1:30 finish the inning seems like a good time, that usually gets you 5 or 6 innings.


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