"You can't clock our pitchers"

[catmaster]

Interesting. I just bought a pocket radar. I guess I better learn the rules since I'm assistant coach of a 10u team. I mainly bought it to clock DD.
So what can't I do? Can I clock DD during game?

 

[grcsftbll]

Interesting. I just bought a pocket radar. I guess I better learn the rules since I'm assistant coach of a 10u team. I mainly bought it to clock DD.
So what can't I do? Can I clock DD during game?

At least in USSSA, from what the ump said, you can clock anyone you want. The only exception is if it's during a game you're playing, and you report the results to the dugout. You can even clock during your own kid's games but only if you keep the info to yourself. If that umpire was right, anyway.

If the woman had said "Would you mind not clocking her? It makes her nervous." I'd just have said no problem and stopped. But she was such a jerk about it, I didn't feel inclined to be cooperative. I clocked her a couple more pitches just to make a point. I'll tell ya, the girl pitching didn't even seem to notice me. She sure didn't look nervous and my presence didn't seem to affect her at all. Obviously I don't want to intentionally mess with a 10/11 year old kid. I did not mind messing with the adult acting like a jerk though, especially since the pitcher seemed so unaffected.

 

[Rocketech1]

At least in USSSA, from what the ump said, you can clock anyone you want. The only exception is if it's during a game you're playing, and you report the results to the dugout. You can even clock during your own kid's games but only if you keep the info to yourself. If that umpire was right, anyway.

If the woman had said "Would you mind not clocking her? It makes her nervous." I'd just have said no problem and stopped. But she was such a jerk about it, I didn't feel inclined to be cooperative. I clocked her a couple more pitches just to make a point. I'll tell ya, the girl pitching didn't even seem to notice me. She sure didn't look nervous and my presence didn't seem to affect her at all. Obviously I don't want to intentionally mess with a 10/11 year old kid. I did not mind messing with the adult acting like a jerk though, especially since the pitcher seemed so unaffected.

If a pitcher gets nervous because someone is radaring them (or for that matter taking videos, photos, game notes etc.), then they have chosen the wrong position to play in fastpitch. She is not focused if she is worried about what people in the stands are doing...

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I rarely use mine. We are rec league 14u. If we are coming up against someone that is thought to be fast, I clock her once. I tell my team, if she is below 50. (They always are.)
But, anymore, I can tell pretty close - how fast they are throwing. You'll know 60, when you see it.

 

[grcsftbll]

I like to do it because everyone thinks their 10U pitcher is throwing 50+ and almost none of them are. It helps the kids on our team to see that no, they're not all as fast as everyone says they are.

 

[grcsftbll]

If a pitcher gets nervous because someone is radaring them (or for that matter taking videos, photos, game notes etc.), then they have chosen the wrong position to play in fastpitch. She is not focused if she is worried about what people in the stands are doing...

DH actually said that to the person complaining.

 

[Ariel116]

My DD tunes out everything when she is pitching or maybe it's only me that she tunes out. I have asked her and she said she doesn't hear any of the stuff being yelled so I doubt she would even notice if anyone was clocking her.

 

[quincy]

I need to be careful, she hears me.

She keeps track of me, not a good thing.

 

[Comp]

I rarely use mine. We are rec league 14u. If we are coming up against someone that is thought to be fast, I clock her once. I tell my team, if she is below 50. (They always are.)
But, anymore, I can tell pretty close - how fast they are throwing. You'll know 60, when you see it.

More moons ago than I like to count, was watching daughters team play in a tournament in Vegas. The pitching coach asked me to run the gun on our pitchers so she could see how hard they were throwing in game situations. One girl was consistently 59, sometimes touching 60 and our other pitcher was consistently 61-62. I hadnt even bothered to put the gun on the other teams pitcher when a guy walks up to me and starts telling me his daughter is the pitcher of the other team and she is consistently 64-65. I just nodded and didnt say anything when he asked me to put the gun on her. I did and it came up 55, he mumbled something about it must have been one of her offspeed pitches and asked me to do another. Again 55, at that point he said the gun I was using must be broken because he knew she threw 65 as he stomped off. Ok, well if the gun is broken then our pitchers are throwing 65-70+.

 

[NCASAUmp]

Interesting. I just bought a pocket radar. I guess I better learn the rules since I'm assistant coach of a 10u team. I mainly bought it to clock DD.
So what can't I do? Can I clock DD during game?

In USA Softball (formerly ASA), you can't have any electronic equipment in the dugout except an electronic scorebook. So basically, if you're in the dugout, the pocket radar has got to go.

Just have another parent clock her.