ASA Tournament 2012 Metro Dayton - June 8-10,2012

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@Run26 THANK YOU... We need good feedback, taking time to write a well thought out critique is much appreciated. 40 teams ..lol.. even I mentioned that on Sat - where in the world did all these Hawks teams come from?....

Your TD comment is SPOT ON - it really hurts my team and exhausts me. That will change for 2013. It is not fair to my girls or me.

I will put this out there now, If anyone here wants to be on a "planning" committee for the 2013 tourney I am more than willing to put it together - we can have some conf calls, get input, ideas, and feedback from the community on how to make it better. No huge committement but if folks here are truely about the girls and want to make a difference for them, we would welcome the participation.. just PM me if you are interested...

 

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I think the city field issues have been well covered here. Playing at Berliner in Columbus is the same way and a reason why I normally would steer clear of any tournament that is dependent on City workers to handle the diamonds and next year when I put our schedule together that will be a huge factor in my decision if we will return.

With that said the 12u competition was all a coach could ask for. Every team played hard and there were many close games that could have gone either way. Congrats to Kreston and his Classic team on the hard earned Championship, I totally enjoyed our battle in the Winner's bracket final. I also want to say how impressed I was with Dan Kepple's Hawk's team. We had 3 very intense games and for them to come back through that loser's bracket winning 3 in a row to get back to face the Classics was impressive to say the least!

Now I have a question for ASA. If I have to take a $25 class to participate as a coach in the ASA qualifier why is there not something similar for these umpires they dumped on us at 12U. It was not until the winner's bracket final game that I saw even 1 qualified umpire on the game. What we got was old or lazy umpires with little knowledge of the rules who should not have been umpiring rec games, and they probably don't because you could have pulled some teenagers out of the stands and got better quality. After one game I approched an umpire to discuss obstruction with the rule book in hand and was told "I don't care what your rule book says I know the rule" Well that was obviously not the case. In bracket play against the 11u Lasers we had an umpire out of position to make a call at 1st base 3 times because he was at my dug out trying to get sunflower seeds from my players. The UIC told me Saturday night he had to pull a guy from the tournament because he had NEVER done a fastpitch game before.

As a sanctioning body ASA should be ashamed to have a National Qualifier and send unqualified umpires to do the game!!!! Maybe it is time for umpires to have ACE certification or continuing education.

 

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Bill.. thanks, I knew nothing of this... I will talk to ASA - you are exactly right. 10u had 2 very bad umpires as well - they will not be back.

 

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Doug,

From an outsider (non-player parent) looking in here's what I saw this past weekend.

Pros:
Unbelievable competition. From 12U (didn't see 10U) to 18U I saw some incredible ball being played.
Fair. Whether you were a "top dog" or an up and comer this tournament gave you an opportunity to win.
Full games. the 1 hr 40 min required bracket play time limits once again gave every team a shot to win versus drop dead tactics.
On Schedule. With so many teams there are bound to be a few minutes here and there but from what I saw everything was pretty darn close to being on time.
Centralized location for college coaches. Whether you wanted to see 14,16 or 18U having games at the quad was a great idea.
Warm Up Areas were plentiful.

Cons:


I know you all don't control the city but I saw MANY games where there was absolutely no batter's box or baselines. With the fields being dry as a bone this can obviously influence bunts.
Umpire Interaction. Again, I know you don't control this but I saw a few calls that made me raise an eyebrow or two. I actually watched one game where an umpire made a call based on fan input. Some of them just seemed a bit under educated.
Bathrooms. Wowza.
Concessions. You should have had a concession area at Delco and more windows open @ Kettering. If nothing else - have someone selling water in different locations. Temporary Fences. I can't tell you how many balls I saw (especially @ 18U) that should have been stopped by a temporary fence but rolled forever. I think teams will all admit that they are okay with a legitimate HR but one that rolls for miles is tough to take.
TD also having a participating team. This one is just mentioned because I know you wanted to do your best for all the teams as a TD but I can't imagine your own team didn't suffer a little with everything you had to do.

Props to the Hawks and all of their 40 teams .

Concessions are controlled by contract, again thru the city. We would not have been able to sell anything at least at Kettering fields. Anybody who knows me knows i like to eat out there, and would have loved to had a better choice.

I agree on the no fence thing, we were on a no fence field, and had a bottom of the 7th walk off homer CAUGHT at a estimated 240-250 to end the game. So the no fence thing played both ways.

Umpires... It is what it is, with the amount of umps necessary to cover a tourney this size, plus other tournies in the area, youre bound to get a few that are not up to snuff. Agin, its a contract thing thru the umpires assoc. that non negotiatable from a Hawks point of view. Btw, in the off season there are ump classes conducted, with almost 100 percent attending. I dont know if theres a test tho lol.

 

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Irregardless of some of the field conditions, restrooms etc. there were some great games played by some very good teams and thats what we come for. Could not have had a better weekend for some ball to be played. BIG ups to all the young ladies that played their hearts out.

 

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Mike, i believe you are responsible for the overfill in one of the porta lets.

 

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Concessions are controlled by contract, again thru the city. We would not have been able to sell anything at least at Kettering fields. Anybody who knows me knows i like to eat out there, and would have loved to had a better choice.

I agree on the no fence thing, we were on a no fence field, and had a bottom of the 7th walk off homer CAUGHT at a estimated 240-250 to end the game. So the no fence thing played both ways.

Umpires... It is what it is, with the amount of umps necessary to cover a tourney this size, plus other tournies in the area, youre bound to get a few that are not up to snuff. Agin, its a contract thing thru the umpires assoc. that non negotiatable from a Hawks point of view. Btw, in the off season there are ump classes conducted, with almost 100 percent attending. I dont know if theres a test tho lol.

Yea the concessions were cr@p BUT you can bring your own food in. You could probably grill out by the parking lot. Many went to a fast food joint and brought their food back so not only is it out of the big Hawk control it is WAY better then those places that have also have cr@p concessions and won't let you bring your own food or drink.

One positive thing many might not know is most of the Hawk personal and families parked away from the main lot leaving it open for us non-Hawks. A directive from the top I believe and I thought was a very decent gesture.

 

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Stingrays99 ... I wondered why that ump was always hanging around your dugout between innings in our game! I was trying to get him to clean off the bases so the girls and the umps could see them ... had I known he was eating seeds, I might have suggested he could have at least marked the bases with the seeds! And yes, there were several bad calls in that game I will admit.

 

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One positive thing many might not know is most of the Hawk personal and families parked away from the main lot leaving it open for us non-Hawks. A directive from the top I believe and I thought was a very decent gesture.

Thanks for mentioning that, I need to thank my parents for doing so... we asked them to all pitch tents in the back tree line and leave the front lot open as much as possible...

 

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Coachjwb, you would think with the 4 pounds of seeds he ate we could have got more calls to go our way. When we had him again I told my girls "no seeds for blue" LOL

 

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Stingrays ... I don't suppose you want to know what we were giving him from our dugout?? Haha ... just kidding! In the end, it was your team's great clutch hitting that won that game, and we took note of the fact that you beat some other good teams as you advanced in the bracket ... best of luck to you the rest of the year.

 

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I personally thought the tournament was great. Being a young team we benefited from this tournament greatly. We are close but not there yet. 3 12u teams stood out to me and that was Kepple, Classics, and Stingrays. We didn't get a chance to play the Stingrays but hope to soon. Dan has a great team and his parents were complimentary of a few of my players while coaching 3rd. Sometimes coaching 3rd on the opposite side can be a war zone.

My only complaint would be the bonehead umpire we had the first 2 games. His ignorance benefited us in 1 game (sorry Rick) and hurt us in our 1st game. I guess it was a wash. I later heard he was sent home packing. The lack of lines on the field hampered the umps on several calls, but it is the same for both sides. However if your team bunts and slaps it sure does help.

Thanks to Doug, the Hawks coaches, and their parents. You did a great job.

Pat
Heart of Ohio Rebels 12u

 

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Mike, i believe you are responsible for the overfill in one of the porta lets.

I would be laughing but i lost my voice. Three days with Chris at ball field= overfilled porta potties.

 

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Just a curious question... of those of you who had teams finish first or runner up in your age groups... what are your thoughts on the " plastic ware " that was given out ? ;&

 

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Just a curious question... of those of you who had teams finish first or runner up in your age groups... what are your thoughts on the " plastic ware " that was given out ? ;&

Wow Laser_00, usually I'm on the same page as you, but to complain at 14u and older about the quality of the hardware strikes me as a little silly. Doug is taking enough knocks about significant things, some of which he could control and some of which he could not. I think it is a low blow to add the quality of the trophies to the pile-on.

 

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DD didn't even notice it. She threw it in the box with the rest. She was only interested in the title and the berth.

 

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Lol ... the 18u girls looked at me like I am crazy, including my own team, for even handing out individual trophies...

We bought really nice crystal etched team trophies that everyone loves, or at least I think they do... I'm sure I'll hear different...

 

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Wow Laser_00, usually I'm on the same page as you, but to complain at 14u and older about the quality of the hardware strikes me as a little silly. Doug is taking enough knocks about significant things, some of which he could control and some of which he could not. I think it is a low blow to add the quality of the trophies to the pile-on.

Don't take it as a complaint.. just more as "surprised". As you say "Hardware" means a lot more to the younger girls than it does for the older girls who already have shelves full & boxes stacked in the corner of their bedroom. That's why I was just asking ??? I do not know what was handed out at the younger levels.. just what our girls had received. I know a lot goes into planning and organizing a tournament and " trophies" are an added expense with no ROI... But this being a USA/ASA National , I just thought a little more thought could have gone into the " rewards" That's all.. Really not a complaint of the operation of the tournament.... I wasn't going to say anything at all but just wanted to get some opions ... And Thank You for yours

 

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Yea, you are right - to the younger ages it means something at the time, still even at 10u/12u - they go on the shelf that night or in the box and it is on to the next tourney...

We will take that into consideration though for next year... at the 14u final a Lasers Green dad and his DD came up to me commenting on the cool crystal trophies we gave out (they won the 10u) and asked if he and his DD could look at one up close with the laser light base on....

 

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Lol ... the 18u girls looked at me like I am crazy, including my own team, for even handing out individual trophies...

LOL... JMHO.... I think the older girls are beyond the individual trophies... ( or at least something like what was handed out ) which is why I had that question.
The individual crystal trophies given out last year at Laser Nation was pretty cool though and is at the front of the trophy shelf.. just sayn'