Umpires cutting games short

[snoman76]

75 minute time limit game. 3rd out recorded with 30 seconds remaining but Umpire refuses to start a new inning. He picks up the balls and walks off the field. The rules were 75 minute finish the inning with nothing stating no new inning after a certain time. Why not start a new inning? I'm getting tired of these "modified rules". If you're gonna run a tournament as ASA, PGF, PONY, NSA, USSSA or whatever, use the rules set forth and be done with it. There would be a lot less confusion come Sunday on whether you can bat roster or if you can use a courtesy runner that's not a sub or whatever crap that gets changed around.

 

[coachjwb]

Agree ... play with the sanctioning body's rules, unless an exception is clearly laid out in the tournament's rules. I'm not familiar with all of the sanctioning body's specific rules but any finish the inning format I ever was a part of specified a new inning started the instant the 3rd out was made.

 

[snoman76]

Exactly Jeff. When I overheard the umpires talking the one that called the game said that if the coach was gonna nitpick over 30 seconds he'll tell them that the time started earlier then he thought and he just didn't start the clock. I'm gonna tell ya, this past weekend really makes question if I want to continue playing ASA tournaments next year. This is exactly why we see PGF making such a strong push. They arent doing it better than ASA WAS doing it, ASA is just doing it worse.

 

[BretMan2]

Where was the clock? Was it on a scoreboard where everyone could see it? Otherwise, how do you determine 30 seconds left when one person's wristwatch, cell phone, kitchen timer hanging on the fence isn't going to precicisely match another's like an atomic clock.

Having said that...umpires purposely manipulating the time just to end the game prematurely is, to me, unethical and a form of cheating. Neither of those two qualitys are things an umpire should aspire to!

 

[Linedrive21]

I actually had an umpire state this past weekend " Since this game ran over the time limit, I am going to cut your game short ".......that's a quote, which of course did not happen as we stood our ground and watched the clock. In another tournament earlier this year, one umpire and partner decided to begin an 830 am game at 815, stating " We can do that " with my reply being " NO we are starting at the assigned time, as our pitcher is not completely warmed up " Umpire: " Don't start with me this early before the first pitch, just get her ready "....A quick walk to the TD and UIC and the umpires quickly changed their demeanor...The best part?...while being so concerned to begin the game early they completely overlooked the fact the pitching rubber was 5 feet further back than it should have been.....after bringing it to their attention , game began....20 minutes late....LOL.....

 

[cz fastpitch fan]

Where was the clock? Was it on a scoreboard where everyone could see it? Otherwise, how do you determine 30 seconds left when one person's wristwatch, cell phone, kitchen timer hanging on the fence isn't going to precicisely match another's like an atomic clock.

Having said that...umpires purposely manipulating the time just to end the game prematurely is, to me, unethical and a form of cheating. Neither of those two qualitys are things an umpire should aspire to!

If there was a "Like 1,000,000 times" button I would hit it. This is exactly why the precise start time must be announced and documented and countdown timers synchronized at the beginning. If your team is behind and you get robbed of an inning then in essence you were robbed of an opportunity to win the game. That could have an effect on the seeding process!
The problem...what recourse do they have?

 

[cz fastpitch fan]

Where was the clock? Was it on a scoreboard where everyone could see it? Otherwise, how do you determine 30 seconds left when one person's wristwatch, cell phone, kitchen timer hanging on the fence isn't going to precicisely match another's like an atomic clock.

Having said that...umpires purposely manipulating the time just to end the game prematurely is, to me, unethical and a form of cheating. Neither of those two qualitys are things an umpire should aspire to!

If there was a "Like 1,000,000 times" button I would hit it. This is exactly why the precise start time must be announced and documented and countdown timers synchronized at the beginning. If your team is behind and you get robbed of an inning then in essence you were robbed of an opportunity to win the game. That could have an effect on the seeding process!
The problem...what recourse do they have?

 

[SoCal_Dad]

ASA rules also specify time begins with the first pitch (5-10).

 

[backstop09]

We had one yesterday at Berliner where we were ahead by 4 or 5 runs and the inning/time ended. The other coach raised a fuss with the home plate umpire and said the inning ended with 30 seconds left. The umpire told him that the scheduled start time is when the clock starts ticking. The other coach responded to him and said "but you weren't here at the scheduled start time". Home plate umpire said "if you don't like it, take it up with the tournament director".

 

[snoman76]

Where was the clock? Was it on a scoreboard where everyone could see it? Otherwise, how do you determine 30 seconds left when one person's wristwatch, cell phone, kitchen timer hanging on the fence isn't going to precicisely match another's like an atomic clock.

Having said that...umpires purposely manipulating the time just to end the game prematurely is, to me, unethical and a form of cheating. Neither of those two qualitys are things an umpire should aspire to!

The clock was secured safely in his pocket... when I say clock I mean cell phone.

 

[snoman76]

ASA rules also specify time begins with the first pitch (5-10).

According to this umpire time begins as soon as the coaches meeting begins..... SMH

 

[BretMan2]

According to this umpire time begins as soon as the coaches meeting begins..... SMH

Possibly, that's what the umpires were instructed to do.

By the book it's on the first pitch. I've had some tournaments modify this to say "at the coaches meeting" or "on the throw down to second after the last warm-up pitch".

Why they do that, I don't know. It might shave anywhere from a couple of minutes to 30 seconds off the game times. Honestly, I think that most TD's don't know the rule in the book, so think that they need to establish some set point for the clock to start. It's already established!

 

[BretMan2]

We had one yesterday at Berliner where we were ahead by 4 or 5 runs and the inning/time ended. The other coach raised a fuss with the home plate umpire and said the inning ended with 30 seconds left. The umpire told him that the scheduled start time is when the clock starts ticking. The other coach responded to him and said "but you weren't here at the scheduled start time". Home plate umpire said "if you don't like it, take it up with the tournament director".

That was kind of a weird policy, but it really was the policy at this tournament. Clock starts at the scheduled game time, no matter what. If the team was late or warmups took a few extra minutes, that would eat up game time.

They also had a 90 minute time limit, so games still were quite a bit longer than the usual tourney games. Most of the games I worked went a full seven innings, a couple went six. The championship game I worked had a two hour time limit!

Even if the umpire started the game a few minutes late (30 seconds late?), were both teams in the dugouts, ready to go right at the start time? If so, then it would have been the only time I saw that happen all weekend!

 

[BretMan2]

The clock was secured safely in his pocket... when I say clock I mean cell phone.

This is kind of what I was getting at. If this guy's phone was in his pocket, how did anyone else know what time was on it?

 

[JoeA1010]

This is kind of what I was getting at. If this guy's phone was in his pocket, how did anyone else know what time was on it?

With the way it sounds with this umpire, he probably didn't care whether anyone knew what time was on the clock. The one time I got booted out of a travel ball game was when I dared ask the plate ump how much time was left in the game. He was also a clock-hider. He told me the time was 3:30. I said yes I know what time it is, but I'm wondering how much time is left in the game. He said it's 3:30 and that's all I need to know. I said I'm not allowed to know how much time is left in the game? He tossed me.

 

[Dad of Daughters]

With the way it sounds with this umpire, he probably didn't care whether anyone knew what time was on the clock. The one time I got booted out of a travel ball game was when I dared ask the plate ump how much time was left in the game. He was also a clock-hider. He told me the time was 3:30. I said yes I know what time it is, but I'm wondering how much time is left in the game. He said it's 3:30 and that's all I need to know. I said I'm not allowed to know how much time is left in the game? He tossed me.

But here is the real question Joe: Did you leave the field in a timely enough manner to allow for the game to continue??? Apparently sometimes that 60 second clock is ticking!!

 

[snoman76]

Possibly, that's what the umpires were instructed to do.

By the book it's on the first pitch. I've had some tournaments modify this to say "at the coaches meeting" or "on the throw down to second after the last warm-up pitch".

I'm fine with whenever they start the clock just as long as both benches know the clock has been started along with an official start time.

 

[LakeErieHillbilly]

Just to add another one on here. We was down 4-1 with us being home team and just hit into our 3rd out. Still was 2 minutes left on clock. My team ran out onto the field and was ready to go to start top of the 6th. Base umpire said he had 42 minutes after the hour where everyones cells had 38 minutes after.
Some umpires use a timer and hook it up on the fence, some use their personal cell phones, whom run a tad faster on sundays, like 4 minutes fast.

 

[Softballfarm]

I had a close game where we were down 2-1 and my Ironman stopwatch said we had two minutes left so we should have started a new inning. The umpire declared the game over as time had expired on his wrist watch. I showed him the timer on my wrist and he showed me his analog wrist watch where the big hand was clearly on the 3! Put that one in the loss column!

 

[WWolff]

What everyone forgets is it don't matter what your watch say's it only matters what the umpires watch says. Game over!