Whitehall Fastpitch Classic

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10U Results

Worthington 3 Teays Valley 2

 

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This entire tournament seemed like a major sluggfest! The KC Elite and Stingrays in 12u were popping them over the fence. There were 16u homeruns everywhere. It was fun to watch the reactions of the girls watching the hits.

I heard a 10u state that some day she's going to be able to "skip" around the bases. It was quite amusing (picture a small framed 4 foot girl with 2 pigtails hanging down her back and dirt smeared on her face). The thing is I really don't doubt it she had such a determined look on her face.

 

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pcaba-coach-

We (Stingrays) weren't so happy either, seeing how we lost our semi-final match against the KC Elite in the winner's bracket-which should have place us 3rd in any other tourney- but we got nothing. ?Our girls were so disappointed that teams who lost more games than they did and were in the losers bracket, got a 3rd place trophy. I know the rain made it difficult, but I think it could have been worked out differently. ?I've seen other tourneys do it differently. ?Our girls were "punished" for winning. ?At least if you lost and were put in the losers bracket, you had a better chance of "placing" and receiving a trophy.

It was also a little odd that the coaches weren't allowed to sit on a bucket near their catcher (behind the fence) and give them their pitching signs. The players benches were down by the 3rd and 1st bases, and the umpires made the coaches give the signs from all the way at the end. ?Sometimes the catchers were unable to see that far. ?When asked, the TD said it was up to the umpire, and there was nothing he could do. ?It would be different if the coaches were causing a disturbance or something, but that was not the case. ?Neither team could do it. ?The TD said to give the sign to the PITCHER! ?Ummmm, your catcher needs to know the sign, too. ?What, is the pitcher supposed to holler the pitch to the catcher? lol ? We worked it out okay, but it was a little odd.

Another oddity-in the first game, they wouldn't let us remove the 35' pitching rubber. ?When the pitchers (from both teams) were pitch, it was becoming an obstacle. ?The umpires told the coaches they were cemented in, (which sounded kind of odd) and they couldn't take them out. ?Next game, the coaches went out and found out that they were not, in fact, cemented in, and they took them out anyhow. ?The umpire told the coaches that the TD told them to say that. ?I don't know if that is true or not, but that's just what he said.

I will have to admit, our girls have struggled so far this season, and they played the best we've seen them so far. ?They stayed positive, and played hard. ?I have heard many coaches say that the 11u year is one of the toughest. ?The girls are having a hard time staying positive through all the losses.

Needless to say, I am not sure if our coach will be entering us in this tourney next year.

 

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Congrats to the classics 16u in winning the tournament.
Grand Slam put the icing on the cake for the win while the same girl hit another homer in the same game off of the next
pitcher, she also had a home run in a game earlier in the day!
considering the rain problem, i commend Dan on making a way for all to play. As in every tournament, there are always those who do not end up where they think they should be.
my other dd got caught up in the losers bracket and went home after 2 games. given a different draw from the begining,
things would have been much different for her team also. i am just very excited that she got to get at least 2 games in.
we have not had many games this season due to rain and the season is quickly coming to mid point. part of the game, unfortunately, us loosing and we need to learn to loose with class and come back harder the next time.
congrats to all who played this weekend!!!

 

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For what its worth, I KNOW that Dan did the absolute best he could. ?I coach rec ball at John Bishop Park where the tournament was held. ?I don't think anybody set out to upset or disappoint 10-16 year old girls. ?I don't see that as a goal set by anyone. ?That would be ludacris. ?Any time you have a decision to make, you stand to make half the people mad. ?I sat in the stands and heard some saying they are so glad they at least got to play, and others complaining about everything. ?Those diamonds were COVERED in water Friday night. ?
All in all we enjoyed watching the girls play.

 

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I want to thank all of the teams that played this weekend. Thanks to the Whitehall Parks crew for getting the diamonds playable. Thanks to the Whitehall Youth Athletic Association who work hard in the concessions knowing with the schedule being cut in half, that their only fund raiser was washed away. Losing 70 games they could only hope to break even. Thanks again. As for the format, every team going in knew what the format was.Bracket boards were up prior to games starting, Upper bracket champs and runners-up trophies plus $375.00 to the champs.Lower bracket champs trophies and a team trophy for the runners up. Nothing was changed during the tournament. These teams that weren't satisfied failed to say that most recieved half of their entry fee back. Tournament refund policy was that if 3 games were played no refund was to be given. That was not the case, teams that played 3 games recieved 25% of their entry back. This means that the 10 &18 champs not only got the $375.00 jacket money but a 25% refund back. The refunds were given on the spot, Those who chose to leave will get their's in the mail. Was the format fair? For the whole 60 teams, I believe so, for a few select few I guess not. If the Tournament was a wash no one would of been happy. We did the best we could. We lost a day and a half due to the rain. Those of you who feel the need to vent, try taking on a job like this and have to make a decision that will effect over a 1000 people.In a perfect world the sun always shines and the diamonds are always full. Also, those teams that donated their refunds back to the Whitehall Youth Little League I want to Thank you again you know who you are. That was truely amazing. I hope to see all of you again next year to make the 14th edition of this tournament a sucess.
Thanks all
Dan Adkins

 

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Dan , are you NOW stating that you didnt change the format Saturday night ? If you are I might want to remind you that you stated IN FRONT OF 4-5 COACHES AND SEVERAL OF MY PARENTS QUOTE " I thought this was the only way to get the losers Bracket teams to come back , so we wouldnt have to pay so much money out for games not played " Dan , after the fiasco 2 years ago and this year's tragedy , we agree with alot of the teams that wont be coming back ! Dan , try to stick to 1 story .It is hard to tell your young girls that the team they just beat is now playing for 3rd and we are going home after losing in the semi-finals to eventual champ , only because the Tournament wanted to SAVE SOME MONEY !!

 

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While not happy with the revised tourney bracket, I can live with it. What I CAN'T live with after the fiasco 2 years ago was the cancelation of a Whitehall tourney at the beginning of June (thus forced to scramble to find games) and no lining of the fields between games thios weekend. I take care of fields during the summer and a bag of lining agent costs 6.00 per bag and could have done a field all day. I didn't see a single field person once the first games began.

 

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DAN DID DO A GREAT JOB FOR WHAT HE HAD TO WORK WITH.
As a former TD (and This is why its former) for 5years I can tell you that they could have did one pool play game and went into single elimination bracket play and the 2game format could have still been inplace, still refund money, and handed out awards to the top 4 teams. Also for you Greatgame third place does mean alot to some of the players and coaching staffs when you are third out of 16 teams. good job Dan and we (Ohio Dragons 16u) will be back next year.

 

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We always give trophies for 1st thru 4th in our Gahanna Invitational. the 2 losers of the semi's get 3rd and 4th based on their seeding coming into bracket play.

 

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Good job Dan and Terry with still getting all teams playing after a full day of rain Friday and getting fields ready for Saturday. It was obvious your intent to get teams playing and refunding money if the guaranteed games were not played as an effort to get them to return next year. The is a big event for your program and appreciated by many teams around central Ohio. It was sure better then not playing at all.

As far as the 12U age group, very good competition and congrats to the Buckeye Heat (Howe) team who took 1st. Very nice players, coaches and parents.

Jeff Klopfer
Ohio Classics 12U

 

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Dan did do a pretty good job with what he had to work with. It really must be a hard job. I can see both sides of the coin.
Congrats to the Buckeye Heat 12u.

 

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For all of those who are unhappy with the way things were set up, they just need to get over it. The tournament is over and like an umpires call, its final. There is nothing that can be changed about it now. For what he had to work with, I think Dan deserves a lot of credit. I know for a fact that I wouldn't want to be the one making all of those decisions. No matter what he would have decided to do, there would have been a few teams that felt shorted. But, now, they can take the refund and find another tournament to enter.

It was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun!

 

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Hey Dan, Great job with the tournament. We had a great time and we will be back next year. Every seasoned tournament coach hates for tournament formats to change because of weather, but I think your changes worked well. I have directed tournaments for several years and I know how much work you and your people put in to make it happen and from the Lady Blaze Fastpitch Club, Thanks!

 

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The tourney was ok. I was just disappointed that the girls did not get that much playing time.

Hey vikingselite, what Worthington Spirit won?

Thanks

 

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"Dan , are you NOW stating that you didnt change the format Saturday night ? If you are I might want to remind you that you stated IN FRONT OF 4-5 COACHES AND SEVERAL OF MY PARENTS QUOTE"

Pcaba-coach,

with your words copied and printed above. I was right there in the shelter house talking to Dan when this happened and there was one coach and one parent. Not 4-5 coaches and several parents. The format was set up on friday after play was cancelled on friday not in the middle of the tournament on saturday night. Bracket play began saturday evening so he would nt have a chance to change it saturday night.

Dan does not deserve the berating and lies he has received. You have no idea how hard he worked to make sure that the ladies got to play this weekend. How many other tournaments were canceled all togehter. Let me draw back to mom of a player that talked about her daughter being so down because play cancelled. Dan worked till after 11:30 friday night sweeping water off the fields so that woman's daughter would get to play saturday.

I love this game and love umpiring. When I see the caliber of play I saw this weekend I never like to leave the park. With what was left to work with this was a really nice tournament.

 

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? ? Ok here's what Dan posted when he had to make the change because time was shorten because of the rain.(2 pages back) Where does it says winner's bracket and loser's bracket? There was one pool game if you won you went to the upper bracket and if you lost you went to the lower (no chance for 1st, 2nd, or the jacket money). Who got penalized? Under normal circumstances you usually won't be hurt by a lost in pool play, you get seeded lower but still go through the single elimination bracket and have a chance to still get first. But in this rain modified version, which was understood upfront there in black & white on the bracket paper, before any of the games started there at noon, you had no chance for the top two spots. So I guess my question is how do the people in the upper bracket feel they took third because they lost in the semi-final of the upper bracket? What was your record? 2-1 for the weekend and 1-1 for bracket play. The winner of course was 4-0 on the weekend and 3-0 in bracket. The second place team 3-1 for the weekend and 2-1 in bracket play. The third place team 3-1 for the weekend an 3-0 in bracket play. Who has the gripe? Couldn't a team lose every single pool game and come back to win all their bracket games? Haven't you beat a team in pool play and they in turn beat you in bracket play? Or vice versa. Point is the pools are just for seeding. You got seeded in the upper bracket with beacuse you won the only pool game but as far as bracket play you were 1-1. The third place team was 3-0 in their bracket same as first. Second & forurth place 2-1 in bracket play. Who should be griping? Anyways most tourneys don't give out but two places.
? ? ? I don't know the TD from Adam, but I know that he tried to get the games in in the fairest way he could. There may have been other options but want could of been fair, Seed all sixteen teams. Well one pool game, (eight win, eight lose) Who's ranked what? Can't go by wins and loses, runs for & agianst,... too many possible ties would have been complaints there. He did what he thought was fair and right. He even gave back refunds.
? ? ? ?Does the Whitehall need to come up with a better plan if it rains? Yes, I hope that they come with something. Yes I know it's not a perfect world but maybe the can redo some of the fields so they can take the water better or maybe have an alternate location. Reynoldsburg & Gahanna have fields that are close enough. Maybe at some of the Whitehall Schools have fields. I don't know I'm not real familer with that area just giving ideas. Install lighting to play more night games. Hopefully they will come up something. But for now its' done and over with, move on to the next tourney and be glad we can watch our DD's play ball and share with them some of the best times of the summer.

It is now almost 3:00 all games today are finished due to rain. We will start tomorrow at 12:00 with a modified schedule. The format will be a 2 game guarantee with refund given on games not played. 1 pool game with winners in upper bracket and losers in lower bracket. if you lose second game you will recieve a half refund. If you lose your third game a 1/4 refund will be given. In order to win the jacket money you must be in the upper bracket. Due to the amount of rain in the last 3 days this is what we came up with. Lets hope for a better day tomorrow. ?I will be back to list entire schedule shortly. I have to get it to Mr. Wharton
? ? ? Thanks ? ? ? ? ? ? Dan Adkins

 

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Worthington Spirit Montgomery 10U was the winner.

 

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I thank you did a wonderful job,Dan. You will have people mad no matter what you do. I really injoyed the tournament. People just need to get over it and move on. What good does it do to sit and try to run people down and make them look bad. If they do not like it they don't need to come back I am sure others will take their spot. I just wanted to let you know Dan that you did a good job.

 

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First, let me say i have known Dan for 6 years , he's a good guy . But I also have to be honest and say what i also heard Dan tell several coahces on Saturday in the Pavillion area.

I dont know who these coaches were but there was 3-4 of them and they were talking to Dan about the bracket's. I did hear dan say that he changed the way bracket pool would work and trophies would be determined because of the amount of money he would have to give back to team's in the loser's bracket's if they didnt come back.I did hear Dan explain that he felt this was the only way to get those teams to come back.

Do I agree with Dan on this NO but Dan felt this was the only way .He could have just had the semi-finalsits play each other for 1st-4th or he could have the loser's of semi-finals drop down into loser;s bracket for 3rd-4th ,but he didnt ,so let's move on.
Anybody who has played in alot of tournaments knows if you dont like it you dont come back its that easy .