"LOU & SHORTY" - Standings - Facility & Reviews by members

TheSoftballZone · Jun 11, 2015

Standings - Facility & Reviews by members

"LOU & SHORTY" 2 DAY 5 GAME GUARANTEE SHOWDOWN, standings posted by Tournament Director or Members of TheSoftballZone

Tournament Facility & Reviews by members of TheSoftballZone for "LOU & SHORTY" 2 DAY 5 GAME GUARANTEE SHOWDOWN.

06.13.2015
06.14.2015

23u 18u 16u 14u 12u 10u

"LOU & SHORTY" 2 DAY 5 GAME GUARANTEE SHOWDOWN

5

Dayton,OH

ASA

$440

Bill Beckham

419.841.2596

Buckeye_bomber00 · Jun 14, 2015

The field conditions were about as stellar as the one-man salty umpires. Most of them would not even get out from behind the plate to see close calls. Would not recommend this tournament unless it improves. Pitchers had trouble with huge holes in front of rubber. One field had steel rod sticking up where another mound was. They could put up portable, or snow fences for 16U games. Those girls hit it over 200 ft, they deserve a real HR!

Taxi Driver · Jun 15, 2015

Fields were lined for the first game of the day and never touched again. Yet another tournament with no temp fences even thou Metro was held the weekend before with them. 1 man umpire crews with a time limit and lets just say, most of the umps were in no hurry to move games along or be in position to resume play. Last game of the tourney on the middle four diamonds, two of the fields had NO umps show up. Teams decided to have catchers call balls and strikes after waiting 30 minutes for an umpire to show up. Overall, poorly ran tournament and would not recommend.

EDGE MARCHINY · Jun 15, 2015

We measured the pitching rubber the very first game and found that all 4 fields was off 12u at 46 foot and 10u at 46 foot and that was day one day two we checked and it was 43 for 12u and the field dug up the old mound and was trying to leave it unsafe for the kids. Not happy about the umps or the field crew

Converse Kid · Jun 18, 2015

No lines, no batter's boxes. No dragging of fields and playing on baseball fields with no temporary softball fences. This was a showcase event like no other. Beware!

Dynamites Softball · Jun 19, 2015

It was pretty bad! BUT We did get an email saying that Lou & Shorty have been ill & they had someone else set stuff up for them. They did apologize & are offering $$$ back to teams & orgs that feel they deserve some $$$ back. They said they was embarrassed how things turned out & wanted to try to make it right for everyone. They have always ran Great tourneys for years in the past. I have nothing bad to say about Lou, Shorty, or Bill & appreciate everything they do for all of the kids & orgs. They work hard trying to get all the games in & making sure everything is ran smooth for everyone. I appreciate their offer but I think the Dynamites will be cutting them some slack on that refund & hopefully everyone else will give them a chance in the future to make it right. If they are apologizing then that should be good enough! They know it was bad & that's enough for us so we will be attending the Lou & Shorty Showdown again next year & I trust it will be better than ever! David McNew

CARDS · Jun 19, 2015

Most of the complaints on tournaments are not new issues with Ohio softball events...
Big or Small the same complaints seem to pop up with Ohio tournaments.

I will say tournament directors have got better over the past 10 years running ladies events but with the steady increase in tournament "entry fees" the additional cost for teams has not translated to improved playing conditions.

If a team is paying over $300 to play three to five games in a weekend, hotel cost, concession, trinket sales etc. They should "expect" a quality playing experience on fields set up for ladies softball with no excuses...

Another issue, I have seen over the years is TDs need to understand they need plenty of clean restrooms for the female game and with any tournament there needs to be access to concessions or ability for a team to grill or set up their own lunch.
Game times at some events seem to always be an issue. (TDs do not have teams at a park for 10 hours to play three games!). Warm up areas are also an issue "that could be resolved" in many cases with the use of temporary fencing!

The Ohio 18 and over or adult game still has TDs baffled. When TDs try to run these events alongside the youth events using umpires not ready for the speed of the adult game and not understanding how to schedule the adult games. At this level you can get three or four game tournaments done in a day especially when most only are getting three or four teams...

DougL · Jun 19, 2015

Taxi Driver said:
Yet another tournament with no temp fences even thou Metro was held the weekend before with them.

We provided 9 fences for the Metro at a cost of $14,000 - the city did buy 2 temp fences for the park. I spoke to the city rec director last week - hoping to sell our fences to them so that they can have enough to provide fences on all 15 diamonds there. My fear is that we, Ohio Hawks, keep them up all year in storage - so they will be good for next season - I can see the city coming to me in April with about 10 good fences...

Buckeye_bomber00 · Jun 21, 2015

Missing 200 ft temporary fences, changes the way the 16U game is played entirely. We know our team alone hit 7 balls that were definite HRs, that because OF played so deep, a couple were caught for outs, and a couple were triples and doubles. We also saw a lot of teams play back, and bloop hits became doubles because teams played their OF so deep. You were damned if you did, and damned if you didn't!!

You should not be penalized for field conditions, or restrictions.

GeneralsDad · Jun 21, 2015

Anyone that knows Lou, and Shorty, will also know they do what they do for the love of the game. Neither are getting rich off their efforts. They are pivotal to the growth of this sport in SW Ohio. One has been fighting pneumonia for weeks, but still puts many hours in making this sport better. As stated above, the fences belong to the Ohio Hawks.

There are many people that have no clue as to what it takes to run a tournament. It seems most are expecting 200 foot fences, 20 brick and mortar restrooms, restaurant quality concessions with a dollar menu, fields with batters boxes, fields lined and dragged after every game, full 7 inning games that are never delayed, a 5 game guarantee, no gate fees, and entry fees of $400 or less...Did I miss anything?

CARDS · Jun 22, 2015

GeneralsDad said:
Anyone that knows Lou, and Shorty, will also know they do what they do for the love of the game. Neither are getting rich off their efforts. They are pivotal to the growth of this sport in SW Ohio. One has been fighting pneumonia for weeks, but still puts many hours in making this sport better. As stated above, the fences belong to the Ohio Hawks.

There are many people that have no clue as to what it takes to run a tournament. It seems most are expecting 200 foot fences, 20 brick and mortar restrooms, restaurant quality concessions with a dollar menu, fields with batters boxes, fields lined and dragged after every game, full 7 inning games that are never delayed, a 5 game guarantee, no gate fees, and entry fees of $400 or less...Did I miss anything?

Add in warm up areas, covered dugouts for this 90deg+ days and you just described ladies fastpitch in just about every other state than Ohio

I will say gate fees is pretty much found everywhere....

With our tournament we cater to more of the adult fast pitch game so proper field set up, experienced umpires, restrooms and concessions is a must.We use parks with no gate fees and keep the entry fees under $400....
Like I said before it can be done, TDs need to decide to they want to put on mega tournaments or quality tournaments....If the Ohio Travel softball community wants tournaments that have these areas the softball community needs to support the tournaments that do it right and that may mean going to PA, IN, KY, TN or MI then the Ohio events will follow suit...

Buckeye_bomber00 · Jun 23, 2015

I don't think that is what everybody expects, but when you see the se things offered in smaller venues, it becomes the expectations for everyone! Snow fence and temp T-posts are not that expensive, the restrooms, well that could be costly, and the food options in the area of the Kettering area are not abundant, but it's a softball tourney, pack a lunch, portable grill and make the best of it.

poden-smoden · Jun 23, 2015

DougL said:
We provided 9 fences for the Metro at a cost of $14,000 - the city did buy 2 temp fences for the park. I spoke to the city rec director last week - hoping to sell our fences to them so that they can have enough to provide fences on all 15 diamonds there. My fear is that we, Ohio Hawks, keep them up all year in storage - so they will be good for next season - I can see the city coming to me in April with about 10 good fences...

Please contact me for your future fence needs. I have found a new occupation and will be venturing into the temporary fence business. At that rate. I can work on the weekends
only for about four months and make nearly a quarter mill....nice!!!

Converse Kid · Jun 29, 2015

GeneralsDad said:
Anyone that knows Lou, and Shorty, will also know they do what they do for the love of the game. Neither are getting rich off their efforts. They are pivotal to the growth of this sport in SW Ohio. One has been fighting pneumonia for weeks, but still puts many hours in making this sport better. As stated above, the fences belong to the Ohio Hawks.

There are many people that have no clue as to what it takes to run a tournament. It seems most are expecting 200 foot fences, 20 brick and mortar restrooms, restaurant quality concessions with a dollar menu, fields with batters boxes, fields lined and dragged after every game, full 7 inning games that are never delayed, a 5 game guarantee, no gate fees, and entry fees of $400 or less...Did I miss anything?

Yes, not only were no college scouts seen at this "Showcase", the crowd attendance was so poor the teams were basically showcasing their skills to the parents...

daytonfp · Jun 29, 2015

I am involved in a local Dayton area tournament, although we got rained out this year. Our entry fee was $410. We would have been lucky to break even. We didn't have a facility rental fee and we could not provide temporary fencing due to cost. We did want to provide 2 umpires per game...pool and elimination. We pay grounds crew to prep fields before every game, we pay a minimal amount to the concession workers. Obviously there are economies of scale once you start having more teams register. My point here is that it does cost a lot to put on a tourney and those costs continue to rise. Temp fences are nice, but unless you have the mean to fund them the first year (assuming you can use them year after year), they are out of reach for small to mid sized tournaments.

CARDS · Jun 29, 2015

daytonfp said:
I am involved in a local Dayton area tournament, although we got rained out this year. Our entry fee was $410. We would have been lucky to break even. We didn't have a facility rental fee and we could not provide temporary fencing due to cost. We did want to provide 2 umpires per game...pool and elimination. We pay grounds crew to prep fields before every game, we pay a minimal amount to the concession workers. Obviously there are economies of scale once you start having more teams register. My point here is that it does cost a lot to put on a tourney and those costs continue to rise. Temp fences are nice, but unless you have the mean to fund them the first year (assuming you can use them year after year), they are out of reach for small to mid sized tournaments.

I have expressed my opinion on tournaments that cannot produce proper fields for the ladies multiple times over the years and for some reason OHIO events just cannot figure it out.

My thought is this, If you are going to have a ladies event make sure you have facilities for ladies events first...
What I have seen is a lot of the time the tournaments are too big for the facilities or TDs to handle.
The issues I have seen over the past 15 years is not just fencing but base and pitching distance…"Especially at venues that is using baseball or men’s fields."

I do help run a tournament and the first thing we do is make sure the event is held at a place that represents ladies Fastpitch with 200ft fencing. Then we have a committee that ensures clean block restrooms with sinks, quality umpires, quality NCAA 47/400 balls not the junk balls most tournaments provide.
Adequate fair priced concessions, Hotel and restaurant discounts for teams, throw in ample warm up areas, the ability to grill out and plenty of parking and wham…the fee is $325 for 5 games…Saturday and Sunday play…I would say teams would pay $410 if we wanted to chage that much..

It can be done but it seems a lot of Ohio events do not want to put out the effort to get it done…The ones that puzzle me are the CASH COWS tournaments with fees over $450 for 4 maybe 5 games that does not have thes things found above…Throw showcase behind the name and you can fleece another $100+ out of the teams….

MadT · Jun 11, 2016

Fields needed to be dragged only lined one time and that was at the beginning of the day!! the scheduled game times were not being followed, which in turn hurt other teams according to the game rules, the games scheduled start times was just that so if the game before you started late then the next team gets less playing time, but this was for pool play. Overall parking is good, concession prices too high, Bathrooms needed to be tended to, and
More umpires needed for the younger teams sometimes 1 ump can be a little difficult as they can't see the whole field at times.

ValleyStorm · Jun 12, 2016

Our tournaments at the Kyle complex are played on crushed brick and turf-pro, get dragged and lined every other game, 2 umps, stellar restrooms, no gate fees, plenty of parking, cheap concessions, all for around 425 or so.
It can be done.

Spoke with both Lou and Shorty today, the issues will be addressed and a new game plan in place.

tdford5 · Oct 20, 2016

i will only go back to this tournament is if they start having bracket play ! if you have 1 bad game your pretty much done.. last year the 1st place team in our pool got run ruled from the other 1st pool , BRING BACK BRACKET PLAY!!! and empty the porta pots them where NASTY

Captain_Thunder · Oct 26, 2016

Cincy Metro will be taking place this same weekend for 2017!!!!
ASA/USA National Berth for each division, fences on All fields, etc!!!!

Will be the place to be!

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