ASA Tournament Bat Wars

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We all understand the weather part, but the absolute lack of effort to get some of these fields ready is ridiculous. It would have taken a small amount of effort to get some of these fields ready to play.
As for the windshield, if the girls were asked to move down and blatantly refused. Then someone from that team or organization needs to be paying for a new windshield or the owners deductible. Really can't understand why the kids would not move down.

 

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1ST Trip over from Springfield--Friday arrive at ballpark at 1:30pm for 1st game at 3:00pm(16u) ,game before us gets to the top of the 7th and RAIN arrives,,, 3:00pm game and 5:00pm game cancelled leave about 5:00pm-- night over for us 0 games played
2nd trip over from Springfield--Saturday arrive at 10:30am for 12:00pm and 2:00pm games again the game before us gets to the top of the last inning and the rain arrives so both the 12:00pm and the 2:00pm games are both a wash--get new schedule before we leave and we get to come back and play at 9:30pm---0 games played
3rd trip over from Springfield to play a single game at 9:30pm and come back Sunday morning at 8:00am,,,game before starts and gets to the bottom of the 1st and the Rain arrives and the 9:30pm game gets washed--0 games played---havent even touched the dirt--but spent about 60 bucks in gas
4th trip begins Sunday morning early with a 8:00am game time have to leave about 6:30am hope the rain out number is updated,,and if it gets washed we get a whopping 175 back from our 440 and didnt even play a game( thats not gonna fly) ,,, And I hear some teams have played 5 games,,,,

PRICELESS

 

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We also understand the weather but only 8 field maintance workers for all these fields. Absolutely no diamond dry (huge pile of brick dust just sitting there), union workers to get fields ready. Also have not seen one lined field. Some of the worst 6 inch thick mud the girls are playing in that I have ever seen! Very poorly run so far!

 

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And you all just keep going back and back and back... LOL Got to watch playing at those "union" fields.


Misery loves company.

 

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Everyone knows running a tournament is tough when it rains hard and consistently. What is unacceptable is the extremely POOR communication. This tournament staff is WOEFULLY under equipped to deal with this weekend's mess at Berliner.

NO ONE knew what was going on Saturday. The umpires were told nothing, so they had a few teams playing 60 minute games from the first pitch, and the tournament officials were saying "drop dead" at your scheduled end time. Then some umps were changing format in the middle of the game and still not sure if that was right.

Some fields were totally unplayable all weekend, but there was never ONE update on what to do if you were scheduled on those fields. We had parents and players scramble to get half way across the park to a field for a scheduled game only to find there was no one playing there and never had been all weekend.

One trip to the tournament HQ found about 50 coaches there trying to find out what was going with two (all I saw....) tournament organizers having no clue whatsoever.

It's obvious the city of Columbus is not going to spend a cent on field maintenance at Berliner. Sad when they are collecting easily $10,000 a day in parking fees. They have very few employees even there. Not one single field was even lined on the many fields we saw - no batters boxes, no lines, no nothing.

Unless this TD can find a way to improve their communications, I would avoid this tournament in the future.

 

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We just got word Sunday games were canceled

 

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Just love traveling 2 hours, spending monies for hotel, gas, and food to play one game. . .would have at least been nice to get some sleep! LOL. . .Again, understand they can't control the weather, but certainly will not be back due to the sheer lack of communications.

Our biggest thought was, why would you not have a contengency plan already in place knowing the rain could be an issue for the weekend. The focast has been fairly accurate in regards to chances of rain. . . Two hours with no one at the tent so you can make a new schedule. . . then having to stand in line to get the information one coach at a time while having to play on less than acceptable field conditions. . . Priceless

Glad we will get a least some type of refund! Should be a heck of a lot more when other teams got in 4 to 5 games and others 0 -1.


Wwolff. . .it's been a constant battle with rain down here, but the lack of help w/fields was a huge issue.

 

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Is this the same group that does the Midwest World Series in Columbus in July???

 

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This is all very sad to hear, played in this tournament last year and had a blast! Everyone really enjoyed playing, testing the bats and had alot of fun (all nice weather though). Wanted to return this year but couldnt pass up the excellent competition at ASA states in Elyria. Hopefullythey get some thing sworked out real QUICK!

 

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Some of the fields were not even fixable, so why would they have crews working on them?

I thought the TD did the best he could in a BAD situation.

 

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Gumby
I agree being a TD is a brutal job, but sounds like they didn't do there best Communication is the key. Should have split games so 16 and 18's could have gotten some games in. Especially with college coaches there JMHO.

 

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Some of the fields were not even fixable, so why would they have crews working on them?

I thought the TD did the best he could in a BAD situation.

Fields at the north end yes, but there was so diamond dry on site, 8 crew working, and no attempt to even do a quick brush on those fields that could take the rain. I had umpires telling me that Friday, had they worked on the fields, we could have played after the initial rain. Other coaches even went back and viewed the fields were dry.

Yes, it was a BAD situation, but you have to communicate better. If you state you are going to update the rain out line at a specific time, hold to it as best you can. Updating 1.5 hours after is totally unacceptable. If you don't have specific information to provide, at least place a message saying new update time. It takes mere seconds to do and provides knowledge of an attempt vs. no attempt.

JMHO

 

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I told them they needed to have at least a half dozen people out IN the park with walkies communicating back and forth with the main tent. That would have helped tremendously. Put them on golf carts...or bikes.

You can't run a tournament with 140 teams spread out over 32 fields from a tent with two or three people who stay there the whole time and don't know what is going on. There was just no one who knew anything. The umps were as bewildered as anyone else.

 

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We just got word Sunday games were canceled

Can anyone else confirm this????? Can't get through on the rain line.

 

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Talked to two coaches and they were told that it is over.

 

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And you all just keep going back and back and back... LOL Got to watch playing at those "union" fields.


Misery loves company.

Have to watch being involved with anything union....

 

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Tournament is canceled - here is the link that explains why the tournament is canceled

http://www.fastpitchshowdowns.com/Home

Which is a poor excuse when no city workers were around to help with the fields...but plenty to work the gates to collect parking fees and direct people to turn around at the one way point. We seen 2 city workers working the fields all weekend, but six workers to collect the money at the entry. Which they continued to collect knowing that many games were not being played on Friday or Saturday.

TD had no idea what was going on nor did his daughter - they stayed under the tent smoothing things over with all coaches being shuffled through the line. No communication from fields to main tent all weekend long. TD was talking to another coach in front of us and asked where he could buy diamond dry and where a Zettler was to get some tools. Did they not foresee the forecast and possibly be prepared for this. We went to the Doom tournament last weekend and the crew busted their butts and got the games rolling within a couple of hours under the same conditions.

Disspointing for all the girls that wanted to play some ball and could have if the tournament was ran better. Had issues last year as well...we will not support any more tournaments ran by the Showdowns until we are assured that these tournaments are geared towards the players and not the dollars.

 

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Union fields. The TD has to pay time and a half on Saturday and double time on Sunday. When Sunday's play comes into effect... that around $36.00 per hr for one employee. Barberton is like that. That's why the fields go unused.. because no TD can afford that and if you did afford it... it's because of a gate fee. Then the people complain.

People have no clue what it takes to run a tournament. None..

But, poor communication has nothing to do with that !!!! No excuse for that.

But, union diamonds and the use of them ... can be a headache for a TD. I know Chillicothe and their union issues was a REAL headache for me.

As for the use of one umpire by these orgs running events... shame on you. You collect a normal entry fee based on the expense of two umpires... put them on the field!!!! Especially at the 10u level if they are paying the same amount to enter the tournament as the rest of the age groups.

 

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Is this the same group that does the Midwest World Series in Columbus in July???

yes I think it is, their website has a bunch of tournaments on it.......

 

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Union fields. The TD has to pay time and a half on Saturday and double time on Sunday. When Sunday's play comes into effect... that around $36.00 per hr for one employee. Barberton is like that. That's why the fields go unused.. because no TD can afford that and if you did afford it... it's because of a gate fee. Then the people complain.

People have no clue what it takes to run a tournament. None..

But, poor communication has nothing to do with that !!!! No excuse for that.

But, union diamonds and the use of them ... can be a headache for a TD. I know Chillicothe and their union issues was a REAL headache for me.

As for the use of one umpire by these orgs running events... shame on you. You collect a normal entry fee based on the expense of two umpires... put them on the field!!!! Especially at the 10u level if they are paying the same amount to enter the tournament as the rest of the age groups.

Sorry, I have some idea, and there is no excuse for the lack of effort down there yesterday. Hire your own crew, give'em some rakes and some diamond dry and get the games rolling. All we want to see is a good effort......and that didn't happen.