This incident aside, the varied backgrounds of the coaches in girls' fastpitch have a lot to do with inconsistent behaviors. Some teams are coached by men with baseball backgrounds, some are coached by men with mens' fastpitch backgrounds, some are coached by men with only girls' fastpitch backgrounds and some are coached by women with only girls' fastpitch backgrounds. Men with baseball backgrounds and mens' fastpitch backgrounds tend to follow the unwritten rules more closely. They don't steal when they have a big lead in the late innings, etc. in fact, they will go out of their way not to run up the score. They are also more likely to take exception to those who don't follow the unwritten rules by doing little things to relatiate. If the other coach is mouthing off in the third base box and laughing at the opposing team or obviously running up the score, then his/her batters had better be ready to dodge an errant pitch. That's how the big boys play the game. If your pitcher hits our pitcher in the elbow, then she'd better come to the plate wearing some body armor. I'm not saying any of that is good, bad or otherwise. I'm just saying that's how it is. As for the incident in question: It's a free country, but like I said, that coach is putting his players at risk by being a big mouth-- depending on who's coaching in the other dugout.
