Little League Softball World Series

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It's on right now. ESPN. Just saw a 6'1" 12 year old drill a triple.

6'1" 12 year old OMG!!!

 

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12U softball northern nationals at S. Bend, IN--- one team had two girls 6'3 & 6'0. 12U! Many other girls 6'0 or better there, too.

 

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Anybody see the play where the kid slid across first base, passed the bag, then reached back and touched the orange safety bag? The announcers were adamant that the runner should have been out on the subsequent tag, as she did not retouch the white portion of the base.

Speaking ASA, that is absolutely incorrect. After the initial play, the base becomes one big bag and the runner can return to either portion. Maybe this is different from the Little League interpretation- they have several rules that go against the grain for how the major sanctioning bodies call things.

It was an entertaining game at any rate. Still, kind of hard to get used to a softball game being played on a grass infield!

And, even though it didn't come up in this game, if I hear another ESPN Little League baseball or softball announcer declare "the hands are part of the bat" I will...boycott ESPN! Drives me nuts that their so-called "experts" continue to perpetuate this rule myth. It's reared its ugly head three times this week in three separate Little League broadcasts.

 

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I could swear I heard, during one of the Bound 4 Bejing Tour games, a similar bit about the orange bag vs. white bag during International play. I can't remember which game or who said it. If I find it, I'll reference it.

Speaking of the Little League Softball...my husband had to turn the channel while watching one game. He remembers being in Little League Baseball and he said he saw the girls doing way too many things the same way they taught him in baseball. He insisted "That isn't softball" but more like underhand baseball for girls. Not all of the games were that way, but it wasn't just one game either.

 

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The girl that is over 6 ft that played last night is suppose to pitch tonight if they won. They say she throws 63mph. Her last name is Hoover and her mom is the head volleyball coach at Clemson University.

 

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who ended up winning..I fell asleep in the bottom of the 9th

 

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I watched a few innings, some decent pitching but thought some of the fielding was dissapointing. Then again, could have been the whole grass infield thing. Thought there were some odd rules, like not being able to leave the base until "the ball reaches the batter" and they were talking about pitchers not being able to return the next day if they pitch more than an inning or something.

 

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Bret, I thought they were wrong on that call for another reason. The tag was irrelevant. The defense was trying to tag a girl who overran first base. She never made a move towards second. I don?t know why they thought she should be out orange or white.

 

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South Carolina won in the 10th by 1 run. Latin America had bases loaded with 2 out and it ended with a K.

 

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I do like their pitching rule because it allows for more girls to get exposure pitching (rather than relying on one stud), and it creates more coaching and managing the game. It is alot like baseball.

 

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What is their rule? I know I heard them mention that this would be the last inning the SC pitcher could pitch because she had pitched 9 innings of this game. Do they go by inning or pitch count?

 

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Nobody ever wants to think "little girls" could ever be involved with steroids, but multiple 12u girls at 6 foot and over???

 

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Ca. Grapettes ---6'1" pitcher --she wil be back next yeart at 12u. actually did'nt throw that hard , was a fine pitcher however. MD what is the tv schedule for this ?

 

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They play Robinsville NJ tonight....

I like the pitching rule as well School ball should have it too. We have one of the best pitchers in the state for school, but I still believe it should be a rule. Let's see what the teams are fully made of, when balls get put into play...

 

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Bret, I thought they were wrong on that call for another reason. The tag was irrelevant. The defense was trying to tag a girl who overran first base. She never made a move towards second. I don?t know why they thought she should be out orange or white.

Right on ice! Matter of fact, I heard the blue tell the head coach for Carolina "she made no attempt to progress", in a re-run of the play.

 

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They go by innings. The said last night the rule was no more than 9 innings in one game and if they pitch more than 1 inning in a game, they must have 1 day of rest. The 6-1 girl came in and pitched the last regulation inning and was throwing at 60 regularly

 

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I had to run this by some umpires (on an internet umpire discussion board) that do Little League games, because I've never worked a LL game in my life. From other discussions, I know that they have some rules that are completely different than what we are used to.

Sure enough, their rules state that once the batter-runner passes first base, the orange bag simply "does not exist". After overrunning the bag the runner must return to the white portion. That is how the ASA rule read up until about three years ago, before they changed their rules and made the double bag "one big base" after the initial play.

So, the LL umpire made a bad call. The runner's retouch of the colored bag was not legal contact with the base and she should have been called out on the tag- which is completely different from how it should be ruled in ASA or high school ball.

 

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the girl was going from home to first. she slid, kind of sideways, into, and through, first base touching both bags. She was in foul territory, on her knees. The key to all of this is she never made an attempt whatsoever of going to second base and the replays showed it clearly. The first baseman, went to tag her and the runner reached back and touched the safety bag. Don't know what the coaches argument was. The ump explained she didn't make an attempt to go towards 2nd so its all a moot point which bag she touched on the way back. She was in foul territory after running out a grounder. On her knees. She didn't need to touch any bag, and only did so out of instinct because the fielder went to tag her, out of instinct also. The fielder could've tagged her a hundred times. Doesn't matter. She is safe at first. Ump made the right call.

 

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The 11-12 division of Little League is what they call the majors, in this division pitchers are allowed to pitch 9 innings a game. If you pitch more than 1 inning in a game you are not elligable to pitch the next ( must have a games rest), there are no pitch counts for girls. On a side note Bretman, thanks to the members of OFC, I was tossed from a travel game for questioning an umpire on "the hands are part of the bat". One of our girls got hit on the hands and the umpire said she did not get first base because 'the hands are part of the bat". I calmly called time and and told him he had the rule wrong, he insisted that he did not so I asked him if you could buy a bat with hands on it, the fans started laughing and I guess he didn't think it was funny and asked me to leave the game.

 

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JMHO but I think the height of some players are inflated. My personal experience with one of my own DD's goes as follows. Many players, parents and opposing coaches have thought that DD was 6'0" for a couple of years now. Her freshmen basketball coaches even listed her at 6'0" in the H.S. media guide. As of this very day she is 5'9"and 3/4 inches in socks. We just laughed at the BB coaches when we saw it...lol.