Time Limit Manipulation.

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For me it is tough to swallow when a visiting defensive team that is in the lead stalls in order to run out the clock to avoid a new inning. This past weekend at Marysville, we had the opportunity to stall (e.g., visit the mound, change pitchers, etc.) in a 1-0 semifinal ball game after getting 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th. Our decision not to stall came down to one simple principal - let the game be decided by the players on the field, not by us manipulating the rules. Everything worked out for us in this case, but I do wonder if we would having gotten any grief if our opponent had gotten the tying (or winning) run in the bottom of the 6th.

 

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For me it is tough to swallow when a visiting defensive team that is in the lead stalls in order to run out the clock to avoid a new inning. This past weekend at Marysville, we had the opportunity to stall (e.g., visit the mound, change pitchers, etc.) in a 1-0 semifinal ball game after getting 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th. Our decision not to stall came down to one simple principal - let the game be decided by the players on the field, not by us manipulating the rules. Everything worked out for us in this case, but I do wonder if we would having gotten any grief if our opponent had gotten the tying (or winning) run in the bottom of the 6th.

Class Move. And Someone would have brought it up.... ha ha ha.

 

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Saw a chicken coach this weekend who had a one run lead and had not scored in 3 innings (but gave up 5 runs) take 8 minutes to get 5 batters to the box. The pitcher on the mound was laying up big easy melons to hit, and they were holding off until the 3rd strike which if fine and honorable. But the coach I won't mention their team name called time with 2 outs and 4 minutes to play and substituted a player way down in the line up (one that would never see the plate), the umpire had to write it down and tell the visiting team which turned in to a lot of names being called a confrontation between coaches and the umpire, and the whole time their coach had the biggest pretty smile I've seen on a grown man's face. I understand that time clock management is part of the game but when we have to stoop to the level of poor sportsmanship it is not worth playing. And to beat it all the umpire looked at the clock after the 3rd out and said you missed it by just a few seconds.

The visiting team may have lost the game but I now have a lot more respect for their ability to play, they made some great plays in the last two innings including a 3 pitch inning for the pitcher's defense, and a couple of long distance put outs.

 

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It seems pretty apparent that this was done to allow time to run out. But it also could have been done to get the player an at bat in a game they were winning.

In either case, substituting a batter is well within the normal play of an untimed game. If this happened to me, I would be okay with it as long as they weren't obviously trying to extend the process of getting this player into the game.

 

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This year I've had two instances of a team trying to stall things with the clock ticking down, over the course of about 50 timed tournament games.

In the first one, with just a couple of minutes left the defensive coach asked for a conference with his pitcher. He had conferences left and the umpire has no right to deny them if he does. Opposing coach starts going ballistic, screaming about how they were delaying the game.

While an umpire can't deny an otherwise legal conference, he can control the length of it. Based on the clock situation, I probably allowed about half as much time for this one as I normally would. Let them have their meeting, then headed out to the circle to break it up.

If it was a stalling strategy, it backfired! The inning ended with about thirty seconds left on the clock, so we had to play another inning anyway. Neither team scored in the last inning, so we ended with the same result we had the prior inning.

The second incident involved a sudden rash of shoe lace problems for the defensive team! First, the pitcher asked for time to tie her shoe. She was taking time with it, so I stepped out from behind the plate and said, "Speed it up, Pitch, let's go!".

A couple of pitches later, suddenly the shortstop is having problems with her laces. This one got a more stern, "Knock it off and let's play ball!", in my grumpiest mean old umpire voice! Neither "shoe lace problem" benefited the defensive team and the game came to it's natural conclusion (well, as natural as you can get when using a clock while playing a game designed to not use one and not lasting a full seven innings...).

 

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There are rules and then there are the "spirit" of the rules (remember the George Brett pine tar incident?). Undue and obvious manipulating of the clock is something our coaching staff has vowed to avoid. The clock is an evolution of trying to play too many games into too short a time frame in a game designed to be time constraint free.

As Bretman and others have said, changing pitchers, mound conferences, pinch runners, taking the alloted time to pitch and get in the batter's box are all legal. Maybe its frustrating but then you should have scored more runs or stopped them from scoring. But the choreographed shoelace tieing? C'mon.

 

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In our tourney this last weekend, the shoelace thing was rampant any time the opposing team got a lead. It backfired every time but the the last game-bases loaded, 2 out , down one-a line drive out and a K to end it. Also, that last game, a lot of the girls would walk past the opening of our dugout between EVERY pitch to get the signs--if thier eyes are that bad, they shouldn't be playing for safety reasons!

 

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The biggest problem with time limited games is the "revert back to previous inning completed", if all TD's just agreed to finish the inning that was started, a lot of the clock management problems and antics would lessen. When it's the revert back rule, most coach's become clock coach's instead of situation coach's, and the last 5-10 minutes of the game is crazy! Eliminate the "REVERT BACK"!!!!! It's always those 1 hour or 1hour and 10 or 15 minutes game times that are annoying!!!! JMO

 

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We had the opposite happen where we were in the lead and time was running out and the opposing team wanted their at bat. Their pitcher wouldn't give our batters enough time to get set. The ump actually stepped in and told the coach that they had to give our girls time to get set. We won! It's nice when you play fairly and it works in your favor!

 

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I totally hate when the other team stalls obnoxiously! The ones i hate the most are the people who will untie there shoe and tie it again and the ones who stare at their coaches like they are getting a sign but its all bogus. I really wish there was a rule about that!

 

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How about the opposite of stalling....rushing the opposing team? We had this happen at a tourney a few weeks back. We were on defense wtih a one run lead in the sixth inning. Time limit is close. Fly ball to center field ends the inning. As our players were jogging off of the field, the opposing team's coach runs up to the plate ump and says "No warm ups! no warm ups! We are ready to go!" Our lead off batter had just reached the dugout and was going to her bag to get helmet, gloves and bat as the umpire yelled to her "Let's go batter, no stalling!" I told him she was getting her stuff and he told me he would call strike one in five seconds. She ran up to the plate, without her gloves, turned to take the sign from the coach and the umpire told her to get in the box he was signaling for the pitch.

For the remainder of the inning our girls were continually told to get back in the box as they were getting signals and nearly every pitch was a strike despite its location. Our third out was made with 15 seconds left on the clock.

Luckily, our pitcher was able to strike out the side swinging to end the game.

 

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I am a big believer in no warm ups to get an extra at bat, but, not to the extent of hurrying the other team. Our pitcher will wait for the batter to come out. Our catcher will let the umpire know we are ready. Thats it. Most teams know what is going on. They will automatically pick the pace up. We have had it happen to us, thats part of the time game. As far as stahling, that is taboo.

I do try to save time throughout the game though. You run to your position and run back to the dugout. You run to bat, and run back to the dugout after your at bat. Even if you strike out, no pouting, just hustle back to the dugout to get ready to play defense and cheer on your teammates.

If you try to save time throughout the game, you get the respect from everyone, including the opposing coach. You have continually showed that you are not wasting time. I have seen where the other team picks up their pace to meet our pace. It goes to show everyone that HUSTLE is a very contagious disease!

Jim McDaniel
14u Lady Charmers

 

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I am a big believer in no warm ups to get an extra at bat, but, not to the extent of hurrying the other team. Our pitcher will wait for the batter to come out. Our catcher will let the umpire know we are ready. Thats it. Most teams know what is going on. They will automatically pick the pace up. We have had it happen to us, thats part of the time game. As far as stahling, that is taboo.

I do try to save time throughout the game though. You run to your position and run back to the dugout. You run to bat, and run back to the dugout after your at bat. Even if you strike out, no pouting, just hustle back to the dugout to get ready to play defense and cheer on your teammates.

If you try to save time throughout the game, you get the respect from everyone, including the opposing coach. You have continually showed that you are not wasting time. I have seen where the other team picks up their pace to meet our pace. It goes to show everyone that HUSTLE is a very contagious disease!

Jim McDaniel
14u Lady Charmers

Coach McDaniel,

I'm with you 100% on the hustle part. That's how I want to play and I respect any team that plays that way.