USSSA strike out again?

[Admin]

From another source

Our team received a message from the USSSA local director at 5:40 AM stating that the games in Quakertown were canceled today as a result of the poor field conditions. After visiting the field at around 9:00 AM this morning it was pretty clear that a few hours of work would have made the fields playable and both age groups could have completed their tournaments in bracket play.
Instead of taking the high road and doing what is best for kids, the director of the USSSA tournament in Quakertown made their money and called it a day. There was no attempt to put any time into the fields to attempt to get the games in which is pathetic, and unfortunately, pretty typical of how the tournaments in Q-town operate.
After two weeks in a row of issues with USSSA tournaments (last week, the USSSA Fastpitch: Eastern Pennsylvania & New Jersey tournament director in Emmaus did not know the rules for tie-breakers heading into bracket play which caused some significant turmoil), I'm starting to wonder why people continue to pour money into this organization.

 

[DanMaz]

sad it all comes down to money.... as usual

 

[Stedman00]

certain areas, certain orgs better than others. different web forum, but USSSA is all that's worth anything in their state, as USA/ASA is completely absent.

 

[Admin]

certain areas, certain orgs better than others. different web forum, but USSSA is all that's worth anything in their state, as USA/ASA is completely absent.

That a shame, I wonder why no other organization are in Pennsylvania

 

[Mike_Craig_-_Ohio USSSA]

Could be a scenario where we do not know all of the details of the situation also. Some parents or anonymous posters tend to wear rose colored glasses when it comes to wet fields meaning if it is sunny all day and they can play, it is the greatest tournament in the history of tournaments. If it rains and the fields get unplayable, then the "all about the money" remarks come out of the woodwork. We do not know what the scenario is there when it comes to the final decision on whether fields can be played on or not. Plus people assume the association "owns" the fields which is not true and normally they are guests like the teams and under a park and rec dept guidelines.

CRPD here in the pre-turf days had the final say on all field matters. I can't tell you how many times they pulled the plug on us after Sunday morning rain in the past when the sun eventually came out and shining and a handful of volunteer parents were all waiting to chip in to try to play it out. Same in Whitehall about 4 years ago on me. The Rec dept said no go and it was sunny and 75 all day while my phone and email blew up all day and on Monday.

I do know that one of the PA directors decided around Labor Day that he was done. No notice, no contact with any higher up in our organization so they could appoint someone or maybe try to take the events over and not lose the complex or park that weekend. It is not an excuse but it sure makes it hard for a group to keep things running smoothly.

 

[yocoach]

That a shame, I wonder why no other organization are in Pennsylvania

Actually, around the Pittsburgh area and within a 50 mile or so Radius of downtown, NSA will give it a run for it's money. That said, I've found that the umpires of the USSSA are, in general and overall, superior in every way. As usual, there are exceptions to every generality on both sides of the spectrum.

Also, along the Eastern side, USA is almost as big but USSSA has sunk a large amount of time and some money into the state in it's effort to be the dominant association.

 

[VE_05]

I coached Vikings elite 05 and USSSA Pride Vegas 05 for 7 years and played in Many USSSA tournaments around Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. In my experience, mike craig and company has always done a top
Notch job and I would recommend them always.

Michigan and Indiana was both ran good as well but I felt mike did much better.

 

[SonicMojo]

Unfortunately Mike does not run all USSSA events in Ohio. There is one venue that always does USSSA and always has phantom rain-outs, rescheduling resulting in fewer games, etc. The changes are usually completely illogical other than they are always in the TD's favor.

 

[DanMaz]

Unfortunately Mike does not run all USSSA events in Ohio. There is one venue that always does USSSA and always has phantom rain-outs, rescheduling resulting in fewer games, etc. The changes are usually completely illogical other than they are always in the TD's favor.

there is more than one TD operating this way.....

 

[Mike_Craig_-_Ohio USSSA]

Actually, around the Pittsburgh area and within a 50 mile or so Radius of downtown, NSA will give it a run for it's money. That said, I've found that the umpires of the USSSA are, in general and overall, superior in every way. As usual, there are exceptions to every generality on both sides of the spectrum.

Also, along the Eastern side, USA is almost as big but USSSA has sunk a large amount of time and some money into the state in it's effort to be the dominant association.

I wonder if that is Ray Sullivan and his wife Sandy running NSA still in that area? I knew them from my days in NSA around 2012-14 and they had a good dynamic for events when Zach Green passed over there.

Shamed that NSA faded away like they did here in Ohio and especially Indiana. Before I left in the fall of 2015, I had some great events with NSA back then and a good director base that put on some really good events. NSA pretty much owned Indiana back then also.

Now there is very little NSA in Indiana except maybe around the FT. Wayne area and west of there in Warsaw and NSA is pretty non-existent in Ohio running there last tournament here in 2016. I didn't leave them in a "scorched earth" manner, I just felt that USSSA had so many more possibilities compared to them back then.