What should a team do?

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On 10u we played Pittsburg Power and Lasers at several tournaments. They were both awesome, nice, showed good sportsmanship and class. That is a winning team.
Pittsburg Power even came to 2 of our other games and cheered for us.
This year we're a newer 12u team and at our first tournament got beat 1 game at Fairborn a couple of weeks ago 15-0. Every girl on the other team swung an RT and looked 16.
They are a well known team and we knew they would beat us and that was ok...we smiled and had fun anyway!
What was NOT ok were the coaches loud comments from third base that we were making it too easy, they could have left the RTs at home, look how small they are they must not know what to feed their girls, etc.
My dd was pitching and she is not a very big girl at all but throws in low to mid 50's ... when she struck out their pitcher, the coach was carrying on about how no way that "little thing out there" should be able to get it by her and "look at her she's nothing". ?>
She never lost her composure and struck out the next 2.....
;D
Let's remember this is about the girls.
Someone always has to be 2nd but they don't have to be humiliated in the process!

 

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I heard the same behavior this year in a high school game. One coach was screaming before evey pitch "she's nothing! If she hits you it won't hurt, so just take it!!"

Sorry, but if I am an umpire, I am stopping the game and telling that coach to keep his comments under control. There's no place for that kind of nonsense. I don't know why umps put up with it.

 

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crazyforsball, I was at Fairborn 2 weeks ago watching my 3 DD's play at 10 & 14U. I didn't see this team, but if what you say is true, the head umpire shouldv'e gave them a warning, and then if it continued, sent them packing to the parking lot. There's just no room for grown men/women to act this way towards kids!!!

 

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it's real simple when up by 10 or 12 runs just look at the ump point to the base and have the player leave early. the ump will know what your doing.heck do it 3 times if you have to. theres NO excuse for 20 run win margins.

 

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Several times this year I had my middle school players steal home when it wasn't even a bad pitch. Result was an instant out. Did it several times just so we didn't run up the score any more than it was and so we could get home and eat sooner. I told my girls that we are not that type of team and that we wouldn't want it done to us and they agreed. I want my younger players and my older players to show some class and be good sports. Coaching is teaching remember. We are a very aggressive team, yet we know when enough is enough.

 

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WAVE16,

I like your idea of stealing home even if it is a decent pitch.

 

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Last year, I was on a middle school team that beat another team 52-1 in three innings. We were very agressive for about the first ten runs in the first inning, but then we started to back off a little. When we got to the thirty run range, righty's started to bat left handed and an outfielder became our catcher. But we still kept scoring. It was fun for about the first twenty runs, but then it just got boring. Our coach even went and bought an icecream cone during the game. ;D We tried to stop scoring, but we could not. The other team just could not get three outs. What are you supposted to do?
The game ended up lasting for three hours.
If it looks like a defiant win for a team, I think that they should layoff as to not hurt the other team's feelings.

 

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I agree that as a player it is no fun to win by 20 run margin. I see no reason to be stealing when you are up that much. As a athlete when I am up a large number of runs I feel bad enough that I wont make errors and purposefully let the other team get bases, but I am not going to shove it in their face that I am beating them. I also hope that if I am getting beaten this bad that someone does the same for me.

 

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Joe put it perfect, it's all about class

At the end of the day is that how you want to be remembered?

 

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The original post was about a JV game. The team was run ruled after the first 5 innings. It was the loseing team coach who wanted to continue on to let the girls get more playing time. IMO, if he did not want the score to be run up or his team "humilated", he had the choice to stop play. This was a post season game and the last for the JV teams. Like I said before, the coach did not put in his regular starting line-up, but gave girls from the freshman team playing time. They did not rub it in, they only played the game and recieved valuable experience as to what the JV games will be like next year. I guess you just can't satisfy everyone. I wonder if the other team would have been on the winning end of things if the post would have ever been made? I think not.

 

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JoeA1010 I like your reply best of all. one thing I would do is steal on every pitch but tell the lady's to do it in a way to make it close but get thrown out by the catcher,then it might be a good idea to get on the umpire a bit so the other team don't know what's going on.then I would tell the other coach after the game what I did so he or she wouldn't think I was a jerk for screaming about every call.

 

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When my DD played for the 11 u Lasers Coach Dill would have the girls work from the left side he would have them try to slap and swing away. Some games when we were playing a not so strong team we would even start the game batting left and slapping.There was always something to work on you might not do it in a Championship game but all the girls got better and they kept their focus.

 

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I watched alot of that Saturday game. It did not look like the coaches were trying to run the score up. The majority of the runs were scored in one inning. Due to inexperience, many errors were commited leading to several runs. Should the coaches have told the girls to not swing, swing and miss, etc or play hard in their first tournament game and keep sharp for the rest of the tournament?

 

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When ahead by a country mile, my team won't take an extra base on a wild pitch, we won't steal, we won't even take more than one base even if the ball is hit to the fence. That is just the way I coach and my girls are not being hurt in any way by me doing this. My players still swing away, but we only take one base, no matter what.

 

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To win bye 26 runs is not done by accident. and to bat left handed is even more of and insult to that team jmho.

 

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Why is it an insult to bat left handed and learn how to do that during a game? I know of a girl who got a scholarship and the coach told her she would never bat right handle in college.It only improves the girls skill.

 

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I coach a travel team in the summer and indoor ball in the winter for 4 years now. We have in the past been up against teams that have run up the score, laughed at our players, rude cheers, rude spectators, etc. Now we are at times on the other end, playing weak teams with the oppurtunity to crush a team in 5 innings. The girls still remeber how that felt and we have no problems changing our play once we are 8-10 runs up. You can still give 100% working on perfecting the change up, slapping, bunting, etc. Much of which keeps the other team in the game feilding the softer hits, hitting the change up. As a coach you know by the 3rd of 4th inning you own the game, or you should anyway. It should always come down to class and sportsmanship, even in tournament play. I will admit that I have at times not followed this rule but only when we have faced teams that punished us in the past, what goes around comes around. Even then I will not allow the girls any verbal abuse.

 

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No individual stat is more important than showing good sportsmanship and respect for your opponent and the game.

The only stat that matters is W-L and that isn't an issue in these types of games.

 

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College coaches KNOW that a lot of High School stats are padded to beat heck. Not every stat, but some. I have talked to a couple DII college coaches and a DI coach and we have discussed this exact subject at some showcase tournaments. All had the same attitude that they don't buy into the whole H.S. stat contest. Although it may be great for the coach, parents, or for bragging rights in the newspapers, no H.S. player is going to be shmoozed or taken by H.S. stats. If the coaches have a real interest, they, or a school official will be there to watch in person at some point.

 

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My experience in talking to many college coaches (at every level) is that they pretty much don't care at all about a player's high school stats, or even travel stats for that matter. I've had coaches say they will look at a pitcher's strikeouts per inning, but that's about it.