Time Limits - Please Go Away (or at Least get Longer)...

Many of the tournaments are not actual showcases but are advertised that way to get a bigger entry fee. If they can get one or two local coaches to show up, they call it a showcase.

 

The Game is a 7 inning Game

I played women's Class A and Major softball and every game was 7 innings, unless you got run ruled. It was a double elimination tournament. We played to win, not to play 4 games to make parents or coaches happy that they got their money's worth.

I would rather play two 7 inning games and know where I and my teammates stand against others than play four 60 minutes games, two of which usually don't mean anything because they are just played to get your 4 GG in. If you add up the time of the two 7 inning games and the four shortened games, you will probably come out to the same amount of minutes played, or at least pretty close. Play to win!

 

There are dozens of tournaments each year that are not showcase throughout the state.

 

That's the attitude I like; the desire to compete!

Without that format no team really knows whether they are the best team or not. Many times, along about the 5th or 6th inning is when you really find out what kind of team you've got.

 

To Get Back on Track...

Folks -

To try and get this post back on track... I started this thread because I have grown tired of seeing tournament directors cut time limits from 1:20 to 1:10 to 1 hour and to change pool play games from finish-the-inning to drop dead. On the showcase side, I can understand (though not agree with) the drop dead time limits.

In both cases (competitive trophy tournaments and showcases), I would like to suggest the time limits be 90 minutes (finish the inning in trophy tournaments, and either finish the inning or drop dead in showcases). This will allow most games to finish 6 or 7 innings, which is reasonable.

I know that these increased time limits will cut into the tournament directors profits. So perhaps a compromise can be reached. I for one would be willing to pay an extra $25-$50 for each tournament if I can be assured of these longer time limits. In this way, tournament directors can still make the money needed to function, and we teams can get what we desire - more innings for our tournament entry dollars and complete games to determine tournament championships.

If you are interested in my campaign for a minimum of 90 minute time limits, I would love to get a petition of teams going. Please PM me...

 

The idea tournament would be.....all games 90 minutes games start at 8:30 am no start times after 7:00pm and 1:30 pm on Sunday. This will force the director to cut back on some teams.....maybe some teams that have been going for years. I dont mind paying another $50-$75 bucks for this. There are some things that the director has to considered that we sometimes dont know or forget about.

 

Im only replying because our website and tournaments were brought up. I didnt realize so many other associations played such short time limits all the time. For the last 7 years, we at SC ASA have always had ALL our bracket games at 1 hour 30 min time limits. And this year we are doing a few tournaments with No Time Limit on bracket games. The only time we shorten game times is due to a big rain delay and we avoid that if all possible. I know there are alot of greedy underhanded TDs, but please dont lump us all into 1 category. We try to never over book a tournament, we get nothing off concessions, no kick backs from Hotels and we pride ourselves on staying on time which we do 95% of the time (those that play other associations think Im joking, those that play SC ASA know Im right). We carefully plan out each tournament so it runs as smoothly as possible for the teams. I coached travel ball for years and when I decided to do this (TD) i knew exactly what kind of tournaments to put on, the kind i would have liked to attend, so we pay very close attention to detail. So dont bash all TD's as greedy because some of us do it for the right reasons. But for anyone wanting to play, check us out at www.eteamz.com/scasa

Chad Greene
SC ASA

 

LOL! Greed is softball?? Never!

 

My favorite remark by a TD, "I don't do it for the money, I do it for the girls".

 

What TD's should start doing is state game time limitations when they post tournaments. This will give teams an opportunity to play, or go play elsewhere. Then if TD's are not getting teams that should tell them something. But if teams are going to tournaments and expecting "full games" only to find out later the games where cut short that's not good. JMO.