Stalling for time...

Stall

We had a team in Showcase in Florence stall so they could tie us! We had runners on second and third and one out! Our hitter was trying to swing at anything close to avoid the delay! However parents and coaches were telling them to slow down. Coach tried to do conference and umpire would not allow. He knew what was going on but could not make them throw the ball near plate or hurry pitcher.

 

I can honestly say that I've yet to see our coach use the "stall" tactic, and I'm proud of him for it because I've seen it used many times against us and it burns me up every time...lol. Even had one tournament where on a simple throw back to the pitcher from the catcher, it goes a mile over her head ALL the way to the fence. No way that's an accident. The whole teams laughing it up.....grrrrr.

 

How about umpires actually speeding the game along before it gets down to the end and people are trying to stall. Give a pitcher 2 pitches at the beginning of an inning, don't allow balls in the infield or outfield after the 1st inning, no 3 up 3 down choreography between innings. No umpires talking to directors or other umpires in the middle of a game. There are a lot of other things taking place during the course of most games that are robbing them of time which allows a team to stall in the first place. There are some tourneys where they try to speed up the pace and it's a noticeably quicker pace and more innings seemed to get played. I've been involved on both sides of stalling and hate it when happens but I accept it as a part of the game.

 

Ahhhhhh!!!

Do NOT get to close too topic, do not get too close to topic.
You will get burned

Help Guru!!!!!

 

No Time Limit!!!!!

There should be no time limits in softball (except maybe slow pitch, since that's half fast, anyway)!!

I'd rather play a 5-inning game with no time limit than a regulation game with a time limit. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to have a time limit with a time clock that doesn't stop the clock during timeouts.

Plan the tournaments to take into account longer games. International tiebreaker games take care of themselves for the most part.

And don't even get me started about drop dead games. That idea should be banned forever!!!

Let 'em play--time is too short anyway! And the older you get the faster it moves!!

 

Playing the clock sucks.
Had it done to us many times over the years. But I can truthfully say our team has never played the clock and never will.
The funniest thing is that with a drop dead time limit they still count wins and losses in POOL games at SHOWCASES. Its about getting the girls to the next level and when you lay the clock you lessen the chance of a girl to succeeded

 

Ah, the clock. In the past year, I've seen the following:

1) With a 5-1 lead, team starts taking 2 to 4 minute team conference by the dugout before going on defense. Then comes out and expects (and is permitted by the umpire) to do full infield warm up. Happens two successive innings. Next game, behind by two, they do the same thing before going on offense for the second inning (okay, at this point, I've decided maybe they weren't stalling the game before). Umpire (same one) does nothing other than call for a batter three times.

2) In bracket "finish-the-inning" game. Home team 3rd base coach is watching the clock. Has just rallied from 4-1 deficit to 4-3, and has runner on second with 2 outs. Sees that he has only 20 more seconds to go and decides to have runner steal third, figuring that either he'll have tying runner that much closer, or at least he'll have another inning to play if she gets thrown out. Runner gets thrown out, umpire calls game as timer expires 5 seconds later. Teams shake hands, coach appeals to TD. Appeal granted, another inning played at the beginning of the winning teams next game time slot. Home team looses 6-3. (Note that per ASA rules, this was the correct ruling, but should have been handled before the teams shook hands and left the field.)

There is a penalty in the ASA rulebook for delibrately stalling the game in ASA. It's called a forfeit. I've not met an umpire that's likely to impose that penalty. But instead of the second "I need a batter," he should have said "Strike One. I still need a batter." Followed 10 seconds later by "Strike Two. Where's the batter?" The umpire could call "Balls" the other way, too.

 

EASY NOW !!!!!

 

Thats Right GURU u could start something there now I am with LDFRGUY !!!!

 

teams have one minute between innings if I am not wrong. Umpire should enforce this and call strikes/balls as previously mentioned. TD should tell all teams this will be enforced before tourney starts and stick to it. An umpire that does not agree/enforce the runs to the best of his ability should not be used.