State Games Oddity

cheeze105 · Jun 28, 2010 at 6:49 AM

thanks for getting everyone straight on that issue...

marlinfan1 · Jun 28, 2010 at 9:56 PM

Canes1705 said: ↑

Not one person who has posted in this thread has the story entirely correct, so please allow me to provide the missing details so that everyone understands that the State Games Committee did all that should have been done.

Monday's matchup between Region 8 and Region 2 was called in the fifth inning as a mercy rule because the scoreboard said 10-0. The umpires based their mercy decision on the board. BOTH coaches (region 8 AND region 2) approached the announcing table after the game with only 9 runs recorded in their scorebooks. This was confirmed by the two NSR reps AND an uninvolved college coach who was also sitting at the table. Someone (I'm not sure who) told the coaches that the mercy rule was 8-0. Regardless of who made this comment, all coaches involved have been coaching high school ball, and both Jeff and Butch (the two umpires) are active high school umpires - all involved know the mercy rule is 10. Regardless of this discrepancy, NO ONE approached either Pop (NC Fastpitch President), Jeff (State Games rep), or I (D6 chairperson) about the situation at this time. Our official record of score was 9-0, and no one caught the fact that the game had been ended after five.

After Tuesday's games, we began the tallying to determine seeding for Wednesday's games. Regions 2, 3, and 8 all finished with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss. The FIRST tiebreaker was head to head. Region 2 beat Region 3, Region 3 beat Region 8, and Region 8 beat Region 2. Therefore, all three teams canceled each other out on head to head. The SECOND tiebreaker was runs allowed. Based on our information, Region 2 had 10 runs allowed, while Regions 3 and 8 had 11 runs allowed. This would mean Region 2 went to the gold medal game, while 3 and 8 went to the THIRD tiebreaker, which was runs scored. Region 8 had the most runs scored, so they went to the bronze medal game while Region 3 went to consolation. We made this announcement Tuesday night. Immediately, the Region 8 coaches approached us saying we had made a mistake. Their book showed that 10 runs had been scored in the first game, which would make all three regions tied at the second tiebreaker (runs allowed) as well. In that case, based on runs scored, Region 8 would go to the gold, Region 3 to the bronze and Region 2 to consolation. The Region 8 coach stated that he had had to go back through his book after the game to correct hits/errors/etc, and that was where he had seen the missed run. Both books were compared to find the error.

Based on the fact that immediately following the game, both books had 9 runs as the official score, and there was no way for the state games committee to say one coach was right and the other was wrong, we determined the most fair way to solve the problem was resume the game in the bottom half of the fifth inning, exactly where it was left off, with 9 runs, again because that was what both books had confirmed at the conclusion of Monday's game.

The other details listed about the game were correct - it was bottom of the fifth, two outs, runners on first and third. If Region 8 had scored immediately, the game would have ended and they'd have gone to the gold medal game. There were actually a multitude of outcomes that could have happened; for example, if the game had ended 10-1, then Region 3 would have gone to the gold medal game (b/c Region 2 would have 11 runs allowed, and Region 8 would have had 12 runs allowed). If the game had ended 9-2, then Region 2 would go to gold game, Region 3 to bronze, and Region 8 to consolation. And so on and so on.

Ultimately, no runs were scored by either team and the initial seeding was correct - Region 2 to gold, Region 8 to bronze, Region 3 to consolation. Region 8 argued they should have been allowed to hit in the bottom of the 7th and that they were unfairly robbed of a chance to go to the gold. HOWEVER - these final innings were NOT played as a tiebreaker, in which case their argument would have been valid. The innings were played to ensure that the tiebreaker was applied appropriately. Had they been allowed to hit in the bottom of the 7th, it would then have become necessary to go back and allow each home team who had been winning another chance to hit, as that may have also affected runs allowed/scored. Not to mention the fact that it is the rules of the game for it to be called in the middle of the seventh if the home team is ahead.

As I said before, no one approached Pop, Jeff, or I about the discrepancy until it became an issue about seeding for medal games. The entire situation could have been avoided had it been brought up on Monday.

The tournament was a success and I firmly stand behind the great experience it was for all the girls involved. I hope this explanations provides enough information for everyone to move on and focus on the positive nature of the state games experience.
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.....wow!!!!

You folks must have been going crazy on this gig, heck, I'm dizzy just reading your post.

Just food for thought, maybe have an official scorekeeper?

No slander, and I mean No slander, I'm a huge honk for the state games and ALL the positives that come to our kids from the hard work from Pop and you guys as well.

Thanks,

I've got your back on what looks to be the best/most fair decision.

Props!

Fish

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State Games Oddity

cheeze105 Moderator Staff Member

marlinfan1 Full Access Member

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