softballcoach

Who was the catcher trying to throw to? If it was to first and the BR is "hanging" around the plate why wasn't he tagged?

that's why you list him/her as assistant coach, and tell them they are to keep their dam trap shut and not argue with the umps. :Cool2:

That's the EXACT reason I'm a STRONG supporter of them not having umpires to FORCE them to learn the dam rules to begin with. If they must have an umpire then at least limit them to the plate and make the managers/coaches umpire the bases.:Cool2:

We've tried that, even brought out an Al and Al clinic from LL. I think part of the problem is we end up with so many kids signing up we usually don't have enough coaches and then we (coaches and umpires) get stuck with dads that don't have a clue what they're doing trying to figure it out as they go.

He's very talented for a 10U!!! Our association voted a few years ago to move from LL to USSSA. I like USSSA better in the older divisions because the field gets bigger. The challenging part for me is with a 10U team trying to coach them proper pitching mechanics AND having them worrying about loose runners stealing on them. Hindsight I wish we'd have left 10U with tight bases and get the kids pitching doing it with the correct mechanics. Luckily we're not enforcing balks, they're called and showed what they are doing wrong.

That's my exact point, it's not your (umpire's) job to teach me or show me in the book, that's why we (board) order at least 1 book per team. It's my job as a coach to learn the rules, if a coach can't/won't learn them then shame on them for shorting their team.

another scenario, pitcher from the stretch, ball in throwing hand, glove hand in front of his face, ball is not inside his glove but is next to his ear. He's set, and not moving at all until he starts his wind up and pitches. Would this be considered a legal pitch? He's coming set, he's just not holding the ball inside his glove when he does.

After reading a lot of the posts on this entire site I wanted to throw out my I stumbled on this site sometime last year while doing some research for a return pitcher Even though I registered with the name I did and I don't umpire, I have felt welcome and treated like I belong to the group. After reading some posts from some of the resident umpires about "daddy ball" and RAT coaches I am proud to say that even though I fall into the first catagory I go to great lengths to stay out of the other catagory. It's not said nearly enough, and if you guys haven't heard it from a coach in a while, I want to thank each and everyone of you for what you do. I know at least once you have crouched behind the plate or stood in the field and have heard from parents or coaches and sadly even the kids themselves things that should never be said to another person and probably asked yourself why it is you do what you do. Its sad that at all levels, but especially the younger kids that parents and coaches forget what exactly it is we're here for, and that's the opportunity to teach these kids the great game of baseball AND softball. Again, thanks for what you do and making this game more enjoyable for me.

I've thought about that, and have had the board "give" me a player who had to be removed from another team. I guess you could say it's a catch 22 situation. I don't like having to spend a lot of time dealing with the problems and less time teaching and coaching these kids the proper way to play the game and understand the rules, but then again it's rewarding to see a kid turn around by the end of the season and or have a parent tell me how much they are enjoying the season because of my coaching style.

I think the main reason I prefer softball over baseball is for the most part, the parents don't really know all the rules and watch the game instead of trying to coach from the stands.

I've been lucky in the fact that I have coached in the same league both baseball and softball and know most of the kids. Also, being on the board helps too. I for one won't tollerate any foul mouths on my team. If I know a kid has a history of it, I won't even draft him. I also, at the beginning of the season before the first practice schedule a parents/players coaches meeting and let them know it won't be tolerated, if I hear it in a game I'll pull the offender and they'll watch the rest of the game from the dugout or if it continues they'll be watching from the stands with their parents.

I just posted this in the sits area, we had the same thing happen in a HS game 20 years ago, holy crap, has it been that long???? Anyway, we had R1 headed to 2nd and hurdled the F4 and get called out for leaving the base path.

TRUE!!! the kids always ask after the game, "did we win coach?" "where are the snacks"!!!!B)

correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this guy be out for leaving the base path? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2tUCExoiL8 If this has already been posted... my bad!!!:no:

I feel for you UIC, I used to be the CP1 commish for our association, I couldn't decide who whined more, the 5-6 year old kids or the coaches. In the 6 years I've been involved with rec ball, and some select ball it never ceases to amaze me how quickly parents and coaches forget what we are all really there for. The funny thing is after the game the only thing on those kids minds is what kind of snack they're getting.

we use coaches for t-ball with no score keeping but for some reason use paid umps for CP-1 and above. The umpire assoc. we use usually puts a green kid on those games so they "get experience" umping, but usually all they get is more experience from mouthy parents and coaches that don't know/read the rules.

I found this post on "2 for 1" interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Post Of The Month April, 2010"

For the life of me I don't understand why youth associations don't have coaches as umps in pitching machine and 6U coach pitch games. My main reason for feeling this way is I would HOPE it would force these coaches to actually read the rule books we (board members) give them, and maybe, just maybe it would reduce the rat coaches in the older age divisions. (ok, I know that's a stretch, but one can wish right?) Personally, I won't argue a call, unless I know what the book says, if I don't agree with the call, I might ask for clarification.

No, they're warned the first time, then called out the second time, usually the coach will remove them from the game at that point.

Wow, that sounds like some of the 10U games I've seen.

My mistake, I thought it meant lead runner was R1 etc. Simmer down blue:notworthy:

That's what we ALL wanted to know!!! I know our ground rules don't have anything covering it. I'm pretty sure Utrip uses OBR.

Sorry, this was USSSA baseball. I'm coaching my son's 10U team.

R1 on 3rd, R2 on 1st. f2 overthrows f1, ball rolls to the feet of BU who then reaches down to pick it up. R1 breaks for home, crosses plate and heads to dug out. BU says ball was dead when it hit him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ball was dead until the PU picked it up.

Our ground rules in our league call for an out in this situation, not an ejection.