Mo'na Davis

[RichMSN]

 

He looked good early on, but lost his strike zone as the game went on.

Very inconsistent on pitches on the corners and at the letters.

2 nights in a row I've noticed this. Hard for me to comment, since I've never been in front of 18 cameras, a national audience, and 35,000 fans. The thing is, I'm pretty sure these guys haven't been either. Maybe the game starts, the blood is pumping and you're concentrating extremely hard and after three innings or so the adrenalin rush ends and you "crash" or hit the "wall"?

 

 

You just have to work one pitch at a time.  Tell yourself you're going to get the NEXT one right.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It's only 6 innings.

 

World Series umpires aren't working regionals.  You can't get selected to both the same year.

 

Most umpires work one regional in a lifetime and one World Series -- per age level.

[bleacher_bum]

 

He looked good early on, but lost his strike zone as the game went on.

Very inconsistent on pitches on the corners and at the letters.

2 nights in a row I've noticed this. Hard for me to comment, since I've never been in front of 18 cameras, a national audience, and 35,000 fans. The thing is, I'm pretty sure these guys haven't been either. Maybe the game starts, the blood is pumping and you're concentrating extremely hard and after three innings or so the adrenalin rush ends and you "crash" or hit the "wall"?

 

>>>Possible 5 Hour Energy Commercial?

[Dean]

OK it has been a long time since I umpired any LL game or read the rule book, because they don't have one on line.  But there used to be - maybe 8.05, (?) that basically said what would be a balk in other levels is an illegal pitch in LL.

so someone noted 8.01.b (note) allows for a no stop pitch. is this the only exception?

And it sure looked very close to quick pitches for the philly team and not a no stop.  The umpire did stop her once and disallowed a quick pitch, (I think because time was still in effect.) and he just disallowed the pitch.

[grayhawk]

OK it has been a long time since I umpired any LL game or read the rule book, because they don't have one on line.  But there used to be - maybe 8.05, (?) that basically said what would be a balk in other levels is an illegal pitch in LL.

so someone noted 8.01.b (note) allows for a no stop pitch. is this the only exception?

And it sure looked very close to quick pitches for the philly team and not a no stop.  The umpire did stop her once and disallowed a quick pitch, (I think because time was still in effect.) and he just disallowed the pitch.

 

Her delivery is perfectly legal in LL, including the "quick" pitches (which are nothing resembling a real quick pitch).  Each time, the batter is in the box and ready to receive the pitch.  As you mentioned, PU did disallow a pitch, but it was because he had not yet put the ball back into play.  He did it once with the Nevada pitcher as well.

 

Here's the thing about her fast delivery.  As far as I could tell, every time she did it, it was a fastball.  If the opponent could figure that out, what she thinks is an advantage is actually a huge disadvantage.

 

She appears to be a good kid.  In many interviews, she has lamented about how it's her team that should be getting the attention, not just her.  She's a talented pitcher - even touching 70mph on her fastball.  She appears to be an average fielder and a below average hitter (1-7 in the LLWS, with her only hit being a little flare).  I don't begrudge her the attention that she has received, but as with anything to do with ESPN, it's just WAY WAY WAY overdone.  As with almost all girls that are 13, she is likely about to stop growing, while almost all the boys around her are just about to hit their growth spurt.  In the next 12-18 months, she will be physically overmatched and will have little to no hope of making her HS baseball team.  I'm sure she is an excellent soccer and basketball player as she is a superior athlete as compared to her peers.  I wish her nothing but the best in reaching her goal of being recruited by UCONN and eventually playing in the WNBA.