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slow pitch softball


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so, the old guy telling me old umpire school stories also talked about guys at the school that did super slow pitch softball along with their baseball. they said some players moved to different company teams from time to time. he said there was some guy nicknamed the crusher, someguy with a last name of nye (rhymes with eye), one named mead (like reed), one named aren't or whatever. 

they also mentioned calling 2 person rec leagues, slow pitch arc limit of 10 feet, use to be unlimited at one point, and with 2 strikes on the batter the pitcher would arc the ball telephone pole high to have the pitch land just behind the plate for strike 3 with the batter looking stbraight up trying to swing, at $10 a game, 1 hour time limit. 

they mentioned some leagues had gone to putting a piece of rubber behind the plate and it extended backwards and any ball hitting that piece was a strike, and going to one person umpiring. they said there were tons of mens leagues, womens leagues and coed leagues since a lot of people could participate due to it being slow pitch, (as in not fast pitch or any type of modified pitch).

so

is any of this stuff still popular now and are there 2 person or just all one person umpires now and how much is the game fee. it seems he mentioned most rec leagues played 3 or 4 games a night with the one hour time limit with the first game starting at 6pm. he also mentioned some leagues doing a 1 pitch only situation with a foul ball being an out.

so lets here about this in the present day versus an era gone by.

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4 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

they mentioned some leagues had gone to putting a piece of rubber behind the plate and it extended backwards and any ball hitting that piece was a strike,

I still play adult softball, have for over 30 years. Mostly men's league, but some co-ed, too. I used to play up to 4 nights a week, but now I just play regularly on my Sunday nights men's league, and sub on a co-ed team on Fridays.

Rec softball at all skill levels, men's and co-ed is very popular in my area. (San Diego County). You can play every night of the week if you want to. Tons of teams, leagues, and tournaments all year round.

When I first started playing, we usually had 2 umpires. now its only one. Payment differs from league to league. Some roll the umpire fees into the league fees, others is pay at the plate. In my Sunday league, it's $12.00 from each team, cash at the plate.

Game times are every hour, 50 minute time limit. Sunday's games times are 1st game at 3:30pm, last game starts at 9:30pm. So 7 games per night. During the week, 4 games, starting at 6pm. No games on Saturday. So you can make $168.00 on Sundays, and $96.00 during the week. We see a lot of the same umpires.

I've always played slow pitch with the mat behind the plate. Pitch arc is supposed to be between 6' and 12', but it's usually higher. You start with a 1-1 count, you're allowed one foul ball with 2 strikes, after that, another foul ball and you're out. Double safety bags at first. To score, you don't touch the plate, you cross the line at 1B extended. It becomes a force play at home. It's for safety reasons. Mercy rules apply, too. I forget what they are.

Some divisions are really competitive, while others are not. I play in a lower division. It's just good fun, but you get the occasional Joe Former Minor Leaguer that still thinks he can make it to the pros at age 50.

Anyway, that's how it's mostly done in my area. Not much has changed in the nearly 40 years I have been playing. I can still lumber my fat ass around the bases, so as long as I can, I'll keep playing. My 2 sons play on my Sunday night team. So that's pretty cool, too!

Oh, and they serve beer at the facility we play at. We usually have one before the games, I mean, I can't play any worse!

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I'd venture to guess that more people play adult slow pitch in North America (men's, women's, co-ed) than baseball (youth and adult) and fastpitch (youth and adult) combined.

It's far more accessible to the casual player.

And, the facilities will prioritize those adult slow pitch leagues because of the beer sales they generate.

I think the mat has become pretty much the norm...5-10 foot or 6-12 foot arc...and even seeing leagues/tournaments that start all counts at 1-1.  Third strike fouls are outs.  HR's are capped.  Commit lines and no tags at home.  And many other variants.  All designed to speed up the game and/or make it fun accessible for less skilled players...and to help co-ed considerations.  (eg. penalties for walking a guy with a girl on deck)

And the vast majority of these games are done by one ump...with perhaps gold medal games in tournaments getting the second official.

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