8u Coach Pitch, establishing “time”

[Mots42]

Hello, 8u park and rec coach here trying to determine how common a rule is. Our local rec league doesn’t stop play until the ball is in the circle. This leads to “stand offs” as I like to call them. The lead runner is clearly no longer advancing. But… they immediately run when the ball is being thrown back to the “circle” this creates pure chaos, kids who field the ball in front of a runner stare them down, but are too afraid to throw to the circle because the runner will resume running. 
 

I am putting a team together to travel locally. We played in a Grand slam tourney where the play was dead when the lead runner stopped advancing.

main question, how common is our set of park and rec rules?

 Thanks

[orangebird]

One of my orgs has this for u10 and u11 games

Quote

The ball is dead when the pitcher has the ball anywhere on the dirt surrounding the pitching rubber. If a runner has not at least reached half-way to the next base, the runner must return to the previous base

Feel like the halfway rule is a good way to stop kids from running as soon as the pitcher gets thrown the ball

[The Man in Blue]

For "community leagues" I would say this is very common. 

When I ran our summer program, we used it but ended moving the line to 3/4 instead of 1/2.  We found with the half-way point, coaches were still playing games and not teaching good fundamentals.  Moving the line to 3/4ths of the way down cut down on this.

Too many coaches try to win the game.  They forget to teach the game.

[Coach Carl]

Is this Coach Pitch or Player Pitch?  

In Coach Pitch, we have restrictions on running the bases.  We encourage the defense to complete the plays even though they have no chance to get the runner out.  So, a hit in the infield means you cannot advance beyond 1st base and on a hit to the outfield (over or through the infield) you cannot advance past 2nd base.  Any runners on base are also limited to one or two bases as the case may be.

In Player Pitch, we have a 9u division that has no restrictions at the end of a play.  This has created a culture where the defenses just try to get the ball back to the pitcher asap, rather than trying to stop the runner and then getting it to the pitcher.  You don't have the "stand-offs" but aggressive baserunners do get extra bases.  We've debated it several times in board meetings and kept it the same.  We figure changing it will just present other challenges that we have to chase down.  

That same division does have a restriction on what we call "delayed steals".  The delayed steal means that you have to steal on the pitch or in reaction to a wild pitch/passed ball.  No stealing on the return throw to the pitcher.

[NavyBlue]

"Once the ball is in the infield and playing action has stopped the ball is dead."  Playing action is interpreted to mean when the runner has stopped running.  The instant a "standoff" has begun we kill it since the runner is not running.  This encourages the defense to get the ball in the infield, but they also have to have control of it to stop the runners from advancing.

[Mots42]

This is how we played in our tournament over the weekend. 
 

what I find happening in our rec league is, We field the ball, stop the runners, throw the ball to the circle but if he doesn’t catch it clean, base runners continue their runs again. This leads to roughly 15 “junk” points between us and another team during our first game.

[The Man in Blue]

9 hours ago, Coach Carl said:

In Player Pitch, we have a 9u division that has no restrictions at the end of a play.  This has created a culture where the defenses just try to get the ball back to the pitcher asap, rather than trying to stop the runner and then getting it to the pitcher.  You don't have the "stand-offs" but aggressive baserunners do get extra bases.  We've debated it several times in board meetings and kept it the same.  We figure changing it will just present other challenges that we have to chase down.  

That is one of the false arguments I always pushed back on, @Coach Carl.  You have to ask your board what is the purpose of 9u.  Is it to win games today, or is it to teach the players the concepts that will keep them playing for years?

Yes, it does create a ripple effect, but is that one worse than the ripple effect being caused now?

My breaking point was when I went to one of my oldest daughter’s first middle school games.  This was her first experience in scholastic ball, and we were excited!  On the first play of our first home game, the batter hit a ground ball right at F6.  F6 promptly fielded the ball cleanly, and threw it at the pitcher who had no clue what F6 was doing.

Nobody had ever taught her to make a play at first base.  Her summer coach, who was always chasing an undefeated season, taught her to throw it to the pitcher immediately.

[orangebird]

9 hours ago, Mots42 said:

This is how we played in our tournament over the weekend. 
 

what I find happening in our rec league is, We field the ball, stop the runners, throw the ball to the circle but if he doesn’t catch it clean, base runners continue their runs again. This leads to roughly 15 “junk” points between us and another team during our first game.

I believe you mean runs lol

[The Man in Blue]

Not when they are earned that way.  They are points.  

Runs are for baseball games.  Points are for coaches like that who just want wins on their record.