MBB2

[quote name="JohnnyT60" post="768911" timestamp="1267490398"] I was just wondering how you would rank the associations. When my daughter played it was something like this; how much has it changed? 1. ASA 2. AFA ( I guess NaFA or IFA would take that place) 3. USSSA [/quote] I think anything following ASA somewhat depends on your location, right?  Isn't U-trip big in northeast Texas, like around Longview?  I'm also pretty sure it is popular in the southeastern states along with USFA. That said, at the most competitive levels, depending on how this premier California thing goes, I don't expect there is much of an argument against ASA.

That's a DARN strong 14U field for a Beaumont tournament. A number of ASA national teams from August, plus the 14U Southern Nat champion. Several of the '96 teams will be tough to knock out as well. I would expect to see a couple of '95 teams light that tournament up (Power, Kaos), with a handful of other '95's capable of winning some games (Cobras, Sting, Crossfire, TKO). What's really impressive, however, are the '96 teams from Houston. Aces, Thunder, Fury, Red Hots (97 maybe)... I think all of those qualified and played at 12U nationals. Maybe Kaos and Ice as well, not sure. No doubt the Crush and other local teams will have a good chance as well, but that's a great opportunity to watch some really, really good 14U teams from outside the area.

This is like that movie Groundhog Day...

Judging from the responses to this thread, it would take quite a bit...

Work is starting a co-ed softball team. I guess they don't currently pay enough for insurance premiums... Anyway, I have a closet full of ASA approved bats of the fastpitch variety. The women participating on this team won't really be able to swing the bigger slowpitch bats we have. Are fastpitch bats allowed in slowpitch play? I'm just talking about rec ball in Beaumont, not any sort of championship play. Thanks for any insight.

You don't have to leave early or purposefully swing at balls in the dirt, but you don't have to steal or take that extra base either. I think there is a time and place to call off the dogs without offending anyone. As for the other side, you can't blame the opposing team when you fail to put your players in a position to succeed. That would include the team and each player being at the appropriate level of competition- not saying that was the case here, just posting a general comment. I don't have much web cred, though. I hope to post more to become smarter...

I'm sure you'd feel about the same as those El Paso parents do when they travel to Austin every year... Maybe a rotating location would work, say with Austin/SA, Houston, Dallas and someplace suitable out west. That way no 4-year athlete/family has to travel to the same place more than once.

If a kid played Ronald McDonald in the fall for one Class A team, then wanted to join another Class A team in the spring (same age group) that planned to play ASA state later this summer, what type of roster implications would this have? Any type of 'release' needed by the first team? I assume both would be in the same metro area and under any local rules, but regarding ASA in general would there be any requirements or restrictions? I am assuming RM was ASA sanctioned and a signed ASA roster was submitted.

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 1997 and given six weeks to live. She passed away in 2005 of heart failure but was cancer free at the time. Never give up and never lose your faith. Best wishes.

Provided she had not yet touched home, she could return to 3rd and her leaving early could no longer be appealed. I didn't mean to imply that the F5 had to "announce" the appeal, just that it is obvious to the umpire. This situation involves DAMan's judgement that the throw to 3rd was not made to appeal R1 leaving early. I hate to throw the J word out there, but it really is as simple as that. Interpretation of the rule book is not an issue here. Nor is the size of the defensive coaches problem. That doesn't seem right. Not disagreeing in the context of the appeal, just doesn't seem "right" to the defense. An out is an out, at least I thought it was. I never knew intent was a consideration. By that definition: runners at 1st and 2nd, batter hits looping liner over pitcher's head, SS runs over and catches the ball as she steps on second base. Throws to first for the tag of runner going back to first. Lead runner returns to second and is safe because there was not yet a specific appeal on her and the SS was not intending to force her out when she "inadvertently" touched the bag?

Good question. What would have happenend if R1 had went back to third while the defense was appealing the out at 2B?

What constitutes the entire team? At that point, if I understood you correctly, R2 was out on appeal, B3 was out on the catch, and R1 eventually crossed the plate. If all that is true, the only player left on the field was the ondeck batter. Correct or no? I guess I left the coaches out of that. Did they leave as well, and that factor into the third out? Also, having not yet made a call on R1, did you just signal her out once whoever left the field? If R1 did not cross the plate, would her having done so changed anything? I presume since that is an appeal play the run would have scored? I've done a good job of confusing myself here... ???

Wow, sad news indeed. If he was having that many problems, makes you wonder even more why he didn't try to get more help to ease the load on himself. On a side note, July 27th is the same day my dad passed away.

I admittedly know much less than many on here, but everyone I've ever talked to said to only let your daughter use them for wrist snaps and quarter windmill drills, never a full windmill pitch. I have seen a number of pitchers use the larger unweighted ball (14 inch?) with a full windup.

I don't think she'll need any help, Billy. Texasump needs to change his name to Texasrump.

I guess Parks and Rec will have to shut the fields down for another two year maintenance cycle to get them fully up to snuff. I was really disappointed to see the conditions based on all the work that was supposedly done. I was at Complex II all weekend, and those fields were like sand dunes. Field E had a home plate that was easily four inches above the dirt. Just a little digging and you found the concrete base. Field D had a nice batter's box, with a corner of the the turf-covered board fully exposed. Pitching plates were bad as well. Girls had fun, were able to play all their games, no field-related injuries. Lots of delays looking for umpires, but that was about it.

How's this for a visitor's review... US Open in Beaumont was a joke. We played in this FIASCO of a tournament for the first and last time. 1. Field conditions. What a joke! There were holes in front of the pitching rubbers that we 8-12 inches below the playing field, and that is NOT an exaggeration! Just terrible! Not a drop of water put on ANY field at ANY part of the day. Just a sandy dust bowl! 2. Umpiring (or lack of) POOR POOR POOR to say the least. I do not know what is going on with the umpires today. There do not seem to be very many that pride themselves on doing it right! What I mean by that is not blown calls. They are human and they are going to make mistakes, but to be CONSISTENTLY out of position to make calls on the field is inexcusable. 3. Scheduling..... They claimed to have lots of teams bail out without paying. I was told that I had to have money there in order to insure my spot. Apparently that was not the case as they had to constantly shuffle the pools and brackets to accomodate teams that no-showed. I figure 70 teams showed up. $200 dollars a team is 14 grand. There was no reason NOT to have some sort of field crew out there! We will NEVER play in this again. Rusty (Royal Purples) strikes again! Terri Gunnels TC Softball

The notice they nailed to the wall said the UIC was in an 'accident' after leaving the fields Friday night. I don't wish ill will towards anyone, and I hope he's OK, but for everyone's sake I hope that was a truth and not a lie. Again, I don't mean that to read that I hope he was really hurt or anything... just that it wasn't a lie covering up the fact he turned tail and ran.

Wasn't just the 18's. Saw two 14U's jump on an open field and go track down their own umpires just to get their game in. Saw another team play an unscheduled pool game opponent to get their last game in and avoid a midnight start... not sure if they told their original opponent or not. Know of at least four no shows, and in one case the bracket wasn't updated and teams were showing up for a walkover without any notice. Witnessed three different games delayed because umpires couldn't decide who was to go where. They were trying, but basically were at the point where they were throwing their hands up. Talked to two different teams supposed to be in the consolation bracket for Sunday morning. Not sure they were coming back because the bracket was not being filled out and no one knew where to go. One said they were showing up but had no clue if they'd have an opponent to play. We all liked the notice stapled on the wall at Complex II this morning. UIC is 'down' but here's the bracket and good luck keeping it straight in a tournament that has been snakebit. That's pretty much a direct quote. Lots of effort by everyone, and the games were still rolling on by the skin of their teeth, but an extremely severe lack of management. I think one poster from several days ago nailed it on the head- they may not have too many repeat customers next year.

Today was a little different, but still not many complaints. No umpires for 8am game on Complex II. Thankfully one blue showed up early and jumped in to help. A partner showed up about halfway through, but was clearly out of his element. Tan shorts, no clue where to position himself. Good news is no real action came his way. Much more of a shaky effort today, but they're still rolling on. Hopefully they will keep it together.

Not sure about everyone else, but we had a decent time out at the ballpark. Umps were adequate. BC group did a good job on Complex II concessions. Everything was on time. Not a bad day from what I saw. I find those 12:30am pool games interesting. Hopefully they can do something about that next year. Just drove by the fields and saw four fields not being used at 8pm...

Texas Justice are not playing... not sure about others.

Back when I was the younger side of 40 I remember doing 15 on a weekend, but that was rec league and the ball seemed to move a lot slower and not nearly as often. It's not just the physical fatigue, but the mental grind as well. I can't imagine anyone doing that much or more, in this heat, at this level of competition, no cool tent or recoup area... just don't see how they'd be giving a purposeful effort by the third day of 7+ games each day. Not saying they can't, just can't imagine how they could.

DAMan pretty much summed it up. I've never heard of a "nationals" not providing rooms for out of town umpires. The teams may be sorely disappointed with the quality (and maybe even the quantity) of umpires they get after spending their time and money to play in this tournament. So what's the deal? Now they're advertising for umpires at $30 + food and drink. No mention of hotel rooms. Said you guys made other plans... so are you going to umpire or boycott? Lot of local teams would sure like yell at a familiar face!

Not to derail the thread, but I was watching some of that game at the time of the question. As I heard it, the argument was that a dropped third strike does not "begin" until the ball reaches the catcher- ie, that if the catcher cleanly receives a pitch that hit the ground prior to reaching the catcher (as in, catching a one-hop delivery) then it is NOT considered a dropped third strike. I guess their contention was that only the catcher can create a dropped third strike. Commentary from the blues? UPDATE: Nevermind, decided to look for myself and found this on the ASA website... We have received several questions in regards to our dropped third strike rule. Please remember that our wording for Rule 8 Section 1B is “When the catcher fails to catch the third strike before the ball touches the ground and there are 1) Fewer than two outs and first base is not occupied at the time of the pitch or 2) any time there is less than two outs.†The confusion comes from the wording of a dropped third strike. Remember it is actually a pitched ball that was not caught prior to touching the ground and is not touched by the bat. Play 1: With one out B2 is at bat and has two strikes with 1B unoccupied. The next pitch hits in front of the plate and B2 swings at the ball, misses it and is caught by F2. Ruling: This is a non-caught third strike and B2 is not out until tagged, F2 throws the ball to 1B before B2 arrives or B2 walks into the dugout without proceeding to 1B. (Rule 8 Section 1B) Play 2: With R1 on 1B and two outs, B2 is at bat with two strikes. F1 throws a pitch that bounces in front of the plate and is swung at by B2. B2’s bat tips the ball sharply and directly to the F2’s glove and is caught by F2. Ruling: B2 is out by means of a foul tip being caught for the third strike. Rule 1 Foul Tip. Since the ball was hit by the bat the ball can now be caught as a 3rd strike foul tip, a fair batted ball, or even a caught foul ball.