MJB

I did forget to add that I think a lot of people would have been really happy with the cancellation of the event from my discussions at the facility.  Most were from local teams that did not have to travel from all over to play here though.

I was impressed with the travel distance for some teams.  There were a few teams from Corpus Christi and at least one from McAllen which was very good to see.  I don't recall a Nations event ever drawing from that distance.

Regarding the Director's team in question, Nightmare, just ask around in the 8U circle and they will tell you really quick what went down. 

As far as the team in 10U that had an illegal player, Bayou Rage from Baytown/Mont Belvieu area left a player off the roster, it happened to be the coach's son.  I guess you can make that mistake.

I know of at least 2 other players that were on the field playing both days that were not on a roster but I am not the Roster Police for divisions that I am not entered.  I just happen to spend a lot of time at the ball parks and know some players that are in "limbo" so to speak.

Sound like sour grapes to me.

I think that considering the way the weather played a part in the modification of this event, I think it went well.  Would you have rather played 1 regular game or two short ones and been in the weather all night long?  There were a couple of teams that did get more than 1 pool game but I only saw a couple.  Had weather not been a factor, I bet everyone would have been happy.

As far as rules, let us know which rules that the umpires didn't follow?  I saw several umpires utilizing "teaching moments" in some cases and those were due to coaches not know the rules themselves.

Don't even get me started on Nations qualifying teams, that is a pure joke in my opinion.  I guess you were not aware of a Nations Director's organization that allowed a 9U player to play on an 8U team last week?  Was the coach and team sent to the house early??  No they only had to forfeit the 1 game where they were caught and then were allowed to play on Sunday.  That is pure cheating and caught red-handed and still allowed to move to bracket play. 

What about the "honest mistake" of a coach's son playing in 2 pool games and not being on the roster, but you know, that is an honest mistake, anyone could've done that,,,,give me a break.

Both organizations are so large they can't police everything so the coaches and managers must do it for every game.  If they were not following proper rules then you should have addressed it.

As far as "they are paying the umpires" being a conflict of interest, get real.  I hope you are not involved in any recreational ball, be it Pony, LL, Little Dribblers, Upwards, Soccer, because some volunteer, (a Coach), is paying those umpires, you just don't know it, lol.

Those umpires are all scheduled from a central location and as you know, if you are in the know, most of these umpires were from Houston with a few local guys in there.  That is a whole other story but I'm sure you know that one already if you are here flaming on USSSA.

It sure makes sense to have all the players just move over to Pony if there is no other option to play recreational ball in the area.  Pony is a very good organization to be in, even better if that is the only option in town.

I have never understood the standoff-ish attitude that exists between patrons of Little League and Pony.  There will always be differences between organizations but if Pony is the only game in town, that is the one I'd be joining so my kids don't miss a year of baseball.

Odd that they checked bats at the gate, I never saw that either day and I know they did not check my teams bats.  In addition, there was a sign at the gate that said the 1.15 Rule would not be enforced.  I failed to take a picture of the sign.

I questioned those involved with Nations and I got an interesting response.  For those that are in the know, can you specifically find where the BPF 1.15 marking on a bat is a Nations rule?  I know that someone posted a memo from John Carroll but evidently that is not a Nations rule, merely a Ford Park Rule.

I am not sure why Ford Park or the Tournament directors would want to enforce this rule if it is in fact not a Nation's Rule.

Please post up what you can find.

I'm not sure this is a valid rule.  At least it was not valid this weekend at the Valentines Classic.  They did not enforce the rule so any bat could be used.

[quote]It does not surprise me. The fence out at our park is 150 down the lines and 175 in center. You add an 8' tall fence and it takes a pretty good shot to get it out. The wind blows in most of the time in the summer.[/quote]

Just to Clarify: 

The Vidor Shetland/Pinto park is 140' to the left pole, 140' 6" to the right pole and 172' in straight away center field.  In actuality, the center of the outfield is an intersection of 2 fences and that figure is more like 162'-169' to most of center field, other than that one anchor pole in dead center field.

Also, the fence is 6'10" tall.

The bats finally came alive in the last 3 nights or tournament play, Big Poppa had 2-3, another Vidor player had 1, Gilbert wound up with 4 in 2 games.

[quote]Now, how come you get your entire infield in a huddle for timeout and I only got three kids???[/quote]

It's not just you that suffers from that.  It has happened in both games with Orange A vs Groves A.  I guess they don't want the underdogs to strategize, lol.

Orange A came to play last night and we were not ready to go home just yet.  Our bats were alive all night and some very timely outfield catches held Groves to 3 runs.  We took care of those infield flys far better as well.

I am suprised that young Gilbert has not hit 5-6 out of this park, he is a little off stride but he might wake up tonight and send a few deep into the trees.  Tims has been banging the ball into the Orange fence(150') in practice but he too has been in a funk with the stick.  Bernard is begging for pitches at his knees(he thinks it is his wheelhouse) but Gilbert keeps him honest, lol.

It has been a great event even though our first game did not go as planned.  Vidor has hosted very well and the field is perfect.  I love the commentary, that alone is worth the price of admission.

[quote] I don't have a dog in this hunt any more, but there is a rational for no run rule at this level. Remember this is instructional baseball at this level. And the more at bats and times in the field benifit all of these kids. That is why there is the 5 run limit per inning , to keep the game moving. If you instate a mercy run rule, a lot of these games will only be 3 or 4 innings. There will be several teams that never play more than 4 inn. And we all know alot of coach pitch teams have 13-14 players, so your talking one or two at bats per game for some. Just something to think about before you push to hard for a mercy run rule at this level. Enjoy this level its fun and easy  ( We did score 25 once in a Pinto game in the 6th to win) [/quote]

Very true but we play under house rules that the game is over via 10 run rule after 4 innings, then, we play the remaining time out, still keep score but it does not matter.  We use this to allow kids to play other positions and bat around and few more times.

Can you elaborate on what type of instruction was occurring when the Indians were delivering a beat down in the 6th, adding insult to injury?  Was it teaching them to be better prepared for the emotional issues associated with having your rear handed to you? 

I can assure you when a kid gets really hurt, at a meaningless point in a game such as this, the rules will change, the attorneys will make sure of that fact.

I am all for letting the kids play and we do in Orange but we realize it is now a practice session and we don't run them as hard and let more batters up to the plate.

As the park host, I brought up the 10 run rule or a Mercy rule of some sort to the Directors and it is a topic of discussion with the organization.  From what I was told, the regional director(maybe a Carl?) has final say and it is always turned down.

I was at Ford Park early Sunday morning and Harold Hearn came and sat with me for a while and asked whey we were not playing with a 10 run rule in place and he is an advocate of the policy as well.

Granted, if you are "close" in the 5th, you might be able to catch a team in the 6th but not when it is 27-3 to start the 6th inning.

In the above post, when we put up 38 runs, the game was either 18 or 20 to 15 going into the 6th so it was a close game.  We just exploded and it was a double fest for a while.

I really think those of us in favor will need to push this one to the top because from what I understood, since the 6th is unlimited, there will be no 10 run rule.  I would think 10 after 4 innings or for sure 15 after 5 should be a big help in protecting kids from further exposure to a beat down.  Another thing that is big to me is injury.  That shot the Indians coach took was solid, but what if that would have hit the player??  At the point that happened, it was an avoidable instance, the game should have been over long before that if a run rule was in place.

I visited with our league President last night and he too is in favor and will bring it up at the next meeting.

Great play all the way around.  I was scared the Yankees run record would be toppled today as I watched the Cubs and the Indians get into the 30's but they stayed shy of the Pinto park record of 38 last year that we put on the Astros.

As a recap, Vidor Cubs move to Vidor and we have one more game in Orange which is the Vidor Indians and the Orange Twins.  I think it will be a good game.  It would have not been as close in the Vidor/Orange Twins matchup had the Orange coach been able to be present to pitch and lead the kids.  He is a great coach and gets his kids up and ready to play.  He is a shift worker though and could not get anyone to cover his shift, needless to say, he has told me he will be there tomorrow night ready to play.

I have really enjoyed all the play & meeting everyone that has come to Orange.  The question I keep getting is "How is Vidor so good???", lol.  You guys are very baseball oriented and make it happen.  The big difference that I saw, especially the Cubs is "High Energy Baseball."  That is the difference.  Vidor has a lot of good coaches that are very involved and it seems that everyone over there gets along very well.

Anyhow, great job to those still in the hunt and Good Luck.

The finishing touches were put on the Orange field last night and today. I had to add some soil & Turface around 2nd and 3rd as well as the mound to get it back to opening day status for the tournament.  We really fight the midday and afternoon Southerly winds over here and it is hard to keep dirt where it needs to be, it is a constant battle.  Rest assured, it was well packed with quality rental equipment, lol.

I had an afternoon visitor today surveying the field, any guess who that might have been?  Needless to say, if he happens to get by us in the morning, I have him beat in the H2 contest, lol.

Good luck to everyone and I think it will be a great event with good competition.  A comment was made today about all the coaches getting along.  It seems that is the trend these days.

See you guys tomorrow in Orange. 

Each game the team seems to improve in some aspect.  The more time they spend together, the more cohesive they get.  They never let a player get down and do a great job of keeping each other motivated.

It's a great team to watch play aggressive baseball

From what I now gather at this late hour, Vidor and Orange will be hosting this year's event.  We will work our best to get Orange in good condition in the next two days.  We are on short notice to say the least, lol.

Orange has a few teams that should do well.  The Indians, Twins and Yankees might have a chance. 

Orange has 9 Pinto teams that will attend.  I think the 12 number came from the Shetland division, we are heavy at that age group.

Registration dates have been selected for the upcoming Spring 2010 Season:

When? January 9th, 16th from 9am to 3pm and January 23rd from 9am to Noon

Where? OYBS Field House (Memorial Field) off IH10 Frontage Road

Ages? Instructional (3-4) Shetland (5-6) Pinto (7-8) Mustang (9-10) Bronco (11-12) Pony (13-14)

We look forward to seeing everyone for another great year

Congratulations to Vidor for winning the Championship, they did a great job.  Special kudos to the Vidor 1st baseman for taking a bad hop right in the nose and then coming back in the next inning.

May the game go with out ill will,injury,unsportsmanlike conduct, but most of all, may  the best team WIN!!!

I did see some poor conduct from the TC coaches by telling their catcher to not present a target for the Orange pitcher.  After the Orange bats got hot he was instructed to keep his glove on the ground or on his knee and most all the balls went to the backstop, thus extending the game even longer. 

The TC coaches kept asking for a warning as they felt the Orange pitcher was communicating with the batters when in fact he was inquiring if the TC catcher was OK as he kept getting hit by pitches from not having his glove up.

Great job to all that worked the park, countless hours went into getting the field in shape and it was appreciated. 

It has been raining all morning pretty hard in Bridge City.  We need the rain but I think it might be too much for the PA field.

I would like to see some games tonight though.

Those in the know, please keep us posted.

Any idea how much rain has come down at the PA Complex today?  I know it needed some water but it might be too much.

Please update if there are any cancellations for tonight's game.

Orange 2 defeated TC2 20-0.

Orange 2 plays winner of Vidor 2 / PA at 7:30 Sunday.

When I left the park it was 7-6 after 3 innings with PA leading.

Great Recap of Monday's Play. The little catcher from Groves is great entertainment.

If anyone has a say, please keep those two Monday Night umpires off the field until they get their vision checked and brush up on the rules of the game regarding tagging base runners and fielder interference at second base.

It was a good game but there would have been a few more HR's for Orange if they could have touched 2nd base without having to stop and stick a foot between the fielder's feet to make contact and head to 3rd.

There were a lot of bad calls in the late game that went both ways.  I am glad Orange came out with a win, they battled late in the game to get the outs needed to win.

Orange 2 (Red Sox) won a good game over Groves 1.  Personally it was a sweet victory for me as the same cackling, unruly fan I had to deal with at the Groves Pinto event had a player on the Groves 1 team we beat.

A fan should never act like that, never.  It makes me want to climb the fence and give them a lecture on ethics when they erupt in cheer when a player at this level strikes out.  That is completely uncalled for with kids at this level.

Our game has been moved to 3pm from the 1:30 slot for Sunday/

We played on the third from the back field and it was great, you could tell they spent some time over the last few weeks prepping.  Great job to Vidor on that field.  I wish we had that to play on in Orange.

Orange Pony Pinto will be determined by the best record in league play, which is TGreen at this point.  The coach with the most wins has "first right of refusal".

I would agree with TD on the fact that BCLL works with the kids that play both league and select. 

I live very near the BCLL park and we play in Orange due to several factors.  BCLL has a great organization and we have played one year there but Orange Pony offered more convenience and the fact my youngest could "play up" over his age group at the time.  I plan to play in Orange for two more years unless things change.

BC is a small community and the league only draws from BC and Orangefield.  I only know of maybe one kid that lived in Orange and played BCLL and I think he is only select now.  I might be way off but I do not think there is much infusion from outside the BC area.  They do a good job of capturing all the available players and the park is packed every night of the week except Sunday.  I think every boy in BC plays ball over there.

And I hear that Orange has their talent spread out nicely too.

This is very true of the Orange Pinto Division.  The Red Sox with TGreen at the helm have 3 All Star candidates(returning All Stars) and the other 8 teams all have maybe one or two each.  There is not really a stacked team in Orange.

From the looks of this tournament, Vidor does look to be the ones to be on top this year.

There was some good play out there from what I have heard.  There are only 2 Orange Teams left from what I have gathered, TGreen's and the Nationals.

I might be a sore loser but things just did not go our way in Groves and I am not too sure I will go back over there to play in future events.  It bothers me a little when the opposing fans erupt in cheer when a 7 year old gets struck out by a coach pitcher, even if the game is tied up.  I think we had a couple of "decent" umpires but they were not great.  Our coach pitcher was reprimanded and I do mean reprimanded when he handed the player, who just scored a run,  the bat to take to the dugout and commented "Great Hit".  He did it twice and was cautioned the second time again.  I know two coach pitchers that complimented their batters at the Port Arthur fields today.  They were not coaching, just complimenting them.

The second issue was the opposing coach pitcher bursting out onto the field of play between 2nd, 3rd and the mound while the ball was live in order to disrupt play as their left fielder had been hit in the chin while fielding a grounder near the fence.  The player had thrown the ball in and then went down.  There were already coaches heading out that way and were to him when the other coach came onto the field.  I thought that would have been an ejection or something of that nature, instead, our runner that was on 3rd was placed back at 2nd and play resumed.  It was obvious it was to stop play and keep a run from scoring in a close game.  The injured player was out at the fence near the left field line and they were the home team so it was a straight shot to the player that was down, no coach had any business in the infield where the play was happening.

We have a decent team in Orange but it seems that there is some stiff competition in the Vidor ranks.  We watched a Vidor team, the Rangers I think, work on another decent Orange team, they were fielding great and banging the ball.  Come to find out, today was the only game they have won this year and it was in the tournament.