One of the coaches on my DD 14U travel team asked if I could cover an 8U rec game that he was assigned to ump last night. He has a younger daughter playing rec ball and the rec coaches in his league are responsible for umping the 8U games. Monday is our off night so I jumped at the chance. Here are my thoughts/observations/insights:
1. 8U rec players must watch a lot of rugby. That is the only reason I could think of for the scrum in center field. A batter hit a ball up the middle and the Left, Left Center, Right Center, Right, SS and 2nd all converged on the ball. Meanwhile the batter is still running. After a beautiful scrum, where I am convinced a couple of elbows were thrown, the SS comes up with the ball. By that time the runner had scored.
2. 8U pitchers are inconsistent. Between the 1st and 2nd inning I was standing at the right end of the backstop chatting with a parent. I was at least 10 feet behind the plate and 6- 8feet to the right of the plate. In the middle of our conversation he yells duck. Too late, RIF ball hits me in the temple. For the first couple of batters was seeing double. Just called the balls/strikes on whichever ball was closer to the strike zone.
3. I have had umps with postage stamp strike zones. Last night I met a batter with a postage size strike zone. 6 YO. Her dad coaches the team and her 8 YO sister is on the same team. She is playing up. Girl can't be more than 38" tall. The pitcher was throwing well but couldn't get near her strike zone.
4. Parents. This is rec ball. Telling them not to swing and wait for coach pitch is just wrong. I had a couple of parents yelling at their girls not to swing. My strike zone was much more liberal after that.
5. Coaches. This is rec ball. These are 7 and 8 YO. Yelling and coaching are not the same thing. What were you thinking? is not the same as What do you think you should have done?
6. The fastest the players ran was to the snack bar after the game was over. Made me think if we put a snack stand at each base we could probably build faster base runners...
7. 1:20 min. 3 innings. Definitely a slower pace game at this age.
8. Umping an 8U game is fun.
1. 8U rec players must watch a lot of rugby. That is the only reason I could think of for the scrum in center field. A batter hit a ball up the middle and the Left, Left Center, Right Center, Right, SS and 2nd all converged on the ball. Meanwhile the batter is still running. After a beautiful scrum, where I am convinced a couple of elbows were thrown, the SS comes up with the ball. By that time the runner had scored.
2. 8U pitchers are inconsistent. Between the 1st and 2nd inning I was standing at the right end of the backstop chatting with a parent. I was at least 10 feet behind the plate and 6- 8feet to the right of the plate. In the middle of our conversation he yells duck. Too late, RIF ball hits me in the temple. For the first couple of batters was seeing double. Just called the balls/strikes on whichever ball was closer to the strike zone.
3. I have had umps with postage stamp strike zones. Last night I met a batter with a postage size strike zone. 6 YO. Her dad coaches the team and her 8 YO sister is on the same team. She is playing up. Girl can't be more than 38" tall. The pitcher was throwing well but couldn't get near her strike zone.
4. Parents. This is rec ball. Telling them not to swing and wait for coach pitch is just wrong. I had a couple of parents yelling at their girls not to swing. My strike zone was much more liberal after that.
5. Coaches. This is rec ball. These are 7 and 8 YO. Yelling and coaching are not the same thing. What were you thinking? is not the same as What do you think you should have done?
6. The fastest the players ran was to the snack bar after the game was over. Made me think if we put a snack stand at each base we could probably build faster base runners...
7. 1:20 min. 3 innings. Definitely a slower pace game at this age.
8. Umping an 8U game is fun.