The coaching staff for our 14U travel team consists of myself and 2 other gentleman that all have daughters on the team. I would love to add a former college player to the staff but not sure how to go about finding one. Any suggestions would be helpful.
The 12U Valley Forge Patriots will be hosting an invitational tournament on Father's Day weekend, June 17 & 18. Due to a cancellation, we are looking to fill 1 more spot. We have great facilities at Heuser Park in Valley Forge, PA including centrally located fields, concessions, indoor bathrooms...
DD's middle school coach clearly thinks this is the way it works as well. He switched positions in a game last week and suddenly players were batting out of order all over the place. To make it somewhat worse, the opposing coach either didn't know or didn't care as he never protested. I just...
With 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, a ground ball is hit to SS who bobbles the ball and follows that up with a bad throw to 1st. After running through the bag, 1st base coach tells runner to go to 2nd where she is thrown out on a close play. The team on defense claims that the 2nd run does...
I can't be in the sun much right now as I am going through radiation treatments. Having my daughter coach 1st in LL has been a big help when I am short on coaches. She seems to enjoy it as well.
We can only steal during kid pitch. In this case, a kid pitcher delivered ball 4 with the bases loaded. The ball got past the catcher and the base runner on third took home. The other team argued that since it was ball 4 she should have to return to third. The umpire ruled that it was a...
House rules can get you in to trouble when situations create loopholes. For instance, our LL Minors division uses a machine after the 3rd walk in an inning and after ball 4 when the bases are loaded. However, what if ball 4 gets away from the catcher and the runner on 3rd steals home? I would...
With all of all the rule exceptions at 10U tournaments, the coaches need to make sure they are addressed in the pre-game meeting. It would be nice if every umpire took the time to become familiar with the rules of the game they are working, but I have come to not expect that.
I hate the machines, but our league bought them so we use them. Besides the points already made here regarding developing pitchers, there is a safety issue. The machine is sitting in the middle of the infield the whole game. After a few games last year, we were forced to leave a coach standing...
I'm planning my 10U tryout now as well. For the parents, I think we should have a pop-up canopy there and see how it long it takes for 4 of them to work together on setting it up!
Not the worst thing that a coach can do by any means, but this weekend we saw a team that had several girls show bunt and then start moving their bats back and forth to distract the pitcher. If it was one girl, I would have thought she was just strange. But I have to believe this behavior is...
I would have preferred to hold the runner and load the bases. I'll take my chances with getting a strike out or a force at home. Our first baseman played it well. She caught the ball and fired a strike back to home. However, the runner was well down the third base line and we had no hope of...
10U Championship had both teams in the same situation. Runner gets to third with 1 out. We were home team. Visitors put down a bunt. Our HC tells our fielders to get the out at first. Throw back to home is late and the runner scores. Our turn and I ask the batter to choke up and put the ball...
Good news is that with a win last night, DD's team has advanced to the district finals. Bad news is that they will face this same team and most likely this same pitcher. Oh and they will need to beat them twice. Any advice on how to prep the umpires for the inevitable illegal pitch?
I would agree in most cases. If it is an inexperienced pitcher and the replant is not giving her an advantage, a warning is appropriate. This pitcher was dominant. One of the fastest I've seen at this age. There was not even so much as a warning given.
We had a Little League 10U All Stars game tonight where a pitcher stepped forward with her pivot foot on every pitch. Sometimes it was 6 inches, other times just a few. Plate umpire said that the step had to be far enough to see and this was not. I can appreciate that this may a difficult call...
I feel the same. We were up 3-1 against the defending champs. A win puts us in the championship. I'll feel much better about earning a win in a full game. However, if we lose...