How to get the other team (and ump) to move the game along

[The Man In Blue]

So much of pace of play can be controlled by the umpire between innings 5 in a minute, even pitching changes, they get 8 pitches or 1 minute, whichever is shorter. I stand close to the catcher up one line or the other, if a pitch gets away, I feed the C another ball and grab the one that got away. The ONLY time I let it go more than 1 minute is if the C has to gear up and the defense has someone else out to warm up the P, I always have this warmer-upper (trademarked) take 3 and leave 2 for the C, one and coming down. My biggest question is why in all that is holy does an umpire have a stool on the field?

No.

I do love that you are standing by the catcher and providing a ball when one gets by. I didn't think about this, but I do do that. The other thing I do while I am standing there is count pitches and announce "3 ... 2 ... 1" to the defense and the upcoming batters.

I am mixed on your allowing it to go longer. Admittedly, I will do the same if it is legitimate. (I do love you telling them they only get 3 and the catcher needs to take the other 2!) However, I have noticed more and more teams trying to milk that to get extra pitches or time. NOTE: There is NO rule saying a catcher gets a throw down to second. (Side note: yes, as a catcher, I was ejected from a game for throwing the ball down to second base.)

 

[The Man In Blue]

Back in 12U rec days, we had a crabby umpire that would tell us to limit your between inning coach's meetings, have your catchers ready with their gear on ready to go. Girls in the dugout need to know where their gloves are and more importantly the players need to know which positions they are going to play the next inning. I always had a clip board with the lineup and positions each inning. The only questions the players should have is, which inning is it coach? Luckily we had a working scoreboard run by the siblings of the players, which can pose a problem in itself.

This brings up another point we missed ...

Once the defense takes the field for the inning, the offense needs to be OFF THE FIELD. Not gathered around the coach , not in front of the dugout, and not 12 players with bats "timing up the pitcher." This has been a point of emphasis with NFHS for the last few years. Mainly, it is a safety concern, but it will also help speed things up (and is a sportsmanship issue).

 

[EdLovrich]

No.

I do love that you are standing by the catcher and providing a ball when one gets by. I didn't think about this, but I do do that. The other thing I do while I am standing there is count pitches and announce "3 ... 2 ... 1" to the defense and the upcoming batters.

I am mixed on your allowing it to go longer. Admittedly, I will do the same if it is legitimate. (I do love you telling them they only get 3 and the catcher needs to take the other 2!) However, I have noticed more and more teams trying to milk that to get extra pitches or time. NOTE: There is NO rule saying a catcher gets a throw down to second. (Side note: yes, as a catcher, I was ejected from a game for throwing the ball down to second base.)

See, there I go confusing BB and SB again. My brain is on baseball this week. Thank you for the catch TMIB!!

NFHS 6.2.5 At the beginning of each half-inning or when a pitcher relieves another, no more than one minute may be used to deliver no more than five pitches to the catcher or another teammate.


And no, if the defense is just dilly-dallying around, I do not give them the extra time, the C just loses out.

 

[dbronstein]

Thanks for the replies. They played the team that the commish is an AC for this weekend and he said he talked to them about it.

To reply to some comments:

" My biggest question is why in all that is holy does an umpire have a stool on the field?" - It was a little fold up thing he put by the backstop so he could sit between innings.

" First, this is rec so I have no issue with coaching an inexperienced team while in the game."

I wasn't clear on the extent of it. For example, the coach spent 2-3 minutes having a discussion with a batter in the middle of an at-bat while she was in the batter's box.

"Second, stop scheduling double headers. If you are only getting 2-3 innings per game and run ruling them why on earth would you start a new game? Just play one game for 1 hour 30 minutes or however long you see fit."

Nobody was run-ruled. Each game was 90 minutes. The first one went about 1:45 to finish the third inning. The second game took 85 minutes to play the 2 innings so we called it because it was 9:30 and we didn't want to be there another 40 minutes to play another inning.

" IDK put up 6 when batting and quick pitch their batters?"

It took forever for us to put up 6 because they were moving so slowly, and changed pitchers twice an inning.

 

[The Man In Blue]

See, there I go confusing BB and SB again. My brain is on baseball this week. Thank you for the catch TMIB!!

NFHS 6.2.5 At the beginning of each half-inning or when a pitcher relieves another, no more than one minute may be used to deliver no more than five pitches to the catcher or another teammate.


And no, if the defense is just dilly-dallying around, I do not give them the extra time, the C just loses out.

It happens!

 

[CloudofDust]

This is a very real problem in rec leagues, in particular, and it's extremely frustrating because it should be an easy fix.

Umpires need to set the tone before the game starts by telling coaches to have catchers ready, state how many warmup pitches the team gets etc. Then, enforce that during the game. If the catcher isn't ready in time, start calling balls on the batter. If the batter isn't ready, start calling strikes.

Coaches need to do their part to speed up game play once the inning starts. The biggest time sucks I've seen involve equipment. Pitchers and catchers taking off face masks after ever pitch, tying shoes, shin guards coming off, etc.

Now, you do have some really bad teams that have pitchers bouncing the ball or hitting the backstop with every pitch and the catcher slowly walking to retrieve the ball, then making a bad throw to the pitcher.

I've actually replaced a pitcher because her pace was too slow and time was about to expire (we were visitors). For that specific game, only a botched double play kept us from starting a new inning, but the pitcher I replaced has worked hard to increase her pace so that won't happen again.

Barring mercy run rules, a minimum of 4 innings should be the goal for every game, in every age and skill level.