Rec ball problem scenario

[Coach JV]

I had a doozie of a weekend.
Let me preface by saying we are mostly 13's
playing 16U rec. we have not had a team practice since season
began, it is games only, we meet 45 minutes early for warmups/mini practice
We have a .500 record and are not 'world beaters' I have 13 on the roster
and 6 of the 13 are your typical bad rec players. They share bench time equally
with no favoritism to the girls who are very good (4 of 13)

Game 1: We are up by 5 top of the 3rd, one out runner on 1st.
runner steals 2B, throw down sails to OF, runner comes around
and scores we are now up 6. Opposing coach gives me an earful
about running up the score blah blah blah. I explain that unless
there is a sizable lead, my girls will run on an error in the field,
(if he played better D it would be a non issue.) We did not steal
from 3B on a passed ball once we already had a 4 run lead, but with
the live ball in fair territory, i let them run. The other team comes back within
2 before we pull away for 11-6 final. My judgement, he was a little early in
being so critical in a rec game. Final result-coach now hates me etc.

Game 2: Team is very weak, we play 5 run rule in rec. I am pitching my #2 pitcher as she has
just resumed playing after a 3 week injury lay-off. After the 1st inning up 5-0,
we stop scoring except on hits, holding all runners at 3B. After 3 1/2
innings we are up by 14, my girls have been crushing the ball all day, time is expired.
they had been tagging my pitcher a little in the 3rd, it is hot and we had already buried them.
Bottom of the 4th I bring in my # 1 pitcher so we could close it out in 5 minutes and go home.
Meanwhile the teams for the next game are waiting to take the field
She strikes out the side on 11 pitches and game over. Coach comes to me after
the game, says I have no right throwing my #1 with such a huge lead.
I remind him that there is a rule that no pitcher goes more than 3 innings/game
so we can develop pitchers. I also explain injury situation and tell him #2 was fatigued anyways
and that I prefer to close it out quickly instead of playing another 20 minutes with
a tired pitcher anyway. He calls me some names and walks away. Another coach hates me.

This is why I am leaning toward DD playing travel only next year-where is the benefit when I did
my best to play fair? Before this 30-run explosion (2 games), we were hitting terrible and had scored 4 runs
total in our previous 3 games. One of these was a 3-1 loss to team in game 2. WTF? I can't help it if
my team used the bats for something more than weighing down their bags. Can't wait for the playoffs
next week, my new 'haters' will be there.........

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Coach JV - why are mostly "13s" playing 16U rec ball? In my league, there are very few if any young players "playing up" because they need to be in the top 10 - 15% of the players in that higher division to make the team. Did all these "13s" try out like everyone else, if so they should have been evenly distributed among all the rec teams so that all the teams are balanced and there is some parity in the division. Is this another example of a travel team taking over the rec league so they can win the playoffs and go to the All Star tournaments? I just don't get it?

 

[redhotcoach]

That's some funny stuff. Did coach #1 think you are to tell your girls to stop taking advantage of there poor play. Thats not good for their development.

Coach #2. Was he expecting to make a 14 point comeback in the last inning. You have every right pitching anyone you want, and if your like most rec teams your lucky to have 2 pitchers. Those coaches have issues out of your control, don't let it get to ya.

 

[Coach JV]

SOCALsbdad-We are sanctioned as 16U, our program is not big(2 teams 16u), so we have an
intercity league with 3 other programs. None of the cities have 14U as there are a couple of
15's scattered amongst the teams. Therefore, we are playing 16U.

Both coaches are from same neighboring city, one is pretty good, the other
(game 1) has never coached before.

Redhot-funnier yet, both teams have decent pitchers, it was just a bad time to
meet up with us. I had 2 girls get their 1st hits of the year Saturday (14th game of the year)
One of these was a bomb to LF, it made my whole week.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

SOCALsbdad-We are sanctioned as 16U, our program is not big(2 teams 16u), so we have an
intercity league with 3 other programs. None of the cities have 14U as there are a couple of
15's scattered amongst the teams. Therefore, we are playing 16U.

Both coaches are from same neighboring city, one is pretty good, the other
(game 1) has never coached before.

Thanks for the clarification. It just doesn't work that way in SoCal because there are so many teams in each division in out Rec League that I have never seen parents upset about an opposing team' coach brining in any pitcher they wanted to.

 

[Coach JV]

Thanks for the replies, my gut reaction was that these guys were
out of line, but I had to 2nd guess when it happened 2 days in a row.
I coach rec for the kid who is ecstatic to get her lone hit of the season,
this year, all my girls signed up to play from last season, so maybe I am
doing something right. It is a monumental task playing 13 in a 75 minute
rec game though. So far all the parents/players are happy. We will see
where they stand in a couple weeks when it is over. All will be good if they
are hoisting championship trophies. It is more personally gratifying winning a trophy in
rec rather than travel.

 

[BretMan]

Both coach's complaints were without merit. You weren't guilty of breaking any written rule, or unwritten rule, for that matter. They were guilty of typical ignorant rec ball behavior.

A five run lead is far short of a lead where you would be expected to "call off the dogs". Five runs can, potentially, be made up in two swings of the bat. And the game was still young! Is the other coach so unconfident in his team as to think that they are incapable of scoring five more runs in the five more at-bats they're afforded in a seven inning game?

You could always tell him that your team will quit running the bases as soon as his team stops trying to make plays to put them out!

In a league that has limits on the number of innings a pitcher can pitch, complaining as long as you're adhereing to that rule is stupid. You had your "lesser" pitcher in there, so they had their chances. They should have taken advantage of them- it's their fault if they didn't. Besides, his team will probably develop as hitters more by facing the best pitchers, not by making things easier for them. Last time I checked, the object of the game was to score runs and prevent the other team from scoring them, not to give the other team every possible chance to score as many runs as they can.

Most of the rec ball complaining about stuff like this has nothing to do with softball. It's an indication of the fragile egos of the other coaches, who take the fact that they're losing a recreational softball game as some sort of personal affront. They're embarrased, so they act like jerks.

I was in this same boat back when my kid first started playing at age 8. I volunteered to coach her team, which was comprised of a dozen girls who had never played softball in their life. It was rough, and we didn't win a game. All of the kids, except for my daughter, quit the following year. And I coached the team again the next year, with a whole new batch of totally inexperienced players who promptly lost all of their games.

But some of these kids showed promise and about half the kids came back my third year. We started the season 0-5, but managed to win a few games we should have and pull a couple of upsets in the second half, winding up with a 5-5 record.

Now, as long as we were the "sad sacks" of the league, taking our licks and getting run-ruled, all of the other coaches were fine with me. I got a lot of that "keep trying" and "don't worry, your girls will get better" sympathy.

That all changed the fourth year. All of my players returned, plus a couple of new kids that were pretty good. We went undefeated. I'm the same coach, with most of the same kids I had before, but now all of a sudden we're the "evil empire", reviled by the other coaches and parents. I've gone from being regarded as the sypathetic coach, giving it a spirited try against all odds, to being the coach that "only cares about winning at all costs", when all I've done is work to develop players, teach them the game and get them to return the following year.

It also helped that we had a good group of parents. The first batch was livid that I didn't know what I was doing and that their kid's shortcomings were all my fault. I'm not sure what they expected from a group of girls with ZERO playing experience, but they were about ready to lynch me the first two winless seasons! The later batch of parents seemed to understand what was going on and never gave me any grief about anything.

We went two more seasons with mostly the same kids and never lost another game. I was the same coach, with the same coaching techniques- the only difference was that I got some kids that stuck with it, improved their skills and learned the game, instead of the first two batches that expected immediate results, got frustrated and quit. And all of the other coaches and parents absolutely hated us for that!

 

[Coach JV]

Now, moving on to travel. We had some parents become disgruntled
and start an off-shoot travel program. In the process they took a couple of players from
the bottom of my travel line-up. 2 weeks ago, the softball gods smiled upon us
and we were invited to play in an invitational 'round robin' mini tournament that they
were a part of. It was my squads first games of 2010. We were lucky enough to play them in our 2nd game.
We showed no 'mercy' and drubbed them 14-0. The second time we played them,
they were fired up and played better going up 1-0 in the first before we pounded them 10-1.
One of my ex-players now wants to rejoin our team as a sub. I advised her mom to stay where she
is, as she plays every inning on a bad team, and would be a role player for me. I will allow her
to tryout next spring. My bet is that her current team folds by mid-June........is the grass ever greener on the other side?

 

[mkral]

As usual Bretman hit it on the head for sure!! We had a rec league championship game four years ago where were a mere 4 and 6 team going into the tourney and we made it to the championship. We just started to click, it was awesome! We too had a 5 run rule accept for the last inning. Now remember that last part please! We were up 12 - 3 going into the top of the 6th and I called off the dogs. I ran girls off for outs I figured there was no reason to run it up any more. Huge mistake!!! Still 12 - 3 going into top of 7th and all hell broke loose. My girls forgot how to play softball. Due to the innings pitched rules I was on our #3 pitcher and she could not hit the barn from the inside. The ones she did not walk hit her hard and our "D" threw the ball all over town. They scored 16 in the top of the 7th. We lost 15 - 19.

I pick my places to let off a lot more carefully after that and I also kept one inning of #1 pitcher in my pocket as well. I know there is not suppose to be crying in baseball but there was a lot of crying in softball that night for sure. We ran back to back Championships in the next two years but I use that for inspiration all the time as most of those girls are still the same girls on my TB team. They have seen the complete dismantling of a team and we were it. It is not pretty.

You did nothing wrong. In fact you were doing the right things in both situations and if they cannot see that then shame on them.

Mike

 

[Coach JV]

From here on out, I will have to take opposing coach's conduct into consideration
during games. Hell's fury will be unleashed when I see game#1 team again. He will be wishing
he only loses by 5. My #1 pitcher (DD) will be ready, and is nearly unhittable in rec. She has given up only 9 runs in
35+ innings only (half earned) and is batting over 600