Scoring Disasters: The Flaws of Letting Unknowing Parents Keep Book

[Shelia B]

Hi, my Dd is on a very good 16u travel ball team and all year the same parent has kept book and run the game changer. At first the parent seemed alright at their job, maybe a mistake here and there but nothing insane, and then all of a sudden in the middle of the season it just all went downhill. All of a sudden the scoring mistakes that used to be few and far between began to multiply at a rapid pace. These errors ranged from incorrectly counting base hits as errors to giving a batters hit to the completely wrong girl.

Some few mistakes I’ve noticed in the last few games have been: incorrectly counting bunts as fielders choices (even if there’s nobody on base for the fielders to try and get out), counting hits as errors, counting errors as hits, giving stolen bases to the wrong girls, forgetting to put pinch runners and pinch hitters in, getting the score of the game completely wrong (I don’t even know how this one happened), taking hits and giving them to the wrong girl, and giving fielding errors to the wrong girls. I would give specific examples but then I would be here all night.

I know the game changer stats don’t really matter all that much but our team goes off of the game changer stats to set the lineup. These scoring errors have caused the lineup to shift dramatically from a good lineup with girls in the right spots to a lineup that makes no sense. For example our current leadoff hitter should have the lowest batting average in the team but due to the magic of being bad at scoring hits shes managed to maintain one of the highest batting averages. Other examples of the lineup being messed up is our old leadoff who is a really good lefty slapper being moved all the way down to 9th because the scorer decides that everything the lefty hits is either an error or a fielders choice and our best all around hitter being put down at 6th.You would think the coaches would be able to tell that something is up but they don’t seem to notice anything wrong. They just accept the game changer stats as fact and don’t question the fact that GameChanger has a girl going 0/6 when she managed to get on base 4 times without any errors being made.

The new lineup our team has created is worse nearly every way to our old lineup and we’ve started to struggle more as a team because of it. Now every game it feels like the first inning is always a 3 up 3 down and then we have to wait until the 3rd inning for our best hitters to get up. Dd has really been considering telling the coaches that the parent who is doing the game changer is doing it completely wrong and messing nearly everything up (it’s not just dd multiple other teammates have expressed how annoyed they are at the game changer stats). I just need to know if telling the coaches would be taking it too far. Should we just ignore it and hope the coaches realize the old lineup was better? Or should we bring it to their attention in order to get our lineup back to the way it should be?

sorry for the long post. I’m very tired and just needed to vent this out.

(also in case you’re wondering our highest batting average should be our old leadoff the lefty slapper with a 400 but the game changer has her at a low 200)

edit: Also I just wanted to add that the parent who does the game changer is actually a very nice person. They just don’t know very much about softball and only recently got into it.

 

[whiporee]

In their defense, there’s a lot going on on GC especially if you’re new at it. Unless I’ve missed it, GC doesn’t allow you to set lineups before the game, you’re often playing catch-up, especially if you get the opponent’s lineup card two minutes before the first pitch. And tracking complex plays can be tricky, as can deciding whether a slightly bobbled soft grounder to the SS is a hit or an error. And don’t doubt they’ve got voices in their ear telling them things that might be contrary to the way you’d like them scored yourself.

I’d cut them some slack. It’s a lot to keep track of. In a more perfect world a coach would keep it and the staff can decide how to assign plays, but if you’ve got a spectator keeping track, you’re going to be subject to a few mistakes.

I doubt coaches are blindly following GC, by the way. You might just disagree with their lineup choices. At some point most parents do.

 

[_MIA_]

I know the game changer stats don’t really matter all that much but our team goes off of the game changer stats to set the lineup. These scoring errors have caused the lineup to shift dramatically from a good lineup with girls in the right spots to a lineup that makes no sense.

Do the coaches watch the game with their eyes closed?

 

[radness]

Learn & volunteer.

 

[OmniscientFan]

Doing GameChanger and the book simultaneously seems like a recipe for disaster. I do GC for my DD's 12U team, and I stand near the person who is keeping the book. We confer regarding hits/errors. Still, I make the occasional mistake. Playing catch-up at tournaments due to the last-minute nature of receiving lineups, like Whiporee referenced, leads to me being behind by a batter (or two or three). Yesterday, I was notified that I had made a mistake in our 12-RUN first inning. The action comes fast and furious, and it's very hard to keep track of when balls are constantly in play and multiple bases are being taken by multiple players on every play. Maybe you could volunteer to help out?

 

[radness]

Btw coaching and line up disasters can happen even when the coach themself keeps the book.

 

[FP26]

Our bench coach was typically responsible for handling the book. We had a parent sit close to the dugout handle GC. Luckily it was someone with some coaching experience and did a nice job. Still, there were often plays that the two of them would discuss before deciding which way to enter. The relationship worked well and we rarely had differences between the book and GC because of their communication. We especially liked this method because it provided multiple sets of eyes.

 

[radness]

Our bench coach was typically responsible for handling the book. We had a parent sit close to the dugout handle GC. Luckily it was someone with some coaching experience and did a nice job. Still, there were often plays that the two of them would discuss before deciding which way to enter. The relationship worked well and we rarely had differences between the book and GC because of their communication. We especially liked this method because it provided multiple sets of eyes.

Highlight this in Sparkle Gold !
People working together communicating!

Accurate books= valid stats

That said,
As a coach tend to look at whats happening on the field more than the book.

Game changer is too often the funny pages. Makes it hard to USE as a resurce.

 

[Strike2]

The book and GC needs to be done by two different people. Hopefully, they're knowledgeable, experienced, and sit together to ensure consistency. There will always be the occasional mistake of judgment on errors vs hits, but it's not worth doing if done as badly as you describe.

Coaches going solely off stats (even good ones) or just their own eyeball are going to get things wrong. With competent scoring, I've found that the inevitable judgement mistakes are small in number and tend to balance themselves out. However, if GC had a kid as 0/6 when she was clearly 4/6, and those numbers were being used to justify playing time, I'd say something.

 

[soonerfan1966]

Can't the coaches go in after the game and change things, thought it used to be that way. Maybe that's what is happening.