Stalling yourself to a "W"

[jefff]

When did it become common practice to have coaches have their teams stall in order to secure a W? Did I miss that memo? Pool games, bracket games - it does not matter. Seems like veteran parents that have been around the sport just shrug their shoulders and say it is needed and you need to be good at it. Is a common practice.

Any major sport would frown on it and make the games decided on the field, but here, we have 4-5 conferences, pitching changes, catcher changes, timeouts - all happening in the last 5 min so scores revert back! Saw it happen all weekend long in Chino. Is so blatant its comical.

I assume all the true top teams have no need for this, but after doing a 12U and 14U team for 2+ years, this is common tactic that only makes the teams doing look, stupid. Guess, that big pool W means alot since they changed their pitchers three times in 10 minutes.

Teach the girls to compete and leave it on the field. Is that not why we coach? The best talent will rise to the top and coaches need to treat the game. your team and players with some respect . Just not sure why this has turned into part of the game and is something teams are proud of? Guess, we are in the minority....or not too good at it, yet....

[Bill_B]

When did it become common practice to have coaches have their teams stall in order to secure a W? Did I miss that memo?

Any major sport would frown on it and make the games decided on the field, but here, we have 4-5 conferences, pitching changes, catcher changes, timeouts - all happening in the last 5 min so scores revert back! Saw it happen all weekend long in Chino. Is so blatant its comical.
....

This is a very common lament that is founded in frustration. We do want to play by the rules, however, and as long as there is a clock on the game this sort of variation on strategy exists. What may be so confusing is that the game can be played with or without a clock. In many cases the game is limited by the number of innings. Then, tactics are a bit different.

In any event, the clock is included in the rules along with timeouts for any of a number of reasons. A good coach would be remiss not to take full advantage of every opportunity within the rules of the game.

Look at other games with time limits. Football and basketball have time limits and you know how important clock management is in those sports.

[jefff]

Yes, True on clock management, but even the NCAA reduced the antics of Dean Smith and NC in the 80s by an addition of a shot clock .

Softball and baseball that are played at higher levels play with no clock. Here, in youth, you get all the antics of coaches, and then add in the lack of inconsistency from umpires managing that game clock and you really make a farce out of endings and reduce the game to something that I think most would not like to see dictate the outcomes.

We have benefited from the clock and been hurt by it so I am not really bitter - and I know I am on the outside on this, but frankly at the youth level, play to win and let the players decide out comes - is no that why we coach? If the clock is truly part of the game - put it in all games, all levels and then it becomes a standard method to win or lose a game like Basketball or Football.

[weekend4trvl]

When did it become common practice to have coaches have their teams stall in order to secure a W? Did I miss that memo?

Any major sport would frown on it and make the games decided on the field, but here, we have 4-5 conferences, pitching changes, catcher changes, timeouts - all happening in the last 5 min so scores revert back! Saw it happen all weekend long in Chino. Is so blatant its comical.
....

This is a very common lament that is founded in frustration. We do want to play by the rules, however, and as long as there is a clock on the game this sort of variation on strategy exists. What may be so confusing is that the game can be played with or without a clock. In many cases the game is limited by the number of innings. Then, tactics are a bit different.

bIn any event, the clock is included in the rules along with timeouts for any of a numer of reasons. A good coach would be remiss not to take full advantage of every opportunity within the rules of the game.

Look at other games with time limits. Football and basketball have time limits and you know how important clock management is in those sports.

The clock is not in any rule book , it is in the tournament rules. Each ump decides how he or she will move the game along . A coach that tries to slow the game down because they have a three run lead is just doing his job. The ump has to do his job and get the girls on and off the field and not allow the stalling coach to dictate the pace of the game. JMO...I've have seen 5 minutes burned up between one inning..a new pitcher takes her warm ups then the coach walks out to give the changes to the ump...then walks over to the scorekeeper...then walks back over to the plate ump...then the catcher calls time and walks out to talk to the new pitcher. Meanwhile the umps are watching butteries go by. They could care less. I like the umps take control of the game and make every effort to get 7 innings in.

[All 4 One]

With so many teams in the softball circuit, softball has become a big business.

Hosting a tournament is a tremendous opportunity for some organizations to make a great deal of money.

These organizations are not about to turn teams away, instead they take their entry fee and shorten the game times to make sure everyone gets in their 4-game guarantee.

With these shortened game times, i.e., 1hr-20min drop dead in pool play and no new inning after 1hr-30min in bracket play I would expect coaches to use the "stalling" stategy to their advantage until these time constrraints are lifted and that ain't about to happen any time soon.

So, when I see a team exercising their right to stall a game to prevent a new inning for starting, I accept it and move on.

Don't worry about what the other team is doing.

Teach your team to play good solid softball until the umpire yells, "BALL GAME".

Keep in mind, all of these freindlies and fall tournaments don't really mean much.

Come summer time, (qualifiers and Nationals) all 7 innings are played and a coach who has perfected his stalling tactics will most likely not be seen playing on Sunday in either tournament.

[Bill_B]

Come summer time, (qualifiers and Nationals) all 7 innings are played and a coach who has perfected his stalling tactics will most likely not be seen playing on Sunday in either tournament.

Amen to that! It's an entirely different game when the full seven innings are played and there are no time limits. One can also count on significant scheduling disarray that seems to be common especially where the big tournaments are played. Seven innings coupled with the occasional ITB, rain and other weather delays can tax even the most well conditioned players and staff.

I'm not so sure it follows, however, that having perfected stalling tactics means a team will not be playing on Sunday in the big tourneys

[Ace]

When did it become common practice to have coaches have their teams stall in order to secure a W? Did I miss that memo? Pool games, bracket games - it does not matter. Seems like veteran parents that have been around the sport just shrug their shoulders and say it is needed and you need to be good at it. Is a common practice.

Any major sport would frown on it and make the games decided on the field, but here, we have 4-5 conferences, pitching changes, catcher changes, timeouts - all happening in the last 5 min so scores revert back! Saw it happen all weekend long in Chino. Is so blatant its comical.

I assume all the true top teams have no need for this, but after doing a 12U and 14U team for 2+ years, this is common tactic that only makes the teams doing look, stupid. Guess, that big pool W means alot since they changed their pitchers three times in 10 minutes.

Teach the girls to compete and leave it on the field. Is that not why we coach? The best talent will rise to the top and coaches need to treat the game. your team and players with some respect . Just not sure why this has turned into part of the game and is something teams are proud of? Guess, we are in the minority....or not too good at it, yet....

Football is a major sport and rather than run a play, the winning team will take a knee and run out the clock. Basketball is another major sport where players will dribble out the clock. One time i didnt stall, we were up one run, and if I would have stalled the game would have been over, but I didnt and we started a new inning. We lost the game and the umpire found me later on and laughed at me and told me I let my team down. Its MY job to controll everything that is out of my players control. Its part of the game that a manager can manage. JMO On the other hand, stalling at a friendly is a joke.

[Chin Music]

To many coaches are to wrapped up in numbers.
1)How I finish in my pool
2)What time I play the next day
3)Who I play the next day
Who cares! You want to play everyone. Especially the better ones.
I had the oppotunity in Chino Hills Friday to stalllllll .Time running out I could hear the coaches from the other team yelling to the guy calling pitches to get them out quick because he wanted the 2 runs he scored in the top half of the inning. Stalling can work both ways. I could of stalled and lost by 3 runs instead of 5 runs. I told my girls to hit the first strike they see, hoping for a laser. I got 3 of my girls 3 more at bats.

[Sam]

Funny topic.....bottom line....if you don't like being stalled on, get ahead in the game....there are time limits...each coach knows about them prior to the game....and now the losing coach wants to complain about something that is required and a definite part of game strategy.

This is the funniest quote I've seen here:

Come summer time, (qualifiers and Nationals) all 7 innings are played and a coach who has perfected his stalling tactics will most likely not be seen playing on Sunday in either tournament.

Now here is an actual true statement:

Coaches who don't stall smartly to win games and end up losing those games won't even have teams, much less be at Nationals.

Teams that win at Nationals are teams with coaches who know how to manage ITB....something they never work on.....but easily could.

OBTW: See if you get a single call from a blue who has to work another 100 degree inning because you failed to stall enough to end the game.....good luck.

[Demonboy]

When did it become common practice to have coaches have their teams stall in order to secure a W? Did I miss that memo? Pool games, bracket games - it does not matter. Seems like veteran parents that have been around the sport just shrug their shoulders and say it is needed and you need to be good at it. Is a common practice.

Any major sport would frown on it and make the games decided on the field, but here, we have 4-5 conferences, pitching changes, catcher changes, timeouts - all happening in the last 5 min so scores revert back! Saw it happen all weekend long in Chino. Is so blatant its comical.

I assume all the true top teams have no need for this, but after doing a 12U and 14U team for 2+ years, this is common tactic that only makes the teams doing look, stupid. Guess, that big pool W means alot since they changed their pitchers three times in 10 minutes.

Teach the girls to compete and leave it on the field. Is that not why we coach? The best talent will rise to the top and coaches need to treat the game. your team and players with some respect . Just not sure why this has turned into part of the game and is something teams are proud of? Guess, we are in the minority....or not too good at it, yet....

Don't hate. Crap teams need wins too.