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Dave H- You're right. The ump doesn't make the rule. He is put in a position where he has to do it even if he may disagree. I have seen some umps give the coach a nasty look when they over use the intentional walk.
GreyMule-We had a similar rule, but it worked the other way. Teams were limited to 9 batters in the inning. In this case, they had the rule that the inning could not end with a batter struck by the pitch. We only encountered one team that took advantage of this rule. After facing 8 batters and not hitting a one, the 9th batter was hit by the first pitch. So were the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th batters. One of our parents clearly heard the coach tell a batter to lean into the pitch. We positioned someone behind the backstop and they verified that every kid was leaning into the strike zone. The coach for the other team thought it was funny. The ump was inexperienced and wouldn't make the proper call. They changed the rule after that season.
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