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I worked a 10 and under B tournament this past weekend. The first pool game, the coach decided his pitcher needed to work on drop pitches. They all hit the groind in front of the plate. The catcher was sort of trying but she is 9 and could not block them. I was hit 18 times the first inning. Some of them where I had no protection. After gieeing hit with the first 3 pitches in the 2nd inning I asked the coach to quit calling drops and explained why. He talked to his catcher about trying to block the pitches. The coach continued to throw drops, the pitcher bounced them in front of the plate, the catcher still could not block them and I continued to get hit. I finally backed up to about 5 ft in front of the backstop to call pitches. The coach called time, told me I could not see the pitches from that location and I could not tell him what pitches he could call for his pitcher. I agreed with him o both counts. He told me I was getting paid, to do my job and I needed to move up. i told him I was getting paid to call balls and strikes, not be a backstop and I would be calling from this position when his kid pitched. I moved back up when the other team pitched. I don't mind getting hit occasionally and I know it is part of the game for 10 & unders, but I will not continually take a beating for something that should be worked on in practice. Fortunately, we had 55 min drop dead with 5 runs per half inning during pool play.
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