|
At an invitational tournament (ASA rules) this past summer, I was calling the plate in the championship in the consolation bracket. It was a full 7 inning game, no time limit. 2 man crew. 12U.
Normally, I am pretty easy-going with respect to rule 7-3C at this age level. I will hold up the pitcher if the batter is taking signals from the coach and most of the time, the batters are pretty good with the basic mechaincs -- keeping one foot in, etc.
However, in this game, the coach of one of the teams (a player for one of the local colleges) would coach the batters -- giving hitting mechanics instructions, etc., between every pitch. Most of the time, the batters would step completely out of the box without asking for TIME. The first inning took forever, the defense was losing concentration (not my problem, technically, but the kids were getting bored, not having fun, etc.). I was envisioning hours to reach 7 innings. So between innings, I told the coach she would have to speed things up -- only give signals, no coaching.
The coach did a little better in the second inning, but still took way too much time between pitches. Between innings, my partner asked me to speed things up. I told him I had already warned the coach. As the third inning got underway, I started verbalizing "batter up" if the batter stepped out between pitches, and signaling the pitcher to begin. The coach called time and approached me, complaining that I was not allowing her batters to take signals (and I wasn't - she was right - I was annoyed).
I told the coach that her batters needed to keep one foot in the box, that she needed to give signals only, no delays for coaching, and that unless there was a good reason, I was not going to grant TIME between pitches, and that I would start enforcing 7-3C to the letter - calling strikes, etc.
She was very displeased, but she did speed things up after that. After the game, she made some comment about hoping I made my date on time, or some such wisea$$ remark.
Ever since, I have though I could (should) have handled this situation better.
Comments?
|