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Originally Posted by PeteBooth
Tim,
I'm assuming when you say our juniors tournament opened play on Saturday you are speaking of the LL Tournament.
Generally speaking, LL Juniors is probably the worst ball you will ever call. Most of the talented kids at that age bracket (13/14) are playing in select Leagues which means LL is left with the remainder.
If you have a good tournament, triple headers are not that big of a deal, but when you get teams like you describe umpiring does not become fun anymore. it becomes a "survivor of the fittest".
If you are going to Help out or umpire LL games, IMO stick to the majors which is a Total Contrast to the Junior program. in LL majors, the games last approx 1 hour to 1hr 10 minutes at Tourney Time. You can call 3/4 of those type games with no problem.
Also, at the LL Junior Level don't know how the zone was that day, but IMO keep it BIG from the outset to move the game along.
Summary: Triple headers in the heat can be very exhausting but can also be enjoyable depending upon the teams involved. I therefore agree with part of your statement. No more Triple Headers for LL Juniors UNLESS they impose a 2 hour time limit.
Pete Booth
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I know what you mean, Pete. The majors tourney starts on the 12th so I'll be working quite a few of those games again this year. We're just so short on experienced umpires that we have to work as many games as possible in the junior tournament or there would be dad's from the stands working them. To let you know how bad the play was on Saturday, we had 7 obvious elephant balk calls in those three games. This is tournament time for crying out loud. They sure as heck should know how to hold runners by now. I'm going to be working the Ohio Valley Babe Ruth regional for 15/16 this year, so I look forward to seeing some better baseball being played soon.
Tim.