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ASA 12U Regional Tournament this past weekend in Wilmington, DE.
To insure the schedule and avoid running over more than necessary, we impose an hour-forty time limit on all games, but the Championship and (I hate saying these words) the IF games. The official watch is the one in the umpire's pocket.
In the loser's final, the game was nearing the time limit in the 6th inning. Winning team had the hammer and was at bat. As the opponent made a few consecutive errors, this MD team figured the time limit had to have run out. The moment the opponent made the final out of the inning, the umpire went right to his watch and without hesitation indicated that he had time left, though only a minute or so (remember, the next inning starts the moment the previous inning ends).
It was like someone called for a fire drill the way one parent after the other started for the TD to demand the game be ended because their watch indicated it should have. After the third person asked the same question, none receiving any solid answer other than it was the umpire's watch that counted, the TD told the rest that if the manager wanted to talk to him, that would be fine, but he was no longer entertaining questions and demands from anyone else.
Somewhat miffed, one parent (female) turned to me (UIC) and demanded we enforce ASA's rules. I just laughed and mentioned to the umpire next to me that it wouldn't be a problem since ASA doesn't prescribe a time limit on this particular type of game.
The MD team not only won that game, but came back to win-out and take the trophy.
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The bat issue in softball is as much about liability, insurance and litigation as it is about competition, inflated egos and softball.
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