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Old Fri Jul 04, 2003, 09:05pm
mo99 mo99 is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 190
Coachtindell

I took time to read again all your posts on this subject,but I am still confused what you are looking for.Since you stated your 10 year old pitcher is quite proficient at hitting her spots,I think your team would actually benifit from an umpires smaller strike zone.Fortunately,I dont have to do many 10U games,but the ones I have,the pitchers are all over the place.Pitches in the dirt hitting my feet,others flying over my head into the backstop.Since your pitcher can hit a smaller target,I dont understand why you would want a larger zone.
Believe it or not,it is actually more difficult trying to call a good consistant zone at the younger levels because the pitchers are very inconsistant at hitting their target.A ball popping into the mitt at 60+ MPH at or around the intended target allows the umpire to get in a good rhythm behind the plate.An umpire cant get into that kind of rhythm in a lower level youth game.I think you were missing the point when you elaborated on other judgement calls in a game.All I was saying is by stretching the zone to the limits of the strike zone in 10U games like calling the full knee and calling the armpit strike leads to more batters swinging and not a walk fest.It is just a common sense,practical approach to make the game a bit more enjoyable for the children.After all,isnt that what we are BOTH out there for!

Jeff
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