Auto-out and end of game

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Why in the world does the scorekeeper have a microphone? I have never seen that.

I think it is mostly to communicate with the field for things like requesting a lineup from each team 15 minutes prior to game time. The scorekeeper will also use the microphone to double-check to see if a team is going to use the same lineup when playing a double-header without another game between their two games. It saves us the trouble of running another lineup card up to the scorekeeper.

Usually the scorekeepers limit announcements to the inning and if the scoreboard is malfunctioning will give the score and time remaining. Some scorekeepers will announce the first 3 batters of each inning, which I have mixed feelings about, but that isn't that big an issue. Until Thursday night, I had never heard a scorekeeper announce "ball game". It was the last game of the night, so I suspect she was anxious to remind everyone of the impending auto-out so she could be done with her duties.