Carpet Ball Tournaments/Leagues

The topic on 1-pitch tournaments got me to thinking. What variations have you folks seen as far as carpet ball leagues or tournaments?

I worked a tournament last weekend, where the plate and the carpet was a strike as long as it was a legal pitch height-wise. Started all batters on a 1-1 count with a courtesy foul. Pretty much straight up on the other rules. This was similar to another tournament I worked last fall.

There was a league in my area a couple of years ago that anything that hit the carpet was a strike, as long as it had the regulation minimum height. The maximum height was the sky (basically, NONE!). It was called the Okoboji Carpet League. All other rules applied as usual.

Just curious what all is out there. Thanks.

[SC Ump]

Originally posted by Ref Ump Welsch
What variations have you folks seen as far as carpet ball leagues or tournaments?

I saw it fairly popular in the Los Angeles area in the mid-80's but have not been back there since. There was a carpet between the batter's boxes from about six inches in front of the plat to the back edge of the batter's box. If on the first two strikes, the ball hit on the carpet it was a strike. On the third strike, it had to it a smaller designated area of the carpet, basically the plate and about a foot behind it. Even with this, players argued balls and strikes.

[mick]

"They" use a rubber (approx. 16" behind point) mat/carpet U.P. here.
No strike zone, just a ball landing area.

Unlimited arc, minimum arc, or minimum not to exceed....
Hit the mat or plate it's a strike
Hits the ground with the ball curvature extending over the plate or mat, ...maybe a ball maybe a strike.

mick

[Bagman62]

MAT Ball is used alot in Seniors Play. The MAT touches the plate and goes back about 18" if I remember. A great game to call is where one pitcher is trying to throw 5' 9" hiot the front of the plate and the other pitcher 13' + and drop on the back of the MAT.

All is well until the 6th inning in a close game and then the chior starts singing about your strike zone highth. The solution is to tell the managers that it appears your depth perception must have left so all strikes will be between 8' and 10'as you have no trouble judging that heighth The managers will have the chior shut up and hit.

It is a great game to umpire at the 65 and 70 year old level. No play at the plate, just cross the line, courtesy runners after the hitter gets on and the Seniors can still jack it 300'

[greymule]

A couple of the local leagues have gone to carpet, or what we call "mat," ball. I guess it does make actual balls and strikes easier to call, but since the players have to argue about something, they whine about the arc. They also contest whether or not the ball actually hit the plate or mat.

Speaking of one-pitch tournaments—they used to be popular around here (late 1970s, early 1980s) but have since disappeared. They were kind of fun, but to me the games went too fast. Singles tournaments were popular, too. Play the game on a Little League field and a ball over the fence is an out. With 200-foot fences, it was very hard to get hits, and scores would be 1-0, 2-1, etc.



[Edited by greymule on Aug 22nd, 2004 at 09:31 PM]

Wow, those singles tournaments sounds like a Pete Rose dream! Basically all other rules apply in those singles tournaments?

[greymule]

Yes, all other rules apply. Everybody had to cut down on his swing, of course, because any ball you got under went out of the park. The outfields would play well in front of the fence, too, since it was very hard to dump one over an outfielder and keep it in the park. Even on balls that skipped by to the fence, it was tough to get more than a single.

When my team first got into a singles tourney, I thought it wouldn't be much fun, but I was wrong. In fact, my team, which was maybe third or fourth best in the area, was the best singles team around. With our speed and defense, the "crusher" teams, with their big, slow mashers, had no chance against us on small fields.

Singles tournaments were also good because it was impossible to score a lot of runs. The nature of the games led to low scores, which made it fun even for weaker teams. Nobody crushed anybody.

Funny how things have changed since then. In the "C" level this past weekend, where the fence is 300 feet and 10 feet high, teams would get their 3 homers by the second inning and still hit 5 or 6 more balls over for outs. This on the same field where, in the old days, balls over the fence were rare.

[Edited by greymule on Aug 23rd, 2004 at 11:42 AM]

[mo99]

I umpired an annual memorial slow pitch tournament for the benifit of a local high school catcher who drowned a few years back.It is the only slow pitch I do all year(thank God),but they use a great format.They bought three 30 dollar bats at Walmart,which both teams playing must use.They also use game worn restricted balls.It brings the game back to years past where skill is needed and not bat technology to hit the ball hard.
I have a suggestion to eliminate all the whining about strike zones in either normal play or carpet ball in slow pitch.Have the batter hit off a tee,it takes just about the same amount of talent,less arguments.

Jeff
NCAA Umpire
NFHS Umpire
ASA Umpire

[greymule]

I would also go for the tee. Seriously. What would have been a joke 20 years ago might actually be a real possibility at this point. SP batters expect the plate ump to put the ball on a tee for them, anyway. Plus, without the force of the incoming ball, the balls they hit might have a few feet taken off them.

Maybe I'll see whether anyone around here wants to experiment with a tee tournament.

I'm trying to think about what batters might complain about with the tee. There must be something.

[SactoBlue]

I used to play on an industrial league at good ole Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo in the late 60's - early 70's. We called it "LOB Ball". Your own guy pitched to you. He had to get the ball within a 3 or 4 foot circle around home plate. Three pitches or you're out. You basically porked it up so your guy could whack it.

Another fast game.......

[jxt127]

I've played in a league with the mat. 6-12 foot arc on the pitch. Ball must hit the mat to be a strike. The mat had two points that went out to the front of the plate and a rectangular body that extended a couple or so feet back of the plate. After a few years they changed the strike zone to include home plate. Some players like to argue the height or did the edge of the ball REALLY touch the mat? All in all it was a lot of fun.

I umpire a local 3-pitch league. Basic softball except the batter only gets 3 pitches from their own pitcher. The amazing part is that the pitchers are so bad. A small park so homeruns are outs even if the ball goes off a fielders glove. Funny to see guys with the hot new bats! All that money just to be out.

[argodad]

Originally posted by SactoBlue
I used to play on an industrial league at good ole Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo in the late 60's - early 70's. We called it "LOB Ball". Your own guy pitched to you. He had to get the ball within a 3 or 4 foot circle around home plate. Three pitches or you're out. You basically porked it up so your guy could whack it.

Another fast game.......

At the Naval Postgrad School in Monterey we played a game called "Socko." Pitcher was on your own team. Three pitches to hit a fair ball. If it touched the pitcher, it was interference. Thanksgiving tournament was 1-pitch. Games ended in 45 minutes.

[greymule]

In these games in which the pitcher pitches to his own team, have any fights broken out because the batter smashed one up the middle?