18U - Aggresive Teams - Short Backstop = Trouble!

[Gulf Coast Blue]

2nd game tonight...........2 very aggresive 18U teams......short backstop and 4-5 passed balls with runners on third........BAAAAD combination.

All clean plays at the plate........all runners sliding.....all defensive players (mainly pitchers) only blocking after the ball was on the way or in their possession.

Of the 5 plays.......only 1 runner was safe......and that was because the ball took a funky bounce off of a verticle fence pole...........(I wanted to bonk some of these coaches on the head.........when I coached.....I almost NEVER sent anyone on this field because of its close backstop.......it's almost always a NO-WIN situation)

1st inning.........very first passed ball took a great bounce and the runner attempting from 3rd was caught dead to right by a very good catcher.........she slid and was out at least 3 feet before the plate.......on her way back to the dugout.......she commented ......"She was blocking the F****** Plate"......(Visitor's Team)

I called time and went and had a chat with the Manager.......told him that if I heard anymore language like that from any of his players........they would be gone! He only had 9, so 1 gone by ejection would result in forfeit.........between innings, told my partner that the Visitors had already had an unsportmanlike warning......

Between a very hard fought 3rd inning......my rookie partner (a 17yo HS boy......who has the makings of a good umpire) told me that he could not believe the language he was hearing from the Visiting Team............

I took some advice from SteveM..........and instructed him (in front of the Visitors Catcher).........

"You have to stop this.....I have already warned them....let them know.....that the next bad word you hear......their gone....."

I then explained that if a team went short because of an ejection......they would forfeit the game.......

The catcher of the visitors team asked "I thought we could play with 8?"........I told her that was because of injury or illness........if a player were ejected because of unsportsmanlike behavior.......playing short was a forfeit........she got a look of "believing" and said she had learned something new.........

she must have passed the word along, because my partner said he never heard another word in the field.

HS ball is over except for the top 2 teams in District.......so we will be seeing a lot of the more aggressive HS players.........I guess I better get ready.

Joel

Question........would any of you eject on the 1st bad word......or give a stern warning?





[Edited by Gulf Coast Blue on Apr 16th, 2001 at 11:35 PM]