Why do FP games last so long

[bkbjones]

Didn't want to do my usual thread hijacking.
Mike brings up a good point in another thread. FP games usually last longer than SP games. As he said, 20-30 minutes in many cases, sometimes longer.

Why?

There are many reasons, obviously. There are also many ways to speed things up.

One of my pet peeves is batters wandering out of the box on "plain vanilla" balls and strikes. This is not just something we deal with up here in the Pacific NW. I've seen it in other parts of the country, and seen it for years. Keeping batters in/near the box is just one way. Are there others?

[Mountaineer]

REALLY? How long are your games? In WV our HS/College games run anywhere from 60-90 minutes. I had a 1-0 HS game this year that went 7 complete and lasted 50 min. AND there were 31 strikeouts out of 42 outs. (Probably that big strike zone!)

[Dakota]

I can't compare the two, since I only call FP, but the length of a 7 inning untimed FP game depends mostly on the skill level of the players.

A young B travel squad or an unskilled JV squad may take 90 minutes or so to complete 7 innings. Sometimes longer if neither team has any kind of pitcher.

But, if we leave low skill level walk-fests / drop fests / grounders between the legs fests out of the equation, a pair of good fast pitch teams can complete 7 innings in anywhere from 55 to 75 minutes. Occasionally a bit longer.

Most of the wasted time is with general dawdling, which is entirely within the umpire's control, not with live ball non-action.

[TwoBits]

Speaking for this area (Midwest), softball playing girls are....lazy. They walk from the dugout to their positions on the field, walk from the field to the dugout, walk to the batter's box, etc. Plus, the coaches think they need to huddle before the defense goes onto the field every inning. My solution: Enforce the 1 minute warmup rule between innings. If that means the pitcher gets only one pitch (or less!) then so be it.

[SRW]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

Speaking for this area (Midwest), softball playing girls are....lazy. They walk from the dugout to their positions on the field, walk from the field to the dugout, walk to the batter's box, etc. Plus, the coaches think they need to huddle before the defense goes onto the field every inning. My solution: Enforce the 1 minute warmup rule between innings. If that means the pitcher gets only one pitch (or less!) then so be it.

That's a huge way to save 15 to 20 minutes in a game. If it takes the girls 2 to 2.5 minutes each half inning to get on the field and complete the warmups, then start telling the catcher "balls in" when she gets to her position. About the 3rd inning, she'll get the hint, and be out there on time, or have a coach warming up the pitcher. You'll have just saved 1 to 1.5 minutes each half inning, or 14-21 minutes in a 7-inning game.

Another way I help shave time when I'm the BU is, for example, a sliding steal of 2B that covers it up with dirt. A lot of Blue will call Time, then sweep off the bag for the runner who is now standing there. I just ignore it temporarily. There's no need to call Time and waste 15 to 20 seconds to sweep it off - unless it's totally burried and I can't see any of it. There'll be plenty of opportunities clean it later (inbetween innings, time-out for a lineup change, retrieval of a foul ball, etc). Besides, most of the time, the runner will take care of it for ya, with her feet or her hands.

[Andy]

Nobody has hit on my first thought yet....so here it is.

I umpire FP only, but a few years ago, I did some volunteer work at a major co-ed slowpitch tournament helping out the umpire coordinator.

One of the first things I noticed was how quickly the games moved along. After thinking about it, I came up with three reasons:

1) No signals from the coach to the catcher, then the catcher to the pitcher. If the pitch was not hit, throw the ball back to the pitcher and pitch it again.

2) Since there was no stealing or bunting, there is no need for the base coach to go through a gyration of signals between each pitch.

3) Not a lot of at-bats that go much past three pitches.

Most of the games that I saw in that tournament were 7 inning complete games finished in less than 60 minutes.

[chicago11]

Andy hit it on the head. SP- most leagues the pitcher takes two warmup pitches between innings. You don't really need to warm up the old arm for SP. A lot less swing and miss opportunities which also results in a lot less passed balls. No stealing,etc

[tcblue13]

There is the pitcher who has to groom the circle between every warmup and every pitch and the batter who has to step out and look at the 3B coach between every pitch. Also, there is the challenge to hit the ball. 3-2 and 2-2 counts are very common in FP because there is a duel between the F1 and the batter. Foul Balls are not outs on 3K. Sometimes there is no hustle on the FP diamond between innings (A situation which Umpires could fix)

The only time I have ever had games over 2 hours is when the pitching just plain stunk and we played walk ball for most of the game.