Time Management

[Andy]

a) In most of our tournaments, there is a statement in the tournament information sheet that says "all games will have a time limit of xxx, clock starts at the conclustion of the pre-game conference."

b) The only times that I have stopped the clock are for injuries that will require a significant amount of time to treat and/or remove the player. My judgement here.

c) I hate this. I try not to let either team do anything more than what they have been doing all game as far as excessive signs and/or practice swings. You really cannot prevent a team from changing pitchers, just try to manage it the best you can.

d) I always go by "the next half-inning starts with the third out of the previous half-inning" guideline. If there is any time on the game clock when that third out happens, we start a new half, if warranted. I've been burned by that, ie. 15 seconds left on the timer in a blowout game that would have been over. But hey, the game is for the kids, right?

Overall, I am with you. I would like some guidelines from the ASA on timed games. Our association tries to keep everyone on the same page, but that doesn't help much when the teams here travel to other tournaments that our association doesn't cover.