We have a school in our region whose coach, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME AT THE PREGAME MEETING, told me (PU),"when they score 20 on us, we're done." So, in the second inning, he essentially forfeits the game. It was good to have the ball game over, but somehow I just didn't feel good about the way it was accomplished.

Unfortunately I've also had the other: Team winning by 20 runs in the 3rd, coach still has them doing double steels!

Were his team captains present at the plate meeting? If so, a comment like this is very poor coaching. I've had coaches talk down their team before, and I never like to hear it. Just play the game, coach... give your team whatever boost you can... don't declare the game lost before it is played, even if that is a realistic view.

Several years back, our JV coach had a death in the family, so his son (his assistant) took over and I was asked to be the assistant JV coach that day.

That year, our JV team was made up primarily of girls who were cut from soccer, and little to no softball experience. Needless to say, the game got ugly quickly.

First off, the home team scored 11 runs in the first inning, although the league has a 10 run cap. It was 19-0 after three innings, but the umpires claimed the 15/3 our state has didn't exist and made a comment our school was new to the league and needed to learn the rules (even though we were a charter member of the league).

Opposing team is still stealing and advancing on passed balls, and I commented to my coaching partner "Do we ever steal bases when we're up 19?"

I realize the game is about the girls and I have no problem when a clearly superior team wins big, but winning with class is something I value more than piling it on.

There was one funny moment though. Home team is up to bat and our pitcher has a ball thats about a foot over the batter's head. PU calls it a strike and the home coach is going nuts! I tell my coaching partner "It was a bad call, but _I_ would not argue with an umpire when I'm up 19-0, because they might start looking for all those little things to call."

I think the coaches exact words were "chin to shin if its over the dish call it on us"