First Game of the Season!!!!
 

Doin' the dish tomorrow 2/16/2010 for a middle school game....first one from 43 feet. Ball.......Ball.......Ball.........Ball.......etc.

Oh, and the high is supposed to be 36.

Love softball in Alabama.

As a Florida Umpire, I will suggest that you will be surprised at how little trouble pitchers have adjusting to 43 feet.


Have fun

Agree Hugo. We have not seen much of a problem in the Panhandle in the 4 years Florida has been at 43 feet. The good pitchers are still good and the bad pitchers are no worse than before. Even the teams who come in from out of state for Spring Break trips adjusted quickly. :cool:

I have already worked five college or JC double headers, first HS Scrimmage is Thursday.

Here in AZ, the state voted to go to the 43' pitching distance this year for all levels (Fr, JV, V). Considering the number of pitchers we had that couldn't get the ball across the plate at 40', I'm a bit wary....

Heck, we just had our first local rules meeting of the year. Our season doesn't start until the end of March.

I had my first games of the year last weekend. A div 2 non conference double header. I didnt screw it up too badly. I'm kinda a slow starter and to "warm up" at that level is tough for me after a few months off.

Wade - That's a main reason why I practice with some of the local college teams - cage work and indoor scrimmages. It is tough to start the season with the college levels.

Worst dumb thing I did.. I was in C (2 man) R1@2B and a bunt to F5 who crashed.. to me the play was at 1 and I sucked in .. and that girl turned around and fired to F6 covering 3... it looked like an out to me with my horrible 180 on the play lol.. (duh).. so I called it out. Well of course I got a talking to and at this point I didnt want to drag my partner under the bus with me so I stood by it like It was the greatest call on earth .. apparently, according to my evaluator (lol) .. not so good.

Blah... They didnt suck me in again though.. just dumb on my part, I know better.

Nightmare
 

Nice way to start the season

4A Varsity game
Behind the plate

4 hour game!
Final Score 24-19, the winning pitcher had 28 walks!!!! She had to have thrown over 300 pitches, of which about 8 got me- 3 solid. Was tied 17-17 after 7, ended up playing 8 innings. The third inning went hour and five by itself. Had frost on the grass by end of the game.

Was tempted to throw my gear in the dumpster on the way to the truck and head straight to a bar. Feeling it today for sure.

Damn that 43'!!
LOL

Wade...I feel your pain. I had a similar situation last year, only mine happened in the top of the eighth inning in the tiebreaker. Same basic play, same crappy angle, same "well, she looked out from here" call at third base. I was prepared to take some heat from the coach for the call, but when she started talking about all the calls I had blown at first base in the previous innings, we were finished with the conversation.

We are still at 40!!!!

The winning pitcher had 28 walks? My DD's HS's JV pitching staff only had 18 walks all season last year.

I thought all NFHS Varsity went to 43 this year.

Either way, I feel your pain.
We all get one of those games, hopefully you're done for the season.

Speaking of which....
I went to our State Evaluation meeting this year.
The evaluations consisted of rotating on and off the field (2 innings at each position) over the course of 3 games.
The first two games (which was my rotation) were JV teams....

As I was watching, getting ready for my plate eval, the pitcher couldn't throw a strik and her team couldn't get an out - finally, the evaluators called the PU guy off the field and put me on - - - with a ball 1 ball on the batter, an out and a runner on 3rd!

NFHS can only suggest rules and changes. Each state runs its own program and can pretty much does whatever they please.

;)Thanks

So much to learn, so little time....

I like to umpire SB (so much I do it all year round ;) ), but I have enough trouble keeping up with the rules of the organization that I'm doing.
These finer points (along with the politics) elude me.

NFHS changed the distance to 43', but it doesn't mandate it until the 2010-2011 academic year. It's optional by state for this year. Some states changed immediately, some wait until next year (and FL and OR have been at 43' for awhile).

Ohio is at 40' for this season.

One of the main reasons that ASA DIDN'T change 14U to 43' was the number of states that wouldn't do the change in HS in 2010; Ohio, Texas, and California, as big ones.

The states that DO change now gain an advantage, IMO. Next year, you can expect ASA to add 14U, to cover the rest of the HS players.

I don't think that is necessarily a good thing. I believe it was also noted last year that HS players that were competitive enough to adapt to 43' were probably already playing 16U. And quite a few, if not most players at the 14U are more likely middle school players than varsity or JV.

Personally, I already felt that 14U ball was where the majority of the girls were really maturing into young softball players (as opposed to young girls playing softball). This age class is where many either turn the corner or decide this isn't their game. IOW, this is an important time in a young players career and maybe, just maybe it is the time to leave them alone to become comfortable with their game and learn as much as they can before moving up to a bigger, faster game.

JMHO

Anyone who thinks 14U @ 43' either has never seen a 14U game, has a top 5% pitcher dd, or is in dream land about the skill level at 14U.

Huh?

I just finished 5 games straight at a middle school tourney. To my amasement, the 43' was a non factor. The pitchers that were good adapted and the pitchers that sucked still sucked. Only difference I could tell is that now the pitcher can't completely dominate the game. She will need some help because the other team, unless they are awful, will eventually put a bat on the ball.

Five games....gonna go take a nap now. Luckily it was 65 degrees!!

NY State is staying with 40' and of course we still have snow on the ground and will till April.

All NFHS (any level) goes to 43' in 2011. Optional for 2010.

Michigan chose to stay at 40' for this year.

WMB

O M G!!! :eek:

43 Feet Pitching Distance
 

Had 5 games at last weekend's HS tournament. Pitching was about the same quality as before. I think we had a few more players put the bat on the ball. This increased the pressure on the defense, which I thought was good for the game. Overall, I liked what I saw. :)