Plate Conference
 

Starting tourney season, with teams from divergent leagues finally coming together to play real softball. Here's my plate:

1. Accept lineups, ensure P and C are marked and subs labelled appropriately.
2. "Coach, I see your P is #8 and C is #4, and you've listed 3 subs. Are you comfortable with this lineup?" (Repeat with other coach).
3. "Coach, are your girls properly equipped, and have they removed all jewelry?" (Get both to say yes independently)
4. "OK, we've got X time limit, Y run limit, mercy rule of 10,8,6 (or whatever) after 3, 4, and 5. I'd like to remind you (whatever the league wants reminded, and...) you've got 1 minute between half innings.
5. If 10U, mention any age-specific rules. If any league/tourney/ground rules, mention those as well as any oddities on the field (That gate over their doesn't close all the way, here's how we're handling that).
6. Do either of you have any questions?
7. Partner, do you have anything? (We've usually talked about this before - he may ask 1 or 2 of the above questions)
7. We're on the clock, send 'em out.

Any critiques?

Surely better than the one I heard recently...

"Coaches, let me start right here. This is your warning. If I hear any crap from anyone you're gone. If you have a question call time and ask the umpire that made the call, but keep it short. You're in charge of your parents, if I hear any crap from any of them, you're gone. Now, play ball."

- Before any of this, introduce yourself and partner (maybe you already do that, but it's not on your list).

- I only use the "Are all your players legally and properly equipped" routine in FED games, where it is required (I take it this isn't FED because you mentioned 10U games).

- If not FED games, the part about "removing jewelry" may not even apply.

- I cringe when I'm the base umpire and I have to stand there and listen to the plate man give one of those tough guy "We aren't taking any crap today" speeches.

Dead ball areas? Is that in the ground rules/"oddities in the field"?


I start with introductions of the base umpire and myself. Then I ask for the lineups. I will state how many are in the lineup, whether the team is using the DP/Flex and where the DP is batting and how many subs are listed. I give it back to the coach for verification and tell them to hand it to me when they are ready to make it official. I then follow immediately with ground rules including dead ball areas, then go into the time limit, run rule, remind all one minute between half innings, (no infield warm up balls after first inning if tourney has this rule).

Any questions?

Ask for speaking captains. Designate one side head and one side tails, flip the coin. Shake hands everyone, and good luck.

Play ball.

All of this takes about a minute and a half.

On Edit: By the way, I think you're plate conference looks good, Mike.

Remember, you asked :D

Speaking ASACare more about DP/Flex and subs, while nice, will not draw much attention from me.

I hand the line-up card back to the coach for confirmation. That way there is no question has to what was "said" in case there is an issue later in the game.

Coach's declaration irrelevant. I'll have jewelry removed if I deem it dangerous.

May mention time limit, not mercy unless it is different from the book norm, otherwise, I'm not giving a clinic.

Well, unless local rules are different, the clock does not start until the first pitch. I would like it to start at the end of this meeting, but that change just didn't fly.

An umpire who makes this type of comment deserves whatever problems they get.

Part of me shakes my head. Another part of me smiles on the inside.

Here in NY high school ball, we are REQUIRED to read both a 'sportsmanship' and 'jewelry rule' card before every game (for ALL sports, btw). However....by this time of the softball season, especially if you have seen the same team(s) a couple of times, we are down to reminding them of both rules, plus the lineup check, plus whatever odd ground rules a field might have. For instance, Firday I was at a JV field which has a small grove of trees in fairly short LF, PLUS swings and a playground in deep CF. In both cases, a ball hit into either area is a GRD - although if if its hit in the AIR into the trees, we give them a HR. So I make sure the visitors are aware of all this. Pregame does not last more than a minute this time of year.

Even though you do ask the coaches if their team is properly equipped, you still have to do an equipment check.....however, again, if I have a team more than a couple times, I just do a cursory check of the bats, but I still check the helmets - especially the cages...usually find one or two a week that the cages need tightening...

I actually one team two days in a row this week- so I semi humorously asked the coach if they bought any new helmets or bats the last 24 hours.....

I love those plate conferences. The guys that use these usually ramble on for five minutes about a myriad of things. :rolleyes:

I don't know of anywhere around here where the clock doesn't start at the end of the plate conference. The PU leaves the plate conference, goes to his kitchen timer hanging on the backstop and mashes ( :-) ) the START button.

You actually ARE from around here, aren't ya? ;)

In ASA, the clock starts when the first pitch is thrown, not when the plate conference ends.

This is my only exception to my "local rules are for fools" mantra.

Ugh. Don't get me started on kitchen timers on the fence... :mad: :rolleyes:

What's the problem? When they go off you get hungry waiting on the cookies from the oven? :D:D

The timer on the fence (or anywhere else it is visible to the participants) is much better than the timer hidden away somewhere.

It makes the administration of the time limit transparent, which I prefer.

I never try to 'game' the time limit. If the tourney rule is drop dead or if it is start the next inning if any time is left I enforce it the way the tourney rules are written.

I have worked with too many umpires who were willing to call game over even when time was left on the clock. The visible timer prevents this.

I love it when the time left is right up on the scoreboard, everyone knows how much time is left.

Exactly why we require the timer on the fence for our games with time limits here in AZ.

I don't know why Seattle has such an issue with it....maybe too many of their timers have been ruined by all the rain......:D:D

Curious to hear why... extremely curious since our assignor (with 90-ish umpires) prefers just that. Seems to me it would be A) easier to ensure we are being fair and impartial, B) easier for coaches to trust that we're not monkeying the clock just to stay on schedule (yet another of my pet peeves from partners).

I prefer the kitchen timer to the scoreboard. When it's plain to see from anywhere and doesn't require any effort to see the time, you get a LOT more coaches trying to monkey the system for clock purposes instead of letting the game play out as it should.

Which is why I prefer a watch in the pocket and a non-mandatory "approximate" 10/15 minute heads-up.

I'm a convert to those who believe in a time limit plus one inning. Takes a lot of the BS out of the stupid coaches' game.

One of the tourney rules that NSA Indiana uses is to stop the timer for every team time out in the last ten minutes of a game. There are almost no unnecessary time outs taken because you can't run time off the clock that way.

It is always up to the umpires to keep the game moving and provide a consistent pace from start to finish.

I got that speech nearly verbatim two years ago at a 16U summer state tournament with addition of

"I don't want to hear a da#n thing about my strike zone and your pitcher gets a warning on the first eyeroll, I'm tossing her on the second."

:)

Hmmm... I may need to add this to my plate meeting "speech"... :D

Yep. Though that OBX dialect video had me scratching my head.

Someone really needs to tell some people south of "the border." What I've just outlined happened at the beginning of every ASA game I witnessed last summer including National Qualifiers, State Championships (which were in essence qualifiers) and "invitationals," in at least three different parks (but generally all overseen by the same TD and UIC).

I made sure I used the words "kitchen timer hanging on the backstop" just for you, SRW.

I'll bet few (or maybe even none) exactly followed the rest of the ASA timed game rule, either. These rules are frequently adjusted by TDs / leagues.

Personally, I find the "time of the first pitch" to be an unusable point in time if the PU is also the timekeeper. I use "batter up" as a reasonably close, but usable, point, unless end of the plate meeting is specified.

Wow, does your pitchers practice rolling one eye at a time? Otherwise, she's history as soon as she looks skyward :D

Obviously, this "umpire" isn't what I would call good, professional or, well, hell, an umpire.

Don't have to tell them anything other than read the first sentence of ASA 5.10.

Sort of defeats the purpose of having a clock in the first place.

You mean that place just off I-95? :D

Say hi to Pedro

Is that place still in business? That's a bit east for me.

And, Irish, I did look it up when Dave stated it was an ASA rule.

But as Dakota points out, you're going to have trouble calling that first pitch a ball or a strike while standing at the backstop pushing the button. (Can we call that the "KitchenAid stance?") I suspect one or two umpires add a minute to allow for the time it takes to get everyone on the field, but I know from observation that most of them do not.

I think so. Wife and I drove by it in October or November when we went to Florida, and it was still open then.

I think it's better to push the button, walk back to the catcher, signal "play" and lose a few seconds than it is to lose a couple of minutes by starting the clock after the plate conference.

Sure, some coaches will hem and haw over those precious few seconds, but if they're that concerned, hire an actual scorekeeper to keep the clock (and a legitimate book, for that matter).

Okay, now that you mention it, I have seen the rare Plate Umpire who does walk back and start the timer after the first pitch. But this is extremely rare.

Some volunteer scorekeepers are very conscientious and care about keeping a legitimate book. Granted, some are all about inflating their daughters stats and some just don't have a clue. But, there's bit of range in the quality of umpires, too. :rolleyes:

Kitchen Timers
 

We've hashed this out before. Go read all about why we don't like 'em.

Thread #1

Thread #2

Been there many a time. It was sort of a regional requisite back in the day, much in the same way that the Czech Stop in West is for Texans today.

Well, at least the guy knows he sux.

Which is why I have the BU keep the time.

Does the BU still put the kitchen timer on the RF fence? :D

Of course, where the heck else is he going to put it?

I'm sure some people here can tell him where to put it... :D