Finally - Softball Practice

We played again last Thursday night. We won the first game 7-6 and got beat badly in the second 28-11. I played Left Centerfield the first game for a few innings and pitched the second game. The second game was played against a team in the Upper division so we were outmatched badly. They scored 10 runs each of the first two innings and had two guys that could slam it out of the park. It's not fun to be matched up that way, but I guess we play each Upper team once this season. We will play one team in the Lower and one in the Upper tomorrow night as well.

I did get a certain bit of satisfaction in the second game. There was a girl who came to the plate and had half of her front foot over the batter's box line when I pitched the ball. The rules state that both feet must start completely inside the batter's box. During the swing, you can stride as big as you want as long as your foot is at least touching the line. If your foot comes completely out of the box, then you are automatically out. If your foot is half out when the ball is pitched, though, it's either a strike or a no pitch. I made the umpire aware of this so he'd call a strike on the girl, but he didn't know the rules enough to enforce something like that. The guy who pitched for the other team claimed to be an ASA certified umpire and wanted to argue about what I said the rules stated. I'm not sure if he thought I was talking about the swing or before, but the foot print I pointed out made it obvious that I was talking about her beginning stance and I was not asking for an out, although the strike would have made her out. The call stood as the umpire didn't know the rules and the girl was on first. Later in the game, a league rep heard about the dispute and brought out a rules book. He came over to me to explain that a swing could take you to the line, over the line, but you can't step out of the batter's box. I had to reiterate that this was not the rule I was talking about but the initial stance when the ball was pitched. He turned a few pages back and said that I was absolutely right about the rule, but that he had never seen it enforced for the men's league. I told him that it's not only an issue of following the rules for fair play, but it's also a safety issue. Pitchers tend to pitch away from the batter if they are crowding the plate in a recreational league so as not to hit the batter or risk that. We had a girl who crowded the plate during a practice last year and when I pitched the ball where it should be, she hit it on her hands and it bounced back and broke her nose. I certainly don't want to see that happen in a game, either. He went to the other dugout and as far as I know explained the rules over there. The guy who wanted to argue with me didn't even look me in the face when the teams walked by each other to say "good game". I'm not sure if it was embarrassment for being wrong as an "ASA Certified Umpire" or what, but I was satisfied that I do know the rules and was right about the rules and the guy that wanted to argue was corrected.

Now, during that particular night, our assistant coach made everyone aware that we will start having regular practices on Sundays. Our coaches won't make it and a few others work weekends, but I hope that those that want to will take advantage of this. We are paying to play and many of us would love to get our money's worth from the season. By this time in the season last year, we had all taken so many more swings, made so many more plays, and I believe it helped us to have a decent season. This year we have many new players and it would be good for everyone to step up their game so we can quit splitting the night with one win and one loss. A winning season is always a fun season. After being 10 games into the season, it's about time we started practicing.