Congrats Lawrenceburg Lightning!

[big_joe]

Congrats Lawrenceburg Lightning 16U for winning the 1st USGF Tennessee State Tournament.

[wad]

nice to be handed the tourny. The game aginst the Lady Storm, I have never seen Parents, Players and Coaches act the way lawrenceburg did. Classless is the word. The Lady Storm were not at the field because the DIRECTOR told them thier game was at 12 midnight. When they were told to come now, they did. But when they tried to warm up. Well thats when all the class was shown by lawrencebug. I guess I would have not wanted them to warm up either. Since early in the day they spanked your fanny. Good job. Hold your heads high. But learn a little class.

[FridayMainEvent]

nice to be handed the tourny. The game aginst the Lady Storm, I have never seen Parents, Players and Coaches act the way lawrenceburg did. Classless is the word. The Lady Storm were not at the field because the DIRECTOR told them thier game was at 12 midnight. When they were told to come now, they did. But when they tried to warm up. Well thats when all the class was shown by lawrencebug. I guess I would have not wanted them to warm up either. Since early in the day they spanked your fanny. Good job. Hold your heads high. But learn a little class.

 

 

Hold on a minute, my team got shafted out of their first round game by a terrible call. When we returned Sunday morning at 7:00 am, (making the 2 hour drive one way for many of my parents) we were told it had been changed to a single elimination tournament. If your team beat Lawenceburg earlier in the day, how were they still there? Did something change after they decided to send all of us home?

[Mr knowitall]

Hold on a minute, my team got shafted out of their first round game by a terrible call. When we returned Sunday morning at 7:00 am, (making the 2 hour drive one way for many of my parents) we were told it had been changed to a single elimination tournament. If your team beat Lawenceburg earlier in the day, how were they still there? Did something change after they decided to send all of us home?

 

Was this tourny played in Lawrenceburg????? And were the lines re-chalked between every game??? /blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blush:" border="0" alt="blush.gif" />

[FridayMainEvent]

Was this tourny played in Lawrenceburg????? And were the lines re-chalked between every game??? /blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blush:" border="0" alt="blush.gif" />

 

Games were played in Gallatin. Apparently playing on a field were you might get a little muddy is no longer an option in Middle Tennessee. That was the second tournament this season where they allowed a little rain to cancel games. I've never been to a tournament in 25 years where the lines were re-chalked between games, including State and World Tournament... Not sure what tournaments that person has attended who mentioned that.

[wad]

I have to agree, By 12 noon the sun was out and stayed out all day. They were playing by 11 or so. This is a state tourny. Find a true champ. If you have to play untill 11pm or 12am, this is travel ball . If you dont' like that, Dont come to a State or World. How much money did they save. All the games cancelled, no umpire fees. WOW. Also this time limit for the older girls. Lady Storm played 4 games. 13 innings, aginst the same 2 teams. Let them play at least 5 innings or 1:25. Speed the umpires up between innings. And start the clock on the first pitch, not the coin toss. Our 8,9,10 batters got 4 at bats the whole tourney. A lot of money spent for that. We will rethink next year.

[FridayMainEvent]

I have to agree, By 12 noon the sun was out and stayed out all day. They were playing by 11 or so. This is a state tourny. Find a true champ. If you have to play untill 11pm or 12am, this is travel ball . If you dont' like that, Dont come to a State or World. How much money did they save. All the games cancelled, no umpire fees. WOW. Also this time limit for the older girls. Lady Storm played 4 games. 13 innings, aginst the same 2 teams. Let them play at least 5 innings or 1:25. Speed the umpires up between innings. And start the clock on the first pitch, not the coin toss. Our 8,9,10 batters got 4 at bats the whole tourney. A lot of money spent for that. We will rethink next year.

 

 

I wrote Stan an e-mail expressing my displeasure with how things were handled this weekend. He agreed it was a learning experience for them and mistakes were made. He did apologize for how things went and assured me that things would be different in future events. I agree with you that if they were able to begin action by 11 instead of the scheduled 8:00 start then things definitely should of been played out in a double elimination format. I expressed to Stan that girls playing in mud wasn't something new and there was no reason to make that decision unless severe lightening was present. I think he and the other directors now realize some bad decisions were made and hopefully it will be a learning experience to them.

 

I'm assuming by your two posts, that they decided to give the teams which remained in the winner's bracket Sunday morning a double elimination finish and the single elimination only implied to those of us unfortunate enough to lose on Saturday. Is that true??

[FridayMainEvent]

Speed the umpires up between innings. And start the clock on the first pitch, not the coin toss.

Our 8,9,10 batters got 4 at bats the whole tourney. A lot of money spent for that. We will rethink next year.

 

 

AMEN to that. My team got behind by two runs in the first inning. We got the first two batter out and the third batter struck out. Unfortunately my catcher dropped the third strike and the ball fell to rest right behind the batter. Normally not a big deal. She reached to pick the ball up and tag the batter, but the batter threw her bat down to begin to run. The knob of the bat struck the ball and knocked the ball to the back stop. Ball was motionless when the bat hit it. The plate umpire claimed he didn't see the bat hit the ball and called a conference with the field umpire. Amazingly, these two guys were the only ones on or around the entire field who did not see this. (including the opposing coaches and fans). The next batter hit a triple to the gap and the following batter got a single to score that girl. Here we are two runs down off of unearned runs and a terrible missed call. Hard for girls to re-group after something that blantant being ruled against them, but we did. Did not allow anymore runs the rest of game, but only plated one run ourselves. Losing game by a 2-1 score.

 

Ironically, my biggest problem wasn't the obvious missed call which cost us the game. Those things happen. My biggest problem was the umpires allowed the opposing team to take forever to hit the field, the opposing pitcher took several warmup pitches every inning, and the opposing coach used every opportunity to kill clock. I understand the strategy of using up clock, but felt it was inappropiate considering he didn't earn the lead he was enjoying. The umpires should have been in control of the game better and stopped this obvious burning of the clock.

[wad]

I wrote Stan an e-mail expressing my displeasure with how things were handled this weekend. He agreed it was a learning experience for them and mistakes were made. He did apologize for how things went and assured me that things would be different in future events. I agree with you that if they were able to begin action by 11 instead of the scheduled 8:00 start then things definitely should of been played out in a double elimination format. I expressed to Stan that girls playing in mud wasn't something new and there was no reason to make that decision unless severe lightening was present. I think he and the other directors now realize some bad decisions were made and hopefully it will be a learning experience to them.

 

I'm assuming by your two posts, that they decided to give the teams which remained in the winner's bracket Sunday morning a double elimination finish and the single elimination only implied to those of us unfortunate enough to lose on Saturday. Is that true??

 

Yes that is what they did. I cant take learning experience. The USGF may be new, but these directors have been around the block. The taste that was left in our coaches and players mouth may or may not go away. With the Jackson Sports plex comming on line with USSSA I am trying to get our coaches to stay at home next year. The best fields,umpires and people who put the girls above the money. I feel sorry for directors like Mary Beth Hurbis who spend all year making a name for themself and the USGF. Just to have it torn down in the state tourny, by silly mistakes that any one could see. I had to point out twice to David King he had seeded the wrong teams after the pool play. unreal.

[stlbrd]

How old are these teams you are talking about? These tournaments have been going on for years and it is amazing to me that they can still fill tournaments. USSSA or USGF, it is still the same people running these tournaments. It is obvious to me that USFA is the sanction everyone seems to be playing in.............hmm, I wonder why? I am on the outside looking in because we play ASA.

 

I am just curious why everyone continues to play in these tournaments and then get on here and complain about them.......................

 

Do you ever wonder if your girls will get tired of all of the arguing, mean spirited parents and dropping teams before the tournament is over? At what point in time will they just decide to quit and find something else to do?

 

You need to put more time into determining where your team will be playing their next tournament...............trust me, I would much rather my team get beat by classy teams at a classy tournament than to beat an inferior team and have to suffer through all of the crap that goes along with it. And guess what..........your team will get better each year, bank on it! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[Lions4ever]

I'm assuming by your two posts, that they decided to give the teams which remained in the winner's bracket Sunday morning a double elimination finish and the single elimination only implied to those of us unfortunate enough to lose on Saturday. Is that true??

 

All teams that played on Sunday played a single elimination format...not double. My only question was why was the 14u class A tourney called for lightning on Saturday night but the 14u B class was allowed to continue to play until 12:50 AM on adjacent fields? Makes no sense to me...

 

I still don't understand why they couldn't have continued the tourney on Sunday as double elimination. The fields were in excellent shape (at least in the B complex), we started at 11:00, and were done playing the championship by 1:30 pm. I heard someone call USGF the " BR5-49" sanction and I have to say that I couldn't agree more.

[FridayMainEvent]

How old are these teams you are talking about? These tournaments have been going on for years and it is amazing to me that they can still fill tournaments. USSSA or USGF, it is still the same people running these tournaments. It is obvious to me that USFA is the sanction everyone seems to be playing in.............hmm, I wonder why? I am on the outside looking in because we play ASA.

 

I am just curious why everyone continues to play in these tournaments and then get on here and complain about them.......................

 

Do you ever wonder if your girls will get tired of all of the arguing, mean spirited parents and dropping teams before the tournament is over? At what point in time will they just decide to quit and find something else to do?

 

You need to put more time into determining where your team will be playing their next tournament...............trust me, I would much rather my team get beat by classy teams at a classy tournament than to beat an inferior team and have to suffer through all of the crap that goes along with it. And guess what..........your team will get better each year, bank on it! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

 

 

Well Brd, I'm glad that your budget allows you the luxury to do a lot of traveling. My particular team is low budget and we tend to only go to local tournaments. I don't require the 500 or 1000 dollar player fees that many teams in this area do. We do minimal fundraising and typically only play in 5 or 6 tournaments each summer. Most of my girls are basketball players, soccer players, working teenagers and active socially. We play because we enjoy playing. Not likely most of these girls will ever play beyond high school, but we do try to improve them and teach them the right way to do things. I don't claim to be the best travel coach in the world, but we usually are fairly successful given the amount of practice we have. My players' parents have always stood behind me and many of my girls have been with me for as long as 6 or 7 years. If ASA hosted more tournaments here in the middle Tennessee area, we'd be glad to give them a try. If I opt to voice a few concerns over what was the worse run tourney I've seen this year, not sure why it is such an issue for you. I've had a good experience with most tournaments I've been involved with, but this was an exception.