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| March 13, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Bats Discussion: Monsta Athletics Senior Bats Great idea, Marv19 THREAD CLOSED |
| March 12, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: SSUSA Hall of Famer Gene "Doc" Metcalf Passes Away Senior Softball USA is saddened to report that Gene "Doc" Metcalf has passed away in Sun Lakes, Arizona, at the age of 80. Doc was inducted into the Senior Softball USA Hall of Fame in the special category of "Senior Softball Ambassador" in 2012. Doc was a key member of teams that won five major World or National Championships and has been an ambassador for the sport for the better part of the last decade, including promotion in a full-length film that helped launch the sport in Japan. He began playing senior softball in Arizona when he moved to the Phoenix area to retire 23 years ago. He not only played, but helped establish the Sun Lakes Senior Softball League and made a name for himself on the national tournament circuit with sharp humor and more than a little skill, said Terry Hennessy, SSUSA's C.E.O., at the time of Doc's Hall of Fame induction. |
| March 9, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Bats Discussion: Talk regarding illegal bats The SSUSA believes that the only rules-compliant method for "breaking in" a bat is by the owner/player using that bat consistent with the manufacturer's only intended purpose: striking a softball. Activity which serves to change either the "as manufactured" technical specifications OR the performance aspects of the bat by any manner not resulting solely from the manufacturer's intended use of their product (i.e., the bat striking a softball) is considered altering a bat. Examples include, but are not limited to, bat shaving, bat rolling/compressing, striking items other than softballs, striking the bat with foreign objects and/or opening the bat and adding or removing material. Simply stated, buy the bat, strip off the wrapper, take BP if you wish, and play ball. And as an added bonus, such an approach will more than likely provide the user with better longevity for the bat. |
| March 8, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Bats Discussion: Talk regarding illegal bats An "illegal" bat is fairly easy to identify, principally by the absence of the approved BPF 1.21/1.20 certification on the bat. We also have a very short list of "illegal" bats: Original Miken Ultra (aka Miken I), the Yellow Rip-It, the older Boombah with the BPF=1.205 and a small production run of Canadian manufactured ComBats made for SPN use in addition to the above mentioned BPF non-compliant bats. Identifying an "altered" bat is more problematical. Our Directors have been instructed to look for indicators that a bat may be altered by rolling, shaving or other alteration techniques, and those indicators are internal and proprietary. It also helps when someone like Corky Pellien or other bat-savvy vendors may be onsite to be consulted. The procedures for handling of a supected "illegal" or "altered" bat are described in the SSUSA Rulebook at §3.4 and following. Since we do not have a protest fee structure, enforcing the rules regarding these situations is a cooperative effort by and between umpires, directors, managers and players. In most cases, a simple inspection of the bat(s) in question resolves the issue. Although, in theory, a team could object to any/all bats present in an opponent's dugout, we don't recall such an effort being attempted. |
| March 7, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 Corky - Honest answer is that we only find out about that sort of rare occurrence after the tournament. Our formal agreement with any independent T.D. running a qualifier under SSUSA sanction is that they are required to run it in complete compliance with our Rulebook. As such, we have never pre-approved "local T.D. Ground Rules" for a qualifier. It is mandatory, in our view, that all qualifiers run under complete consistency with the SSUSA Rulebook so that all teams qualifying a roster are evaluated under the same criteria. This is fundamental in our efforts to have each and every qualified team in the "right spot" for the qualifying roster events: The Easter/Western Nationals, World Masters Championships and Tournament of Champions. In theory, an event like you describe should never occur, but it does on rare occasions. In 2012, one (not to be named) qualifier T.D. decided to shorten the game time limits with the presumed intent to fit the games into the time available at the facility. The SSUSA Home Office did not learn of it until this Message Board lit up in (appropriate) complaint about what happened. After consulting with the T.D., we are very confident that specific qualifier won't experience deviation from our Rulebook again. With respect to this being a recurring problem from year to year, we will take the qualifier back "in house", staffing it with Home Office personnel rather than the independent T.D. The best example of the application of this policy is the Brickyard Classic in Indianapolis, which we staff each May from Sacramento. |
| March 7, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 SSUSA has had a few instances where a Major+ game ended under the Mercy Rule without an open inning, but only in a very narrowly defined set of circumstances ... Run rule was "20 after 4 / 15 after 5" (2012 rules); Runs per ½-inning at bat was nine (2012 Rules); In the top of the 5th inning, Visitor went up by 25 runs and was still batting; Time had not yet expired to trigger the 6th inning as open; and Umpire (correctly in our view) called the game because even if the Home team got "their 9" in the bottom of the 5th, they still would have been behind by 16, which met the mercy rule criteria of "15 after 5" This is a rare occurrence, but it can happen with the rule properly applied to end the game prior to the Open inning. The umpires were on top of these and none of the affected teams voiced an objection. |
| March 5, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Not Pleased with Rating System monty25 - Inquiries about specific teams are handled privately by the SSUSA Home Office. Please have your manager send an email stating his concerns and/or questions (assuming they are the same as yours) to George in the SSUSA Office. He is the person to talk to about ratings issues. Just for the sake of factual accuracy, the Columbus 55's are rated AAA by SSUSA, and have been since June 22, 2010, your first event with us. You have not had a rating change at any time, up or down, in our association. If you are maybe concerned about SPA raising your rating to Major on 2/25/2013, might it not be a better idea to take that up with them? We do not make their team ratings for them. |
| March 5, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Not Pleased with Rating System Joey - Take a look at the second message from the top of the Message Board titled: TEAM RATINGS Guidelines & Procedures ... That should help you understand the process and policies. |
| March 3, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 The SSUSA membership has spoken definitively on the 1-1 issue. They prefer, by almost 10 percentage points nationally, retention of the 0-0 count, and that preference is virtually identical to the same results from six years ago. If/when that changes, it will influence any changes that may be made in the global set of playing rules. One could argue there is no better measure of being responsive to the membership than by giving them what they want on this issue. That's been done. Some here may find themselves in the minority of a limited number of age groups and/or geographic regions, but the national majority has spoken and we listened carefully. Please refer to the countdown clock above for the next time this issue may (or may not) be formally considered by the SSUSA Rules Committee. |
| March 2, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 |
| March 1, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 Although this discussion is either 3 months late or 9 months premature, the next time it may be under consideration would be at the SSUSA Annual Convention Rules Committee sessions in late November. Despite the support for the 1-1 count increasing by only 0.07% over the past six years, it seems to always end up in the Agenda mix! It truly is the "Harold Stassen" of issues! |
| March 1, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 Looks like the "Annual 1-1 Debate" exercise will be on the Agenda (again) in late November at the SSUSA Convention Rules Committee sessions. In light of the recent membership polling, the topic may rise to the level of a motion to consider at that time, or it may not. Until (at least) then, it's a 0-0 starting count for everyone. |
| March 1, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Bats Discussion: FRAUD ALERT: $99.98 NEW - Miken Ultra II Maxload Slowpitch Softball Bat MSU2M Offer The SSUSA office has been contacted by several people regarding the appearance of a very attractive online bargain on the Miken Ultra II Maxloads. Please be advised that this is a financial scam, according to Adam Peterson of Miken, who dealt with this same situation last year. Miken does not supply these purported vendors and, in fact, nobody does as it relates to offering the Miken bats. The fraudulent sales are occurring from two websites: baseballbatsalesus.com and/or softballbatsalesus.com These fake offers fall into the general category of "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't!" |
| March 1, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 1-1 or 0-0 So does being warmed up and ready to play well before game time, filling out game cards ahead of time, hustling in and out of the dugouts/field between innings, minimizing excessive warm up pitches, limiting/eliminating between inning infield, not throwing down to 2nd to start an 'around-the-horn' and having courtesy runners staged and quickly deployed, to name a few other efficiency factors. [The 1-1 count annual "Harold Stassen Issue" has been decided for this Season. Support for the 1-1 starting count increased by 0.07% over the past six years, not exactly a trending mandate for change.] |
| Feb. 27, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Spring Worlds in Mesquite The "Participating Teams List" will be published here shortly after (within couple/few days) after the entry deadline of march 5th passes. |
| Feb. 26, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Spring Worlds in Mesquite Here's the field inventory for the Spring World's in Mesquite/St. George - Pioneer Park - Mesquite - Three fields, two softball only and one youth baseball/softball - All are dirt/grass composition - Temporary (shorter) fencing has been requested by us from the City of Mesquite for the larger field and we anticipate that will not be a problem to install. Hunter Park - Mesquite - Three fields, two softball only and one youth baseball/softball - All are dirt infields with artificial turf outfields composition - Temporary (shorter) fencing has been requested by us from the City of Mesquite for the larger field - We hope the City is able to devise a way to install the shorter fencing, but there is no guarantee with the inability to drill into the artificial turf outfield. Old Mill Ball Fields - Mesquite - Two fields, one of which is tournament quality acceptable. Shorter fences, and would be utilized for older divisions at lesser ratings levels. This is an "overflow" field and would be used as the last option. The Canyons Complex - St. George - Seven Fields, five in a wheel and two other fields on the perimeter - This complex is one of the top two or three dirt/grass facilities we use each year nationally - They are impeccably maintained and will be used for the weekend session only. |
| Feb. 25, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: TOC Four messages were removed from this thread as being inappropriate to the content of the original post(s). #19, please feel free to begin a new thread via re-post to express your opinions independent of the positive nature of this topic. Thank you. |
| Feb. 21, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Bats Scott - I think Kevin meant PAST=BEYOND (as a measurement of distance beyond the sweet spot), rather than as a measurement of time. |
| Feb. 19, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Eligibility Rules to play 50+ You are partially correct as far as you stated. However, anyone who turns 50 years old at any time during 2013 is already eligible to play Senior Softball, and they have been eligible since last October when the 2013 Tournament Season began with the Cape May, NJ Qualifier. |
| Feb. 19, 2013 SSUSA Staff | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: SPRING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TENTATIVE Field Assignments TENTATIVE Field AssignmentsThe following are the TENTATIVE Field Assignments for the 2013 Spring World Championships in Mesquite, NV, and St. George, UT. Please note that TENTATIVE means they are NOT FINAL and are SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Final Field Assignments will be released simultaneous with the publication of the DRAFT Game Schedules and Brackets in mid-March.NOTE: The Mesquite facilities are: Pioneer Park Softball Complex Hunter Park Softball Complex Old Mill Ball Fields The St. George facility is: The Canyons Softball Complex SESSION #1 Men's 65's, 70's, 75's and 80's ALL Ages and Divisions will play at the Mesquite Facilities from Tuesday, March 19th thru Thursday, March 21st.SESSION #2 Men's 50's, 55's and 60'sSession #2 runs from Friday, March 22nd thru Sunday, March 24th. Men's 50's (All) - St. George Men's 55's - Mesquite & St. George (TBD after March 9th) Men's 60's (All) - Mesquite |
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Phone: (916) 326-5303
Fax: (916) 326-5304
2701 K Street, Suite 101A
Sacramento, CA 95816
Send us e-mail
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