Message board »Message Board home »Sign-in or register to get started
Online now: 2 members: Bob Downs, Number38; 36 anonymousDetails for mck71
Real name:
Location:
,
Division:
Men's 60
Messages posted by mck71 »Message board home »Start a new discussion
| Sept. 1, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: Pitcher Catcher 1st baseman As the 2022 season is winding down, not a lot locally for us. SSUSA has Vegas (multiple dates Sept/Oct) and then Ft Meyers in Nov. ISSA has Va Beach and Myrtle Beach in Oct, Sanford, FL in Nov. There is an NSA tourney in West Columbia next weekend (Sat/Sun) that we are playing in, mostly 50 teams (I think there are 11 listed?). Looks like a couple of hrs away from you but if you weren't doing anything, worth taking a look at. Another cool option is Softball Magazine runs a senior camp at the USSSA complex in Vero Beach, FL the weekend before Thanksgiving. Its a great place to try new senior bats (most manufacturers are repped there) and make connections. I have been there a few times, always enjoyed it. Good luck! |
| Sept. 1, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: Pitcher Catcher 1st baseman Where is SC? There is an over 50 league outside of Charleston. |
| Aug. 4, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Am i wrong to think this way All, I agree this is a silly thing that we are discussing, a 305' HR is not far enough, needs to be 400'? Benji, I also agree that coming up with a number for compression testing sr bats won't be easy. I had "heard" a rumor that a pitcher had been hit in Eastern Nationals, bat was confiscated, cut open and plyer rec'd a 5 yr ban, I was ESTATIC! I called Tim and he confirmed the first 2 items were indeed correct but the bat was not cut open and was given back to the player at the end of the day. Me personally, I pitch and anyone on my team knows if I get hit "unusually", please grab the bat and I am one of those guys that would be more than happy to pay the freight on this "cut/replace if not" theory you have described (fair or not, has to start somewhere, right?). And before the huge debate starts, we know as pitchers mistakes happen, it IS part of the game is hitting middle and there is def a possibility of getting hit (most of us are simply mad because we all think we should CATCH a ball going over 100MPH 50 ft away! LOL) BUT I also can pretty much tell the different sound a "hot" stick makes or how fast the ball travels past me :-) Finally, I agree with Tim, what does it say about a person who has to cheat to win? Simply stated, player lacks CHARACTER which is pretty sad but worse, it will continue until someone gets seriously hurt! My apologies but can't remember who used to say this all the time on here: Senior Bats are STOOPID! Good luck to all the rest of the season, play and stay safe! |
| Aug. 3, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Vegas Worlds Mark, I believe SSUSA TRIES to move teams up and down based on the "body of work" when they do their bi-annual moves (June and Dec) but Vegas has ALWAYS had automatic bumps (winners and % based of total number of teams, you had 75 so I believe they bumped top 3 or 4?). I have to agree with Mike, I personally believe it's better to play well ("lightning in a bottle" as you stated) and move up then go 0 - 5 to stay in your happy place? It happened to us in 2015, won AAA in Vegas and then first tourney as a Major team in 2016 we went 0 - 5 but didn't get beat bad enough to warrant a request to get put back down in AAA. LOL My suggestion is to play the year out and in December, if you are still struggling, then appeal and if you aren't playing well enough to actually compete, then I believe you will get your appeal accepted. Please make notes of the games you get beat where the other team only beat you by 1 run because that is all they needed to win (SSUSA uses aggregate runs for or against as PART of their determination of an appeal). Bottom line, takes at least 10 guys (us was 12) to play and do well in Vegas. Not all 12 guys were the same level but without all 12 playing well (some above their normal play like Mike said) we don't win and I wouldn't give back my ring for all the 0 - 5 weekends from that day to this one (and we are still rated Major, we just just kept playing, added a few guys and got better). Probably NOT the answer you were looking for but as much as I hate losing, no where near as much as I hate NOT PLAYING! :-) Good luck! |
| July 11, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Midwest Championship seedings Steve, possibly look at the message with the heading "Midwest Championships Session 1 results" a few posts below this one? I doubt you will get all the games scores but at least you will get top finishers until the game brackets get posted. Hope this helps. |
| July 11, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Syracuse Northeast How about some results? Don't expect bracket sheets filled out but at least top 2 in each division, Tim does that and Donna did that below for Midwest. Thx in advance! |
| June 30, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Player ranking Mike - had to go back and read the email again but I BELIEVE this is NOT a new rule, what the email says is that it was NOT ENFORCED the past 2 yrs due to COVID and short staff (Dave or Tim will correct me if I am wrong). So my belief is (and as stated by G), that say your team has 12 players, not all 12 are equal; some are better hitters, some are better fielders, some can run, some can't but all 12 were necessary to win the tournament. So player 12 (who doesn't even play the field on the weekend, maybe runs mostly?) is Major same and Player 1, is that fair, probably not but how else are they supposed to figure it out? In this case, I would do what Dave says ALL THE TIME, "Please call the Sacramento Home Office @ (916) 326.5303 between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM PDT and ask to speak to an eligibility specialist" (thx Dave, easier to copy and paste! lol) H Sq and bond - we have done that before, we just didn't have enough guys who were 55 so we picked up a few 50 yr olds (2) and played 50AAA the whole year! I believe skill wise we were pretty good but we didn't win 1 tourney that year but we also didn't get blown out either, guess it depends on the team? Bottom line, it's THEIR rules so you have 2 choices; play by their rules or don't play (not trying to be a d#ck about it, I agree it isn't fair to everyone but it's what has been established before I started playing so I roll with it!) Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July weekend!!! |
| June 29, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Player ranking I am confused G, what "new rules" are you referencing? I believe SSUSA has used the same rules for a while now, they use the Rating Index as a team guide and IF you played at least 2 tournaments with the same team in a calendar year then you accept the Rating of that team, not complicated. It does get a bit confusing when you CAN play down (50 - 40, 55 - 50, 60 - 55, etc) because the Rating Index changes. AAA in 40 is RI of 8, it's 7 in 50's, 6 in 55 and 5 in 60's. The easiest way I can remember it is you CAN'T PLAY DOWN 2 LEVELS from your HIGHEST Rating, pretty easy once you know what that is (call SSUSA Home Office during West Coast hrs and ask for your history). EX. if you are a 55M player, you are a RI of 7 so you can't play 60AAA at a RI of 5 or if you are a 60M player, RI of 6, you could still play at 65M but since that is a RI of 5, you would count as 1 or the 3 higher rated players allowed but you can't play 65AAA (RI of 4). Hope this helps! |
| June 29, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Player ranking I believe you are looking for Dave or Tim to confirm Mike but yes, that is correct. Once you play "down" in 2 tournaments, you are accepting that teams rating for that year. 55AAA Rating Index is the same as 65M+ so to continue to play 55AAA, you would only be able to play on a 65M team as a chip or a 65M+ team but you would NOT be able to play 65AAA unless you stopped playing for the 55 team and stayed at the 65 age group (though Dave, Tim or call Home Office would have to confirm that IF you already played 2 tourneys this year at 55AAA, can you even play at 65AAA at any point until this "year" is completed (after Vegas))? |
| June 15, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: player ratings That is correct CB unless you give up playing 40M as Dave alluded to above. Once you age up, you carry you personally carry the rating of the last team you played with so if you played 40Major, you are now a 50M player. IF you keep playing 40M while still playing 50M, yes you Rating Index of 9 (40M and 50M+) are the same and you CAN play 50M but count as 1 of the chips as you stated. Happened to me, was 55M, aged up to 60M. I was asked to play with a different 55M team and I did but luckily only 1 time and then simply stopped playing down for fear of not being able to play with my current team (luckily we did not have any other M+ players at the time). Understanding the nuances of the rules helps, took me a while and I am still learning! lol |
| June 15, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 5th Run Thx BJ, that makes perfect sense and I should have known that (haven't umpired the past 2 years and I guess it's time for a brush up on the rules! lol) |
| June 14, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: player ratings H14 - So SSUSA uses the Rating Index for teams, not perfect but it's THEIR system. In their system, if you play 40M you are a R/I of 9, 50AAA is a R/I of 7, you are NOT allowed to add players who are 2 levels higher, pretty simple. Now to your question about Major players playing in AAA, yes that IS allowed up to 3. Here is the link to Rating Index in case you didn't know where to find it: https://www.seniorsoftball.com/wc/wc2016/Ratings-Index-Chart.pdf So teams have 2 options in your scenario: 1) If they want you to play with them, they HAVE to move to Major and you would count as 1 of their 3 allowable higher rating players 2) You can't play 50AAA with that team but could play with a 50M team and still count as one of the 3 higher rated players NOTE: should you play with a 50M team the next 2 years, then your new "rating" would allow you to play 50AAA as 1 of the 3 allowable higher rated players. The only other way to change that would be with a medical exemption but like Dave said, call the office on PST, they will be more than happy to help with anything he or I stated. And I do get what you are saying. Suppose your team wins Vegas, your are excited and then you realize you are automatically bumped up (even worse when you finish 2nd or 3rd and get bumped). Best guys want to compete against the best but to go from M to M+ sometimes not great because of the lack of M+ teams (been debated on here a lot, especially in the older divisions 60 and up). You had 12 guys win the championship and we all know you could not have won without all 12 contributing BUT let's face, some guys are just better than others but SSUSA doesn't know which are the "better ones" (I just cracked myself up typing that) so all 12 are now Major or Major + players, pretty simple. First tourney we played Major we went 0 - 5, def not fun but we got better. Hope this helps and Good luck! |
| June 14, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 5th Run Apologies for not stating the specific rule (I am sure someone will add) but this one is pretty easy, BAD CALL by the umpire. There is NO forcing the runner to advance to the next base so if they choose NOT to advance, as long as the play is made to 2B, that runner is out, that only makes 2 outs, run still scores AS LONG AS Batter/Runner gets to and LEGALLY touches 1B. Now, IF the B/R does not LEGALLY touch 1B (technically they could touch either bag since ball went into the OF and no play being made to first), then it would be ruled as a dp and as both runners are being forced, the run would not score. I also BELIEVE the ONLY dead ball call would be if B/R hit the single and then immediately headed to the dugout. I am sure someone can add more to this possible scenario because not sure if in this scenario the run would not count as well because runner not advancing to 2nd is out and B/R is out for leaving the playing field before advancing to the base (dead ball out)? Dave, Tim or BJ should have this covered but absolutely the wrong call based on your description of the play. |
| May 26, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 3rd baseline Dave, we USUSALLY don't have these lines that are diagonal from 3B to the Scoring line. I don't remember being told in any of our games that if we ran between the diagonal line and the actual 3B line we would be called out. Honestly I can understand WHY, same reason as you stated about running inside the 1B line but then technically if you were hit, you would be out. If that logic were applied here, then I would ASSUME (there's that word) as long as you were on the foul side of the #B line, it SHOULD not matter if you were inside of the diagonal line? Question Tim, did your umpires tell your team at the mtg before the game that they would make that call? |
| May 20, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Commitment line on a tag up. CRAZY scenario! So SS should have tagged the runner going to 2B and then looked at the umpire and state he was appealing the runner on 2B left early BEFORE stepping on the bag for the triple play! The defensive team has plenty of time since the ONLY way for the lead runner who was on 2B to get back there LEGALLY would be to cross that commitment line, then he is out any way so worry about the other runner from 1B would be the smart play. Of course the part that we all forget is that we are all OLD guys and forget way too much stuff without any "game pressure" being applied. LOL Also, you are only allowed 1 appeal so as soon as the SS touched 2B, that allowed the runner from 1B to stay at 2B (can't appeal them leaving early from 1B if you want to get the out without run scoring which would happen if you didn't appeal the guy from 2B, I BELEIVE that is correct but I am sure if not someone will correct me). I have 2 outs with a runner on 2B (Runner from 2B will be the 2nd out, 1st was the catch! :-) |
| May 9, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Entry fee to Walnut Creek? Thx for the update Dave. Hopefully the rain holds off. |
| April 15, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: Smokey Mountain - 50 AAA Guys, just a heads up. This is an ISSA event, BH stated they are out of Illinois, if you don't border Illinois you won't be able to play for his team. That said, hopefully someone that is looking for someone and sees that you are in NC or TN respectively and can use you, it's great that you left your state and contact info. Happy Easter all! |
| March 12, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Bats Discussion: What are Top 5 Senior Bats 2022 ? I personally PREFER an EL (.5) but actually own a few balanced that I use occasionally when I am missing my spots. there are a lot of good bats out there but these are mine personal favorites based on a few years of experience owning them: Own Black Dudley OG (expensive but worth it you can get one at a "reasonable" price) Adidas Melee2 (less expensive and a little easier to get) Adidas Melee 2 pc (I am a 1pc guy but this is a great bat) Onyx Enough Said (mine needs a little more break in but it's getting there) Have hit with Suncoast Melee3 balanced, it is a pretty good bat but I prefer the Melee2 but if you gave me one, I would say thank you and hit it without issue Miken Mike Dill 2 pc is a very good bat (2 guys on my team swing it) Suncoast Diamond 2 pc I have not swung any of the LS balanced personally but a few guys I know and trust say they are great bats (I own a few of their older models EL, none of the new ones yet ;-) I have not heard any personal feedback on new Eastons balanced but I own an EL and it's a very good bat. Basically most if not all are very good bats so it really boils down to a few things (IMO) 1pc or 2pc hard or soft barrel (I prefer hard because I am not a cutter but working on it so maybe that might change later) break in time (Dudley OG take a while but last the longest by FAR, Melee2 took about 100 cuts, my Onyx probably 150ish, etc) durability (there is Dudley OG then everything else but I have yet to crack a balanced bat but again, I use EL a LOT more) A lot to process, hope this helps! NOTE: They run a senior camp in Fla in Nov where all vendors have bats to try (basically you don't have to bring a bat for the entire weekend), that was a great place to learn about the above, I went a few years ago, hit until my hands hurt! LOL Good luck! |
| Jan. 26, 2022 mck71 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: roster/player re-rating question BigPappi - as per your own admission you "didn't play on the field except to contribute a bit by running the bases" which in SSUSA speak means that you are on at least 1 game card because you can't be a PR in an SSUSA event (legally) if you are not on a game card. Also, I believe the bases are actually inside the playing field so you were on it if you were running for someone, am I missing something? Based on that and what Dave explained, you are a M+ player and have the right to appeal YOUR status, good luck! :-) |
| Jan. 5, 2022 mck71 | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: New to Senior ball Welcome Slick! Your rating will depend on the team that picks you up. And you have left everything here necessary except your contact info! :-) And you should call the home office West Coast time (916-326-5303) and get your 5 year card, hurry because the price is going up on the 15th! lol |
