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| Nov. 12, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: New batter box rule In football, there is no rule that says the ref cannot put the ball in play if a player lines up offsides. Again, this has been a rule since Little League and at every level thereafter. According to your interpretation, the umpire could put the ball in play while your still in the dugout.... |
| Nov. 10, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: New batter box rule BJ's right and is enforcing the rules as written. By rule, the umpire cannot put the ball into play until the batter is in a legal stance. This has been true since we played little League. |
| Aug. 25, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 60 Men Major Team Looking For Players Is this Isabelles? |
| Aug. 13, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: Bats Discussion: Suncoast Reloaded I've been a long-time Adidas/Suncoast customer and the new bats do not have the same performance as some of the older bats. The original Black Diamond (Reedus/Minaya) and the original orange/blue Johnny Dykes were two of the best bats Suncoast made (IMO). Subsequent production runs of both those bats were not as good as the early versions. I've tried a number of the newer Suncoast models and I'm done giving them the benefit of the doubt. I've started to buy some of the Miken/Worth models and the original Johnny Bailey is a great bat but not very durable. I've tried the Kreacher, Watermelon and the newer Johnny Bailey (best of those three). All have good performance but not as good as the Black Diamond/Johnny Dykes/Johnny Bailey bats. The biggest issue I've found is trying to find a bat that matches up with the balls that SSUSA uses. We hit the black stitch Baden Fire and the Tatoo in other leagues/tournaments and many of the manufacturer's bats seem to be better matched for those balls. The red-stitch Baden Fire is simply not as durable, particularly in the heat, and I haven't found a bat that consistently performs over the course of the game with those balls. I use different bats depending on whether the ball is new or a few innings old. |
| Aug. 6, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batter Box Rule If you've played at Field of Dreams in Vegas then you know those boxes are not marked with SSUSA dimensions (at least they were not the last few years). They are almost a foot short at the front and MANY players have been called out for stepping out of the box and MANY games were impacted by these short boxes. For those that say they can have both feet in front the plate and still be inside the box at those fields - good luck, you either have no stride whatsoever or your 5' tall. For most of us, putting your feet shoulder width apart with both feet in front of the plate on thoese fields means the front foot is out of the box as marked. If you don't believe it, look up the USSSA batters box slow pitch dimenions vs. SSUSA. They are 18" different front to back and 12" shorter at the front of the box. Here is USSSA: The batter's box shall be 5-1/2 feet long, extending 3 feet forward and 2-1/2 feet toward the rear, measured from the center corner of home plate. The batter's box shall be 3 feet wide, thus forming a rectangle of 5-1/2 feet by 3 feet. The lines marking the batter's box are considered to be part of the batter's box. You can find the SSUSA dimensions in their rule book - which happens to be identical to the USSSA fast pitch box dimensions. The new rule is a good rule as you don't need to worry about front box dimensions. The old rule was a good rule if the boxes were properly marked all the time. In either case the umpire has to look "down" to see where your foot is and most don't have the time unless the batter gives them reason to be looking. If you give them reason to be looking - that's on you, not the umpire. Adapt and play on. |
| May 26, 2024 DirkPitt | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Atlantic Coast Championship Compliment and Criticism Why is SSUSA not using the black stitch balls? Red stitch last about 3 innings and then they are done. Black stitch are comparable to the Tattoo and actually last more than one game. Red stitch cost the teams more as you need 3+ to finish a game. Also, SSUSA charges more for the red stitch Baden than ISSA charges for the Tattoo although the reason I was given for not using the Tattoo is they are too expensive. |
| Nov. 30, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: Moving to villages fl. Top Dawgs are a 60M team out of The Villages along with 60 Caliber which is a 60's Florida Half Century Team. Check out the softball info under the villages recreation department for how to go through evaluations and get placed into a Villages league. |
| Sept. 26, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: For Dave Dowell Dave: Saying don't be one of "those teams" is an unwarranted comment. Moving from M to M+ is a big deal as the top M+ teams are heavily sponsored and fund most/all expenses for their players. A self-funded M team cannot compete with those teams. To not be one of "those teams" a player gets to look forward to spending thousands of dollars knowing that you aren't going to compete at the national level. Furthermore, for many of the smaller tournaments, you may get "lucky enough" to play a 2 out of 3 "tournament" against a team you probably play regularly already or you'll play down and likely have to give the equalizer. I can't say I've talked to anyone who is in this situation that finds this enjoyable and I know guys who have been on "those teams" and are very happy with their decision to move on and start over with another team. If you want an example, look at the 60M+ bracket. Very few teams and dominated by two teams (for years). The 55+ bracket is not much different. The solution for many self funded teams is to be "one of those teams" and break up or play in ISSA, SPA or other and simply forgo SSUSA. I know this has been discussed previously and you aren't going to take input from the message board but saying suck it up and spend the money just to not be one of "those teams" is self serving for SSUSA. |
| Aug. 15, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: softball replacement Despite what some of the tournament directors say, the performance of the Baden ball is similar to the Trump ball. When new, these balls are as good as many. After 2-3 innings of play they do not perform the same as a new ball and hence the reason for the better/top teams to want a new(er) ball as often as they can afford it. A pretty simple real-world confirmation of this is that teams wouldn't care if other teams "threw in a new ball" if there was no performance degradation as the game progressed. We go through 8-12+ balls a tournament (figure 1-2 new balls/game). Some get lost but all that remain go into the BP bucket after the tournament, never to be used again in a game. Softballs are like batting gloves. They wear out with use. Just part of the game. Some batting gloves last longer, some don't. Some balls last longer, some don't. While not part of this discussion, the Tatoo has the most durability and seems to retain its "out of box" performance the longest. Even if those balls are $1-$2 more per ball, they are worth it in the long run. Teams would save money paying extra for those balls as they last longer. I like the fact that SSUSA controls the supply of balls, ensuring that all teams are using the same ball - new or used. I wish they would look at a more durable ball but I don't run the program and it just means we spend ~$50/tournament on balls. |
| Feb. 9, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Interference or Not B.J. - here is one for you from this past weekend and is similar to the above. I'm pretty sure I know the answer but just confirming. Batter hits a very short pop-up that is going to land ~5-8ft in front of home plate. Catcher collides with RH batter-runner as he attempts to field the ball. Umpire ruled the batter-runner safe and stated that the batter-runner has a right to the baseline. |
| Jan. 16, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 9. Make safety bag plays safer The fact that ASA/USA has this rule is irrelevant. We are talking about guys who are 50 to 70 plus in age. We move at a different pace and we don't have the agility that the younger guys do. Like BJ, I have umpired and played for a long time and I really can't remember a play where a senior softball player had a ball bounce off their chest into foul territory and have the quickness to retrieve the ball and make a play on the safety bag side of first. BJ is correct, the more likely scenario is an errant throw pulls the first baseman off the bag and into foul territory. The runner now has the responsibility of changing the direction to avoid the collision. Again, maybe a 30 to 40-year-old can do this without problem but a 60 to 70-year-old is not going to have the agility to avoid collisions. Just my observations. SSUSA has not commented so it appears this rule is as newly drafted and the data will speak for itself as the year progresses. It just seems like a solution in search of a problem for our age groups. |
| Jan. 13, 2023 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: 9. Make safety bag plays safer Not sure I understand the logic on this one. This will cause a lot of controversy and probably some serious injuries. |
| Dec. 16, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 2023 TOC I didn't take any comment as beating up SSUSA. I only hear disappointment and encouragment for collaboration in the future. The SSUSA tournament is a great tournament. The ISSA tournament is not a real TOC. Teams don't have to win to participate and it's not based on 2022 rosters. There are a few teams participating in an age group there that they did not even participate in during 2022. The challenge we're encountering is because ISSA is 2023 rosters we have players who are moving up in age group or changing teams and they are having to chose between the "last" 2022 tournament or the "first" 2023 tournament. It seems most are more inclined to move forward with their new team(s). Can't change anything, just observations. One thing I don't agree with is blaming the second organization to schedule. Both groups know it's in their mutual interests to not overlap and either group could have reached out to the other. That may have happened but per Dave's & Tim's comments above, it doesn't sound like it did. Going forward, it is suggested that you work together or players are going to have to pick sides, which isn't what any of us want to do. |
| Dec. 15, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 2023 TOC Makes no sense Bobby. Only reason I can think of is the two groups didn't communicate. FHC 60's is that weekend also. It's really screwing a lot of teams as many guys play multiple age groups and now they have to choose one tournament over the other. I've talked to three teams that planned to play SSUSA and are now short players because some of their guys are playing in the other TOC. It's going to be very hard to find players as most travel players are already committed to one or the other. Stupid is the word that comes to mind... |
| Nov. 7, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Teams looking for players Dave, does that mean the exception that was originally for COVID remains in effect for 2023? I thought that was not going to be "renewed" for 2023? |
| Sept. 20, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Hows the new ball performing at worlds Dave? We played 55AAA and found the balls to be much BETTER than the Trump balls - which is a low bar as the Trump balls are some of the worst balls out there. The Trump balls last a few innings at best. The Baden Fire balls seemed to be at least as good as the Trump at the start of the game but didn't lose their performance as quickly as the Trump does. I agree with everyone else, these balls discolored quickly and flew somewhat erratically at times in the OF. Overall though, not a bad ball and I believe a good option for SSUSA for this tournament. The Tatoo remains the best ball out there in my opinion. The Rock is a great ball for Vegas but if SSUSA would switch to the Tatoo that would be great. I don't buy the argument that they are too expensive. Not sure why we're even having that debate since the teams ultimately pay the fee for the balls, NOT SSUSA. Even at $2-$3 extra/ball that's only $12-$18 more per team each tournament. That's a silly amount to justify purchasing a ball that almost nobody wants (Trump or some of the other yellow turds we've used at other tournaments this year). Separately - I think they folks running the tournament this past weekend did a great job at the fields. Our team had no complaints and everyone on the SSUSA staff was very helpful. Kudos to all those that made the weekend happen. It's a huge undertaking and it went great from this perspective. |
| Aug. 5, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Am i wrong to think this way I play in the Florida Half Century league as I'm sure many on this forum do. They have implemented compression testing and any bat that tests below 150 will not receive a "sticker" certifying the bat is legal to use in games. At the moment, once a bat is tested it doesn't need to be tested again but it's a start and they are trying. If a batter comes to the plate with a bat that does not have a sticker they are to be called out on the spot, not after they hit. It's been interesting to see what the different manufacturer's bats test "out of the wrapper." My observation is the number of 350'+ HR's has decreased dramatically. Separate comment: FHC has somehow found a way to supply Tatoo balls to ~200 teams each month. Go figure... |
| July 13, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Foul Tip I haven't heard the term "uncatchable" before but I think I understand your intent. If ruled a "foul tip," the ball is dead immediately and if the final strike, the batter is called out. The fact the catcher does/does not catch the ball is irrelevant. If the ball is over the batter's head, and legally caught by the catcher, the batter is out on the catch regardless of the count and the ball is live (i.e. runners can advance). |
| July 2, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Softballs The 44/400 balls that we used recently are really challenging. The HR's were down dramatically across all divisions. Yes, everybody hits the same balls but we normally hit 3-6 a game and we didn't hit 1/game in our last tournament. The wind was blowing so there was some impact there too. It would be great to not have to use the Gold Dot Extreme (44/400) ball ever again. Hopefully the supply chain challenges break free sometime soon. Many of our guys started swinging ASA bats vs. senior bats as they had better performance with these balls. |
| June 25, 2022 DirkPitt | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Great call by a manager!!! If the manager "appealed" after the first pitch, the correct batter would assume the current count and replace the illegal batter. There is no out for batting out of order until after the at-bat is completed by the batter but before a pitch is thrown to the subsequent batter. |
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