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Real name:
Mark Weber
Location:
Marana, AZ
Division:
Men's 70
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| Oct. 21, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: World Championship Medals If anyone can do it better, have at it. It's easy to criticize, but putting your money where your mouth is would be the real test.I am very happy with the venues they do provide and the competition. PS Tim -are you one of those TP hoarders that ran even costco out of TP? LOL |
| Oct. 9, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batter out of the box If this is a concern for you as a batter, maybe you should carry a tape measure with you to measure from the front of the plate to the top of the batters box to make sure it is right. 39.5 inches. |
| Oct. 8, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Vegas Worlds and 2024 And I got accused of being long winded in another tongue in cheek post. LMAO |
| Oct. 6, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batter out of the box Christom-so do we draw a line to establish where the point is that both feet are in front of the line? That will be gone in the first inning. Do we require that turf fields draw that line? All you are doing is opening a different can of worms, as I see it. Does hitting a home run make it right to be out of the box? If you extend the box, either by writing the rule differently to move the front of the box a few inches forward, or to allow a person's foot to go over as long as their back foot does not end up in front of the plate, you are allowing the batter to advance to a point closer to the fence, and to the pitcher. I see no difference. |
| Oct. 6, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 35-35 Amazing! A couple years ago Steve Imlay, playing 60 M+ and 65 M+ in worlds went 54-58. Amazing. |
| Oct. 4, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batter out of the box You are right, nickname. But I had fun.LOL In a nutshell, the distance from the plate to the top of the batters box is 39.5 inches. It is 3x7 feet. It is 6 inches from the plate. The rules say you need to stay in the box. IMHO it is plenty big and positioned where it should be. And Tim McElroy is right. There cannot be any 'tolerance'. Softball is a game of inches. If you allow a few more inches forward, there will be those that push it until they start demanding ANOTHER few inches. Nope. It is fine where it is. |
| Oct. 1, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batter out of the box I’ve been playing slow pitch softball for 55 years now. Being a baseball player, I set myself in the batter’s box, only shifting to go to the opposite field occasionally. In that time, I have been called out ONCE for being out of the batter’s box. I stepped on the plate going after an outside pitch. I adjusted after that. When I started playing, we played unlimited arc. There were pitchers that could bring rain-20 feet high pitches were legal. Yes, they had to land behind the plate, but we had to figure out how to hit them. I adjusted and learned how to hit it. But, Advantage-Pitcher. Then they came up with the arc limits. Wow, no more super high pitches to worry about. This is the level I started seeing players able to actually run up a step or two to hit on the move. Large Advantage-Batter. Then came USSSA and the low fast pitch, the pitcher with more moves than Jello, sometimes pacing all around the infield before actually delivering the ball after 4 fake pitches. Some were even stupid enough to run AT THE BATTER AFTER A PITCH. All legal. I learned to relax and actually came up with a quicker swing. I adjusted. Advantage-Pitcher. When I got to SSUSA, it went back to the present height limits with no mat. The ball had to hit behind the plate and, although we were at the mercy of umpire’s interpretation of the strike zone, I adjusted again. Advantage-Batter. Then came the mat. If you consider the debate about the mat as to whether to include the plate as a strike or not, you have to envision how small the mat would be WITHOUT THE PLATE INCLUDED. At this time, I believe the mound was at 45 feet. Including the plate was, in my humble opinion, the correct move. But now there really was a confined target for the pitcher. Happily, I set up and just waited for my pitch, which was about any strike. The pitcher really had a limited strike zone. Large Advantage-Batter. Then came the move back to 50 feet for the pitcher. It was a great move for the safety of the pitcher and gave them a bit more time to react to hits. The strike zone did change a bit, but not really a lot. I made the small adjustment. Advantage-Slightly to pitcher. The biggest move in a long time was the move to allow the pitcher to go TEN feet behind the actual rubber to pitch. This is what has created a problem for batters, because the difference between the low pitch up front and the high pitch to the back shoulder now becomes an issue. For pitchers, this was a great move. I agree it is a hitter’s game, but taking away any advantage a good pitcher can exploit is not in the interest of a competitive game. All hitters had to adjust. But the ones that have had to adjust the most are the ones that run up to hit. We have all seen the batter that goes too far and is way out front of the plate to hit, but is not called out because there is no front batter’s box line. It is human nature to push the limits of any rule to try and get an advantage. I have adjusted my hitting again. Advantage-Pitchers. Having said that, I was surprised to find that the only stipulation in the rule book was that the batter’s box is 3 feet by 7 feet. The plate has to be a certain size. HOWEVER, I could not find anywhere that there was any rule as to where it must be in relation to the plate, UNTIL I saw the drawings on p. 84-86 of the rule book. Maybe THIS is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed by umpires and players. I have seen batter’s boxes that were clearly drawn incorrectly, and the umpires usually acknowledge that if brought to their attention. The correct dimensions: The inside line of the batter’s box must be 6” from the plate. By extrapolation, the front of the batter’s box will be at 39.5 inches from the front of the plate. I did not find this figure anywhere, but it seems to be the biggest concern here and would give umpires and batters a guideline. 3 feet, 3.5 inches. Hitnrun did allude to the fact that shorter hitters are at a disadvantage with this. Kenny has adjusted, though and is a legitimate .800 hitter when healthy. Taller batters also have to be careful to stand far enough back to where they cannot overstep that front edge. In my humble opinion, the batters that run up also need to be held to the guidelines to stay in the box. It does not need to be changed, but maybe the term ’39.5’ should become the standard of reference. There cannot be ‘tolerance’ of violations of the rule. Thanks for reading. |
| Sept. 27, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 50 Major Plus bracket issue I'm glad to see you post this, Dave. So many do not understand all the restrictions you have put on you by Las Vegas. By the way, Bill Murray is a good friend of mine. We play golf together in the flower gardens. I also can hit a 9 iron 300 yards and it's "IN THE HOLE'. |
| Sept. 24, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Timberworks Doug, I was wondering if I had that wrong, but all the players were telling me they had to win all 5 to be M+ World champs. OK. Doug, thank you for the clarification. Now I am back to the original post as written. Every other team plays a double elimination. Why should they have to win all 5, giving the 5 run equalizer, to get the rings that should be theirs. It is not Timberworks fault that everyone else defaulted. Maybe it is time to change things if this is happening now in 2 divisions. Not coincidentally, both divisions are over 65. Last year I threw out the idea of eliminating the major plus division for either 65 or 70 years old and UP for play during the year. This would eliminate those tourneys that always ended up a best 2 of 3 between the same two teams all year long. Especially now with prices skyrocketing for travel, I, for one, want it to be worth it to go to Reno, Sacramento, Vegas, Aurora and other places. For the M+ division it is not. So, here is my proposal and I welcome all input. Major Plus at the 65 and over age brackets is eliminated for the 'regular season'. All M+ rated players are now free to play with major teams during the year. However, those that wish to compete a major plus will be given that chance in Vegas at worlds. M+ teams will submit a roster at the beginning of the year to SSUSA. Those players will be rated M+ when they play for Major teams and they will be restricted to 3 per team (or maybe make it 4). There will need to be pretty tight restrictions on this, as so many people try to game the system. This will make for an extremely competitive Major division at each age group. THEN, in Vegas, there will be a one or two day Major Plus tournament that will run just before or just after the age bracket of these teams in regular worlds play. No pool play, and just a double elimination tournament to determine a M+ champion. Now, this is just for over 65 years old where we are getting older and fewer and fewer players are up for that level of competition. In a way, it is a concession to age. I fully understand that the major plus teams will not be playing as a team for these events, but there are many other tournaments to play as a team. Players, this is a germ of an idea and needs some work. Maybe it won't work, but I don't think it really is working right now. But, on top of it all, I want to thank SSUSA for providing us this venue to play. If it wasn't for them, we would have far fewer options to play. |
| Sept. 23, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Timberworks EnviroVac-congratulations to you on your 70 M Championship. It eases the pain a little bit of our one run loss to you (Scorpions). It was great to see you guys again! |
| Sept. 23, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Timberworks Dave Dowell just informed me that Timberworks IS the 70 M+ Champion. What ended is their run of Triple Crowns. Congratulations, Timberworks. |
| Sept. 22, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Timberworks Timberworks has a run of world championships and triple crowns that is unequaled in all of Senior Softball since its inception. Many teams have aspired to create that, but Timberworks DID IT. Feelings towards them seem to be similar to the feelings from many of us towards the Yankees of the 50's-70's. Animosity. We forget that we are amateurs and seniors playing a kids game. But the Timberworks run has been unequaled. This year Timberworks was the only 70 M+ team at worlds. That is a TESTAMENT to the domination of that team. And the 'powers' that be, not really sure how to handle this fairly, put them in the 70M bracket, but set it up extremely well to where they did not disturb the 70M bracket. Nice job, Dave Dowell. Genius, really. However, I am going to be a voice to lead an attempt to right what I believe is a wrong. As a team, Timberworks was put in the 70 M bracket with the stipulation that they had to win ALL FIVE OF THEIR GAMES TO QUALIFY AS THE WORLD CHAMPS IN 70 M+. When they lost their first game, and we all know those games happen, they ended up playing 4 more exhibition games at worlds, at considerable personal expense, (since Timberworks is NOT a fully sponsored team), for nothing. My issue is that EVERY OTHER TEAM PLAYS DOUBLE ELIMINATION BRACKET PLAY. Why did they decree that Timberworks had to win all FIVE games to get their ring? I fully believe that, by winning 4 of 5 games, they should be considered the 70M+ Champs and get their rings. SSUSA, I hope you take this into consideration. Timberworks, thanks for being a class team that came out and won their last four games from pride and love of the game, even though they knew they could not win the rings. They deserve better. |
| Sept. 22, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: 75 Major Plus update Congratulations, Bruce. Be ready for Omen next year, though. Several great players aging up..... |
| Aug. 14, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: softball replacement As a member of the team that was described as 'wealthy', I find it incumbent upon me to add my two cents worth to this. (My wife is allowing me to spend this extra 2 cents since we are now wealthy). The first thing I did was check the date. Nope, not April first. I would have been upset if someone had stolen a great idea for an April First joke. Then I checked the Calendar to see if we had gone back in time to the infamous Timberworks/Old A's 'Rock' game from 2017 where they inadvertently threw in rock balls for four batters until the error was caught with no harm done. Nope, not that. We lost the game and got a whole 11 runs, so it would seem that putting in all those 'new' balls did absolutely no good, so it couldn't be that by allowing the changing of the balls that Walt's team lost the game. I then wondered if maybe it had slowed the game appreciably? Nope again, as we played all 7 innings. After studying the issue from all sides, I now have one question for Walt. Why did this bother you so much that you actually posted it here? |
| May 4, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Senior Softball: A hitter's game? Mike, I don't know what you are on, but I want some of it...... |
| April 29, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Senior Softball: A hitter's game? I remember one game in Dalton, GA in 2013, I believe it was. We were playing 60 M+. Then it was 9 runs an inning and 12 home runs allowed, I believe. In about the 4th inning Line Drive from Michigan had 2 outs and no runs in against us. We botched an easy play at first and they scored 9 runs after that. We lost 47-38 or something like that. In 3 games that day we scored some 95 runs and we went home, losing 2 of them. We gave up 47, 24, and 38 runs = 109 runs. Always work on your defense...... |
| April 29, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Senior Softball: A hitter's game? The best a hitter can do in one at bat is a grand slam home run for FOUR runs, and that depends on his teammates getting the bases loaded for him. BUT, ONE good defensive play at the right time can stop a FIVE run inning (or SEVEN run inning in M+). I work on my defense as much as my offense because of this. I have played on a couple of incredibly strong offensive teams that lost games because we COULD NOT OUTHIT OUR OWN DEFENSE. |
| April 21, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: You make the call Tim-we had no problems at BLD last week. Nice job. |
| April 20, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Southwest Scores Jim, LMAO. My comment was aimed at those that always complain and went silent rather than acknowledge that they are now doing it. But thanks for the comment...Sounds like you had a great tournament! Way to go. |
| April 14, 2023 Webbie25 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Southwest Scores Way to go, Dave. Wow, guys, the silence is deafening in here about posting the scores........... |
