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Online now: 3 members: Baseball33, TABLE SETTER 11, cecil; 184 anonymousDetails for 17Black
Real name:
Gary Kadow CPOA Cleveland
Location:
Mentor, OH
Division:
Men's 60
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| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs We're back :) Quite a few different faces than 2016. Let's play ball. |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs Thanks Nancy, long time no see :( |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs OK Thank You Dave, I guess we will see when we get there. |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs FYI I'm only asking because I "think" ISA uses Trump "Rocks" |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs What softball are we using in Columbus Indiana for ISA World Series? I am "assuming" its going to be Trump Stote since its SSUSA Rules?? |
| Nov. 21, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Happy Thanksgiving HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all from Cleveland. Be Safe and enjoy your family and friends over the Holiday Weekend !! Lots to be Thankful for. Daughter got married, all the family health is excellent, and we had a successful softball season in 2018 too. 2019 Softball here is only 6 months away :( |
| Nov. 5, 2018 17Black | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Excessive Speed Pitch playing in a new senior league in Cleveland that uses a pitching screen. Screen is exactly 6 feet. You have to pitch "over the screen" which takes all flat pitches and excessive speed calls out of equation. And the pitcher can still field the ball too, but he is protected from any screamer up the middle. This leaves the ump with only one other legitimate judgement call pitching (maximum height of the pitch) I was skeptical this past season but the screen and no flat pitching worked out very well. |
| Oct. 29, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Keys to Tournament success one more thing. Guys who coach the bases (1st and 3rd) have to talk, yell, be demonstrative, CANNOT stand there like statues. I see LOTS of base coaches just yapping with the fans on the other bench. Coach the base. Tell a guy coming into 3rd when to slide (they cant see the play behind them) (Don't get tagged out at 3rd) Put the brakes on somebody when the cut off man catches the relay and makes a nice pivot, don't get thrown out at home. |
| Oct. 29, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Keys to Tournament success Score more than the other team. Any way, shape, form. Steal runs wherever you can successfully (turning singles into doubles or moving guys consistently 1st to 3rd, decoy on the bases when possible to get outfielders to throw to the wrong guy & advance) On offense draw walks, our guys all take a strike (99% of the time). (at least when playing with 0-0 counts) Taking even one strike can get you comfortable in the box if nothing else. Some pitchers just cant get ahead of the count on you. Win those games!! On defense have a pitcher who rarely walks anybody, those turn into runs for the bad guys. Your Pitcher needs to field the middle. Teams will pick on pitchers who cant catch any ground balls left or right of either kneecap. I don't care what anybody says, team chemistry, bonding, hanging out after the last game of the day at tourneys, having dinner and a couple beverages together, communicating, etc, goes a long, long, long way on the field. I see lots of teams don't gel, guys all head in different directions on their own sometimes. The Bonding is sometimes better than the softball. ^^^^ and when doing so, don't stay out till the wee hours of the morning after midnight, stay hydrated and get 7/8 hours++ of sleep as possible. Have each others backs. Your best player will have a bad game but somebody else needs to pick him up (in the line up and words of encouragement) Your least productive player offensively may be able to do other things, (be a great defensive player, be that guy who moves two bases at a time?) **** After 10 years of watching guys runs bases for other guys in the line up and burning themselves out by Sunday, my goal (if I can find somebody) is to find (1-2) guys to bring who might only come as runners, period---until they change the rules. I see guys get 30+ at bats in a tournament that also run 3/4/5 times a game for other players. That can be a recipe for injury/fatigue and disaster. Find "Your Forest Gump" |
| Oct. 28, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Winter Worlds titanhd: Thanks for your comments and I "tend to agree" with you. Because if that was the case we wouldn't have been dinged in 2016? Tim, OK, I did call SSUSA in 2016 (George I think?) I asked about declining the drop, all they (he) said was "you are AAA" you can still enter tourneys as a "Major" but you are reclassified AAA?? The issue I had is emails were sent out to our team individuals, (bySSUSA) before I even knew what was happening, and guys jumped ship before we had any time to react accordingly. Our roster was then formed as an AAA team moving ahead and where we have been playing for two season in ALL associations. Tim, I am questioning the "eye test" because looking back at "stats" for 2016 we were indeed (2-3) at Fort Myers with one horrible game where we lost 26-11 to the eventual tournament champion in start of double elimination. One bad game or run differential may have weighed on decision, but we still averaged (17.6) runs a game, won a couple and the others were pretty close? (which makes titanhd's comment potentially relevant? I dont know if the Indianapolis Brickyard results come in to play for 2016? I know SSUSA is slow posting tourney results "on-line" but that tourney was 2 and a half years ago and still not posted on-line??(please do not say your stats were wet) We were (4-0) in that tourney and playing in a newly formed "6th Great Lake" when one of our players blew out his knee in that "quagmire" and missed two years of softball in re-hab after reconstruction. As we watched him taken away in an ambulance none of us really wanted to even finish that tourney so we lost that game and another and finished (4-2) BTW got home after picking him up in the hospital before a 6 hour drive home and got back at 2AM. Did those results come into play? It's "water over the dam" at this point, no pun intended, 1000 days ago, cant go back, just move on. SSUSA is probably indeed the biggest senior softball organization. You have a lot of clout that affect every aspect of teams and rosters. My main point moving forward is "why" does every winner have to move up? Certainly not a dynasty winning one year in a row? I think if a team won 2-3 years in a row, Maybe the deserve a bump, but again, why couldnt a team come back and try to defend a championship? I mean where is the Major Plus team supposed to move up to??? There are good teams out there that play "lots of tourneys" and do very well, who wont go to worlds or nationals in some associations because they dont want to get hot and move up. I am not saying I agree with that motive at all, but for the teams that do attend, its semi-sweet winning something big, and then realizing you may have to regroup and retool the following year, making roster decisions that can affect friendships for life. |
| Oct. 27, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Winter Worlds The rating system by SSUSA and SPA in many ways does not make sense when it comes to doing well in a world or national tournament (and an overall season in general) In 2016 we were 55 Major in SSUSA-----we were .500 in SSUSA/ISA events in 2016, finished 2-3 at Winter Worlds in Fort Myers with a short handed roster and got knocked down to AAA after the tourney???---------so several guys leave and start their own team because they wont play AAA the following year-----------we move into AAA for 2017 as requested, have to fill out appeal forms with ISSA and SPA to also move to AAA with a legitimate AAA roster in the other associations. ISSA is easy, took 2 minutes. SPA wanted rosters, scores, tourney results, head to head match-ups for a couple years, was worse than doing my taxes. Mailed an envelope with back up data that cost about $7 bucks to mail but the appeal was granted after about two months. So we go play AAA (legitimate) in all the associations. 2018 we finish 2nd in Dalton SPA 55AAA last month, automatic move up to Major? I sort of get it, but we only hit 14 home runs in 8 games, less than 2 per game. Finished 3rd last week at ISSA Nationals in AAA, we hit 5 homers in 6 games. That's not MAJOR to me. But we average over 20 runs a game. By finishing 2nd in Dalton SPA knocked us back up to MAJOR for 2019, probably going to follow suit and do SSUSA/ISSA/ISA as Major in 2019 because we don't want to play Major in some tourneys and AAA in others----------- BUT there should be more that goes into it than finishing at the top of a big tournament. We hit over .700 as a team but don't have the overall power to play Major and gosh forbid, what if we do well in another one 2019. Cant get elevated to Major Plus hitting 14 homers in 8 games. We can score, we single and double throughout the line up and have solid defense. But we aren't Major Plus and I question my own roster wondering if we can even play Major any longer with the losses to roster we had after 2016. I guess we will find out. We are a team of close friends all living within 25 miles of each other, want to stick together, don't need to go picking up other guys, don't want to, want to stick together and play over 85 ball in 25/30 years seriously as friends first and foremost. I mean if we as a team want to go hit on a Tuesday Night we send out a text and everybody shows up, most teams cant do that. What's the matter with winning a division one year and coming back to try to defend the title the following year in same division? Still do not understand how you knock teams back a division that go .500 in your own sanctioned events though, that blew my mind after 2016. If we went 0-5 in events OK I get it, but c'mon. GK CPOA Cleveland 55AAA |
| Sept. 27, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: 55 Major Stick8 Congratulations on the win, and a special "shout out" to our pals Jimmy K. and Jake N. from Cleveland. That's a huge bracket to claw your way through, NICE JOB to ALL. GK |
| Sept. 18, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: getting bat bag to tournaments I've flown to more tourneys than I can count all over the USA, ever direction, probably 15 states, maybe more, and including Vegas. I have never had a problem with my bat bags. (loaded with "the works" I will tell you there have been times where I've boarded a plane and looked out the window and watched airport "teams" load luggage into the plane, and have been "nervous" watching bat bags and golf bags getting thrown around like old pillows, but fortunately none of MY stuff has ever been damaged or stolen. |
| Sept. 14, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Losing could be beneficial Seeding games are over-rated although earning a #1 usually helps with games times and etc. If several teams win their pool games but one team gave up less runs because they played on the field the wind is blowing in on, are they "really" the #1 seed. I also cant tell you (because there are LOTS) of teams didn't win any seeding games at all (winless) and then marched through the tournament in double elimination and won the whole thing Just go play ball |
| Sept. 14, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Losing could be beneficial You are going to VEGAS, its the Worlds, play to win!!! You are already talking yourself out of the tournament regardless of which players are coming????? |
| July 26, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Softball cleats I've actually had very good results with Boombah over the years too. Never an issue. They ship FAST and I wear a 13------its one of the only models that fits my foot perfectly and is a true 13. |
| July 26, 2018 17Black | Topic: Associations Discussion: Other Senior Associations. in Ohio we also play events/leagues/tourneys in GSL and WSL for seniors. We have played and do play SSUSA/ISSA/ISA/SPA There is also Florida Half Century, and ASA/NSA/USSSA do limited events with seniors too Its basically the entire alphabet different arcs of the ball, foul ball and home run rules, 1-1 and 0-0 counts, two strike foul balls allowed and not allowed, the list goes on and on. we just make sure we ask the ump before we start any tourney game |
| April 11, 2018 17Black | Topic: Associations Discussion: What Home Run Rule you use in your Senior League (5) Home Runs with one up rule this year, if not to one up situation they are outs. |
| Jan. 15, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: ISSA MYRTLE BEACH TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE We played 55's Honestly, m opinion is this was a REAL WELL RUN Event! We plan on going back next year? We were provided (12) new balls when I went to Managers meeting, no problems there. Umps overall were "OK" I did "watch a game" in another division where the Ump in our opinion tried to steal the show, and tell everybody who was boss when nothing out of the ordinary was going on (And Ump was indeed wrong on some horrific calls). It Made for a miserable game, But it didn't affect us at all. Our umps were all very, very good. We played at three different facilities over three days----------Loved the fields at Pawley's Island Friday, very pristine. High School Fields on Saturday were a "Little beat up" but not too bad------------Sunday we played at Grand Park, the Artificial Turf Complex. Didn't affect our games at all, I could see where in older divisions, with 325 fences and turf outfields some guys could be getting pooped out running down balls in the gaps to the fence, but our guys in 55's were playing 290+ anyway. Yes you will sometimes get teams in AAA that are Major in other associations (or) like us ----were knocked down to AAA by SSUSA. The final four (4) teams in 55AAA were all either Major in 2017 in other associations, or knocked down by SSUSA at end of 2016. We had to file appeals to be rated 55AAA with SPA and ISSA (which we did) and those were granted six months before Myrtle. I do think there was some disparity between the top 4 in 55AAA and the other 5 or 6 teams that were in our division and were eliminated Saturday (Although I did not see all of them personally). |
| Nov. 18, 2017 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: The "ROCK SOFTBALL" JamesLG:--------Although hitting Rocks (or) a couple other kinds of potential balls would certainly be enticing-------As one of those guys (who happens to be me) who pays for the tournament entry fees, the entry fees are high enough as it is. (In all Senior Associations) This is a whole different topic but as an "average" lets says $450 a tourney (& most tournaments we go to cost way more than that)--------------at $450 divided by say 6 games, its $75 a game, usually with only one ump and no score keeper. Honestly looking back over past two seasons, realistic its about ($91) bucks a game, per team. So do the math with two teams playing in a game ($182) a game. Teams that don't do well and only play their 4 or 5 game minimum, costs more per game than that too That's adds up big time over the course of a season. |
