Where does SSUSA draw the line between getting a game completed versus player safety? Our schedule ran about an hour behind the schedule. We were waiting on our opponent to start the 5:00pm game. It didn't start until a little after 6:00pm. As the game went on twilight started settling in. The left fielder on opposing team took himself out of game because he couldn't see the ball. Our outfielders threw their hands in the air because they couldn't see the ball. Our manager explained to the tournament director that he was concerned about player safety. The director didn't seem to agree. We played one more inning and then the open under the lights. Has anyone else experienced this type of issue?

I'll opine here, not representing SSUSA. First off, I respectfully disagree with the premise of your question. In my experience, SSUSA does not draw a line between completing a game and player safety. Player safety is always the number one concern. Always. As an umpire, I have an influence on the directors if I strongly feel the situation is not playable (for any reason). I have never had a director force me to continue when I strongly felt it was unsafe. Yes, in certain situations there is some pressure to get games done, but not at the cost of safety. Yes, playing at twilight and then adapting to the lights coming on is not optimal for seniors. Playing in the elements is part of the game. There are many examples of how SSUSA demonstrates they do care a lot about player safety. Here are some: 1. controlling rosters. 2. bat testing. 3. runners must stay clear of the boxes and strike mat when running home. 4. safety base on 1st base. 5. rule allowing runners and defense to switch which bag they touch on first in certain situations. 5. confiscating bats suspected of being altered; ie someone on defense is seriously injured in the infield from a hit ball. Stiffining penalties for altered bats including holding the entire team responsible. While some of these are debated, they are no doubt attempts to protect the safety of the player and promote the fairness of the sport.

Not really player safety in my opinion but maybe a little sour grapes on this one. It was turning to dusk when we ended up getting our 3 outs and the umpire calls flip flop. We were up by 13 and didn't think anything of it. The team we were playing got 2 hits and then we got an out. By that time it was very difficult to see. Long story short they ended up scoring 19 runs on us during that open inning. I got back to the dugout and my buddy that was watching our game told me they were throwing in dirty balls so we couldn't see. All they had to do was put it up in the air and was almost impossible to see. Granted they still had to hit the ball...but that was pretty Bush in my opinion. It would have been nice to be able to turn down the flip flop...but I was told you can't do that. Anyways it was Saturday night and we were hoping to make it to Sunday but it didn't happen. Not that anything could have been done...but there has been other conversation about how quickly those balls get dirty and hard to see. Still had a good time at the tourney and will be back next year.

We were in the same boat but were lucky enough to hold our 6 run leadbecause the batters hit grounders that could be seen instead of flyballs that could not be seen...lets just say that one of the complexes in Vegas has horrible lighting that made us wish the sun was back in our eyes instead of having the lights on...