From The Dugout - What We Learned

Sept. 1, 2022

     The 2022 World Championships in Las Vegas attracted a record number of teams, offering very large brackets and a prize package to match: free quality, personalized rings from Josten’s, the maker of rings for Superbowl and MLB World Series winners.

     While we are very happy with the record turnout, there also were learning moments for us…including:

Master Rosters:

     Perhaps one of the most confounding issues for a number of managers was the Master Roster.  Managers are asked to fill out a Master Roster and to modify it for each tournament, as necessary.  Managers then pick the roster from a tournament in which most of the players showed up.  This becomes the team roster for the Worlds (not the Master Roster).  It can be confusing.

     Some managers assume that any player on the Master Roster is eligible to play in the Worlds.  Players must actually play in the Qualifier that the manager chooses to be eligible to play in the Worlds.

     For the 2023 Season, we will be getting rid of the Master Roster…. And hopefully the confusion.

Concessions

     We arranged for concessions at all fields, but most of the concessionaires never showed up.   This created an issue not only for food, but more importantly for water.  Fortunately, one of the concessionaires who did show up agreed to provide service at all sites in 2023.

Water:

     For health reasons, we stopped providing water in the dugouts three years ago.  The health concerns were not just Covid.  We could not monitor use of the coolers in the dugouts and some players were using the coolers to rinse their sweat bands and dipping their hands in the coolers to pick out ice. 

     So, we remind players to bring their own water to ensure the health and safety of all.  This policy will not change, but we will strive to have concessionaires on site to sell water.

Game Cards:

     We added a score box next to the manager’s signature at the bottom of the game card as a check against the score box the umpire filled in.  In a half-dozen cases, the managers wrote in the correct score and signed the card – however the inning-by- inning score was incorrect and the directors entered that score, which was used for seeding.  As a result, the wrong score was used to seed the teams.

     We are eliminating that second score box to avoid any confusion in the future.

Your Comments Help:

     We take manager and player suggestions seriously because they help us make the tournament better. You can email us at info@seniorsoftball.com

Thank you!

Terry Hennessy is the chief executive officer of Senior Softball USA and can be reached at terryh@seniorsoftball.com.