Just a bit outside!
Hello Fastpitch Followers!
The Poynette Summer Fastpitch Jamboree was last weekend. Instead of recapping the event immediately or commenting on situations that occurred, I normally just give it a few days and then go about things in a way that works best for me.
The recent tournament was our third annual such endeavor since creating the Poynette Fastpitch Organization. In less than three, short years we’ve created an organization of hard working people who are committed to improving the lot for girls softball, not just in Poynette but beyond. We are now a 501 (c) 3 organization with a mission statement etc.
I can’t toot our people’s horns enough. An organization such as ours takes lots of volunteers. We had them there all weekend.
The competitiveness, for the most part was excellent. The most lopsided games took place in our 10-Under division but even though the scores were such, those little tikes were having a blast and so were the coaches. Those players could have cared less what type of field they played on. They would have played in a cattle pasture and had as much fun. Some of the adults complained a bit about this or that but in the end those kids had a great time.
One situation that did occur involved a possible difference between ASA rules and NFHS rules. It has been a few years since I have had a current ASA rules book. When the question of how many defensive charged conferences a team can have before having to replace their pitcher arose I had no idea of what the ASA book says. After conferring with a registered ASA umpire on Monday I quickly learned that the disagreement that did occur at our tournament should not have as the two rules books are the same.
In a regulation seven-inning game a team is allowed three charged conferences when a member of the team, coach, player etc. leaves the bench area to confer with a defensive player or group thereof. Even calling time out and chatting with an infielder or outfielder constitutes that conference. It does not have to be the pitcher. If a fourth conference occurs in the first seven innings of play, the pitcher, if he/she was the starter is still in the game, that pitcher must be removed from the pitching position and may not pitch again during that game. If the game goes extra innings, each team is then allotted one defensive conference per inning without having to replace the pitcher. The charged conferences are not cumulative. If however, during a conference, the pitcher is removed from the pitching position and replaced, that conference is not a charged conference and the first pitcher may re-enter the defensive lineup as the pitcher.
Throughout any event, there are always comments from players, coaches, fans etc. On the weekend in Poynette most of the comments were positive in nature. Many realized that our group of workers had worked diligently all day Friday removing a couple thousand gallons of water from the outfield on the third field at the high school. We did that with two small submersible pumps with garden hoses attached as well as another more successful but more tedious process. We used a portable generator, a six-gallon wet-vac and about 18 six gallon buckets. We’d suck water into the wet vac and two of us would then quickly dump the water into buckets. When we had nine or ten buckets filled and loaded onto the dump box of a Gator, the driver would drive off and empty the buckets into a drain near the field. The other Gator driver would up with empty buckets and the entire process would start again. As the water lessened one of our workers went home and attached his snow plow to his four-wheeler, returned and actually pushed water with the snowplow to the lows spots where we were sucking up the stuff. When the water level lessened two fellas used diamond rakes to move water into the holes we had dug to suck out the stuff. On Saturday morning at 7 am there was no water standing in that outfield.
If the two or three people who were the complainers about this or about that on the weekend would have watched our crew at work they may not have spoken the negative words they did. They may not have but chances are they’d have forgotten about the work that went into making the weekend a success and spoken negatively anyway. The world has people like that in it. Trying to please everyone is impossible no matter the situation. Successful people understand that fact and just keep working on doing what it takes to make the most people feel good about things.
The number of teams in the Summer Jamboree was down from last year due to several factors including the fact that there are now more tournaments on the weekend we chose back in 2012. Any new tournament in an area sucks teams away from previously established ones. It’s just the way it is.
In Poynette, we’ll continue to host great events by listening to everyone’s comments – positive and negative. We’ll weigh them all in terms of importance and either keep things the way we have them or change them for the better.
We didn’t charge anybody money to get into the venues. It was free admission all weekend. although we’d asked team leaders not to do such things, we didn’t check coolers for “carry-in food or beverages.”
Like any tournament venue, we truly appreciate the people who do frequent the concession stands and our apparel vendor. Those that choose to carry in their food and beverages simply choose to do so not understanding that it bothers the volunteers to no end who are doing the grilling, the selling and the clean up. In the end we cleaned up empty beverage bottles, cans, napkins, and food leftovers from both fantastic customers as well as those that hiked right past our “No carry-ins Please” signs with their picnic baskets and coolers in tow. Our people are instructed to not say anything to those that set up their lunch layouts within the confines of the facility. We just try to get our folks to roll with the punches and do the best job we can of providing fun, food and entertainment.
Our umpires were superb. From our three young umpires just out of high school to our most seasoned veterans the comments were positive and their efforts were fantastic and appreciated. They kept things moving. They weren’t bullies. They worked with coaches and players. It was great watching them. I hope they return next year.
It’s late and I could go on and on.
Have a great day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob
