High School Baseball SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS

Which makes for a quick game. As compared to baseball.
I LOATHED covering high school baseball. It is was so slow and boring. Everybody thinks its the big leagues. Batter has to step out after every pitch. Pitcher has to fiddle fuck around the mound...

Softball .. rock and fire., No bullshit (other than the chanting).

I would cover softball any day over high school baseball. Any. Day.
Even a shitty game is a quick affair, unlike baseball.

 

The biggest thing that grinds my gears about baseball every coach thinks a lineup card can be used as a roster. It can, as long as it's legible, the names are spelled correctly, and if first names are spelled out.

 

Juco baseball is 10 times worse than high school softball. When it's a mis-match, it's a 22-4 game where the losing team uses 8 pitchers. And that's the first game. In the second game, a mere 16-2 shellacking, the losing team, having used its bullpen up in game one, tries to get by with two pitchers.

If it's not a blowout, the batters piddle around. The pitchers piddle around. I thought college baseball had a pitch clock, something like 20 seconds to pitch once you get the ball. Must be a myth.

And on top of that this conference schedules a seven-inning first game followed by a nine-inning second game, so even if the first game went by kinda quick, you still know you're not getting out of there any time soon because if the second game goes the distance, that's an extra hour thanks to the two additional innings.

And what I was really hoping to do for my weekend was spend 7 hours at the ball park Saturday and 7 more there Sunday.

 

I long for -- no, I crave the days when covering a high school softball or baseball game was the most aggravating part of my job.

 

I'm pretty sure I would have packed up and left after about the second inning. Exactly what are you supposed to write for something like that?

 

There is a pitch clock in NCAA. Don't remember the time but I think it's 25 seconds. It was supposed to be kept on the scoreboard a la basketball, but now the field ump is to keep it.

Same in NFHS. 20. Batter is SUPPOSED to keep one foot in the box. Never enforced really unless the game is dragging.

 

High school girls basketball.

 

I covered one high school baseball game. That wasn't too bad. The pace of the game is slow enough where if a play happens and I'm not sure if it's been scored a hit or an error, I can go to the scorekeeper and ask. The funny thing about the game I covered was when I went to interview the coach of the home team (which lost to the school I used to attend which was a local powerhouse). The head coach and the assistant coach did a round of rock-paper-scissors to decide which one would answer my questions. The assistant coach lost, so he dutifully came over to answer my questions.

After I got done with him, I went over to interview the head coach of my alma mater. Turned out I learned over two years later that he played on the team the year before I got to the high school, which isn't that shocking considering the fact that I started attending that high school during the middle of my senior year. Dude was still in excellent shape, enough so that he was demonstrating to his players how to avoid some of the physical mistakes his team made during the game. He still looked like he played the game or could play the game.

I actually covered my community college baseball team when I attended the school. The first two years, they actually let me sit in the dugout to watch the games. My freshman year, I actually ran the scoreboard for one or two of the games. It helped me out, especially when there was a game when the team's head coach decided to remove his starting pitcher. He said why as he was walking in my general direction, though I seriously doubt he said so in an effort to *tell* me. I still asked him about it after the game.

 

We have - and cover - college baseball, primarily D-II, thankfully I never had to cover a game.

 

Have you ever overheard the local radio announcer trying to keep these games interesting? My favorite was when the tackle from the small-town football team played first base because of his height, but was terrible. The announcer said something like "Big Joe Bob Blow comes up. Hasn't had a hit this season, but he's got a lot of power."

 

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the hell of keeping the schedule and standings/records up to date due to rain outs.