NOTE: This map still uses the OLD color scheme of Blue of Republican states and Red for Socialist Democrat states.
Posted on 04/30/2005 8:36:32 PM PDT by KneelBeforeZod
Column: Softball coach snaps the unwritten rules
BY JEFF NELSON When written rules are broken, punishment follows.
It's a basic tenet in sports, and one we see practiced nearly every day.
What we don't often see, and frankly, what I can't ever recall seeing, is a punishment for breaking unwritten rules. But that appears to be what took place at Central Cabarrus High this past week.
Softball coach Monte Sherrill was suspended by the school for two games after his team, which is ranked fourth in the nation by USA Today, beat West Charlotte, 55-0, on April 15.
Go ahead and read that score again; it's not a typo. And to make matters worse, the game lasted just two innings (two innings!) before West Charlotte's athletic director asked officials to end it.
According to a published report, the coach and athletic director at Central Cabarrus won't comment on the game or the suspension, but the West Charlotte athletic director said Central Cabarrus continued to play aggressively as the Vikings scored 30 runs in the first inning and 25 more in the second.
While I wasn't at the game and can't know all of the circumstances surrounding the game, I did talk with four Union County softball coaches about the score and suspension, and they helped me come to a conclusion: Sherrill could have prevented the score from reaching such laughable heights, and because he didn't, he deserved a suspension.
To make things clear, none of the four county coaches could say with certainty that they agreed with the suspension. They all said they needed more information.
But Eddie Rivers of Forest Hills, Misty Tarleton of Parkwood, Tad Baucom of Piedmont, and Sarah Keziah of Monroe all said there are a common set of unwritten rules for coaching in a blowout, and those rules shouldn't be broken.
"There's a lot of ways to avoid letting (the score) get away from you," Baucom said. "You can hit balls to the fence and stop your kids at first base. On the 35 or so passed balls, you don't take a base. And you don't steal a base."
By playing this brand of station-to-station softball, you give the opposing team as many chances as possible to record three outs each inning without an excess of runs crossing the plate. Once you have a big lead, it's also common to put in backups who aren't as good and don't often get a chance to play.
Scores can still get out of hand this way - there have been several cases of 15-0 type scores in the county this year - but teams never approach the point of humiliation.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association does have a mercy rule that's meant to protect against excessive blowouts - if one team is ahead by more than 10 after five innings, the game is called - but because of the severe gap in talent between many teams, these unwritten rules are often needed to just get to the fifth inning with a respectable score.
In all fairness, sometimes it's hard to keep the score down, Rivers said, and he can understand a bad blowout every now and then. After all, he won't actually tell his kids to strike out on purpose or make an out on purpose.
"I'm not going to make a travesty of the game to not embarrass you," he said. "On the other hand, if (Sherrill) didn't do the things you're supposed to do, then I think he's making a travesty of the game."
The things you're supposed to do ... the unwritten rules ... that's what this is about.
Monroe has been on the losing end of a couple 10-run games to county opponents this year, but Keziah said her Redhawks were facing teams with integrity who didn't let things get out of hand.
"The Piedmont team, the Forest Hills team, those are the two we've played locally and they've gone out of their way to make sure that we were not humiliated," Keziah said. "Piedmont and Forest Hills have class. They treat us with respect; they don't try to humiliate our girls."
If Central Cabarrus was trying to humiliate West Charlotte, the Vikings' motive could have dealt with personal reasons we don't know about. Or, as two coaches suggested, the Vikings may have been trying to pad their stats to improve their national ranking.
Both of those are poor excuses, however, and neither can absolve Sherrill for allowing his team's rout.
When all four county coaches were asked if there's any reason a team should score 55 runs, they all said no. When they were asked if they could prevent their team from scoring 55 runs, they all said yes.
Play by the unwritten rules, and it won't happen.
Don't play by the unwritten rules, and you get suspended.
Unwritten rules are great and all, but isn't suspending a person for breaking one identical, de jure, to suspending him just because you feel like it?
If you want to use formal penalties, write it down.
"How were they bullying, exactly?"
No, no, they were playing very agressively, physically. You know what I mean, a lot of "body check" type stuff. In addition, the other coach never put his bench players in, which wasn't fair to them. The weaker players should be given a chance to actually play when the situation permits. Given that this was an essentially meaningless travel league game I thought it was just unsporting. It's the only game my daughter ever played in that I thought that about, so it's not like I'm some whiney mom who can't stand to see her kid lose.
I don't think the suspension was warranted in this case. Sure, this coach may be an A**HOLE, but he didn;t break any clearly applicable rule. Part of playing any game whether it be amateur or professional is being able to play your hardest despite the score. The kids on the losing team stand to learn a valuable lesson from this game. Even when you are way down and way out, you still have to play hard, and you still have to give it your best. They can learn to hold their heads high despite being blown out. That is life - sometimes you get blown out, accept it and learn from it. Further, this coach would have gotten his punishment without the suspension, i.e. other coaches wouldn't respect his team and wouldn't be worried about blowing them out if they could, and they would also not mind getting dirty against a team like this (beaning a star player, etc.). Maybe this is bad sportsmanship, but that is the way it is. There are always going to be teams that are filled with dicks for coaches and dicks for players. My suggestion is get better and beat their butts the next time you play them.
NOTE: This map still uses the OLD color scheme of Blue of Republican states and Red for Socialist Democrat states.
This was softball. Underhand pitches, please.
Most softball leagues have a mercy rule. I remember when the Boston Red Sox (2003 season, iirc) set a major league record by scoring 10 runs in the first inning without recording an out, against the World Series Champion Florida Marlins, during a nationally televised game on Fox.
It was the most runs ever scored in an inning (needless to say a game) in the majors without recording an out. Then third base coach "Windmill" Kim sent Kevin "Mercury" Millar from second on a shallow bloop to left, giving the Marlins their first out. My wife didn't understand why, I said it was a mercy killing. (Of course "Windmill" would have sent him in the bottom of the ninth, down a run with no outs.)
They wound up scoring 17 runs in the game. And losing the next two games to the Marlins.
We prefer the term, "NPR Archipelago".
BTW this school is over in the next county to me. They know how to "Play Ball!"
All's fair in love and war.
Not in softball.
There's a duty to put in your bench players at some point - not only out of good sportmanship, but becuase if you don't play them then - when the hell DO they get some playing time? Once they are in the game, they also have an obligation to try their hardest, however.
"By playing this brand of station-to-station softball, you give the opposing team as many chances as possible to record three outs each inning without an excess of runs crossing the plate."
You GIVE the opposing team as many chances as possible. . . [?]
What game is this? It's nothing that I recognize, and I've played a LOT of softball. Humiliation, sometimes, is part of the game.
Give the opposing team as man chances as possible. Amazing.
I feel sorry for those kids that lost. Not because they lost, but because they will never learn to face the hardships life throws at them if their parents keep coddling 'em. Sheesh!
I played hardball as well as I did because of the desire to improve. By leveling the playing field the desire is lost.
Something that needs to be remembered, there are some children who are not good in sports. Does that mean lowering the standards or does that mean they should find another hobby?
One size does not fit all.
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