There are blowouts and then there is rubbing it in
PREPS
There has been a lot of discussion concerning softball – and, in my mind, baseball as well – blowouts here, though it has turned more toward a discussion of Shadle Park's softball program, which isn't what I wanted.
But that's the way you decided to go, and I read every comment. It didn't get libelous, so I let it continue on. Now it seems to be become a little repetitious, so I'm wondering if it is time to move on.
Let's agree on this: It doesn't do anyone on either team any good for a softball or baseball game to finish 20-0, 30-0, 40-0 or 64-0. The winning team rarely learns anything that will help them later in the season and the losing team's players don't do anything but exercise their legs on defense, chasing down balls caroming off the fences.
But let's also agree on this: As long as high school sports has been around, there have been blowouts. Some schools are great in some sports, others aren't. Ferris' boys basketball team may defeat U-Hi by 30, the softball score could be turned around (and was). It's a fact of athletic life.
So what should, and shouldn't, happen?
• There doesn't need to be any more rules. That's the typical irrational response to a rational problem. "There was a travesty of a game," someone says, "so we have to make a rule to ensure it will never happen again." Let's not go down that road.
• In high school, coaches are the first line of defense. At the college level and beyond, if a baseball or softball game gets out of hand and someone on the "winning" team does something that violates the unwritten etiquette of the game – for example, bunting for a base hit leading by 15 runs – the players take care of it among themselves. But at the high school level, hitting someone with a pitch in retaliation isn't condoned. It's up to the coaches, the adults, to control things.
• A 10-run lead in fastpitch softball is probably safe (especially if the leading team has an outstanding pitcher), so a coach can rein in his or her charges pretty early. If a team is putting together a 10, 15, 20-run inning, it is OK for the offensive coach to tell a hitter to swing and miss three times, then give them a sacrifice in the scorebook. Why not? They made an out for the good of the game, for the good of the team, which is the definition of a sacrifice.
• There is a difference between winning big and rubbing it in, and winning big. The average fan, reading a score, probably can't realize that, but players know. If the players aren't upset, no one else should be either. Before any of us start screaming about a score, we need to make sure whether it was a rout or a rub-your-nose-in-it rout.
When a game is decided no matter how many innings are left, coaches need to utilize whatever they have in their arsenal to keep from running it up. If they do that, they've honored their responsibility to the players and the game. If they don't, they deserve to be grilled on why not.