The Sports Guy

     I wrote in the March 2 issue of the paper that softball was one of the simpler intramural sports to officiate. The intramural department could not make it any easier for softball umpires as they use a rubber mat placed behind home plate to gauge a strike.
     The official rules of GCSU intramural softball state that a legal softball pitch must be delivered underhand at a slow speed and must reach a height of at least six feet and no more than 12 feet at the top of its arc. Any pitch that fails to meet these requirements, in the opinion of the home plate umpire, will be declared an illegal pitch. A strike is a legally delivered ball that hits any part of the strike mat.
     This rule was designed to alleviate arguments between players and umpires and make the game go smoother, but it only downgrades the responsibilities of the umpire and exacerbates the duties of the pitcher.
     Firstly, the home plate umpires have zero responsibilities. They simply stand behind home plate and determine if the ball hits the strike mat.
     The umpires also have total disregard for the delivery clause of the rule. As a spectator at many games, I have witnessed numerous accounts where pitchers perform illegal deliveries but are still able to pitch strikes. Pitchers throw balls that do not enter the parameters set in the rules or get anywhere remotely close to the strike zone and it stills hits the strike mat, making it a strike.
     Secondly, the use of the mat makes the pitcher the most difficult position on the field. Do you know how difficult it is to hit that mat? It is like throwing a ball into the 1,000-point slot hole in skeeball. In one game, a pitcher might only pitch three strikes if they are lucky. 
     The strike mat is completely useless. It falls behind inventions such as the doorbell, car visor and the new Sonic Oreo milkshake.
     The rules should be changed to allow each batter five pitches to hit the ball. If the batter fails to hit the ball in play by the fifth pitch, he/she is out. Even if the batter fouls off the fifth pitch, he/she is out. If the batter strikes out before the fifth pitch, he/she is out on strikes.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 13 2007. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry