Youth Baseball Frustation!!! My son ejected from 2 games Very Long!

[Tigger&Belle]

OK, I wasn't going to start this thread because I am so mad and frustrated, but decided to start it, anyway. Maybe I'll get some insight as to how other organizations are run.

Sunday evening my son's 13U select baseball team played in the semi-final game. In the bottom of the 1st inning, my son was on third base and was instructed to steal home when there was a passed ball. The ball popped off the backstop and the catcher blocked the line about 3-4 feet from the plate (with the ball in hand). My son was running home, tried to avoid the catcher and then went to slide. He ran into the catcher, the catcher probably got the wind knocked out of him, but acted like he was dying. Their coach came running over to my son, screaming, saying "what the hell did you do?".

The bottom line is that he was called out (as he should have been) and ejected from the game. They called it malicious contact, as if he had of attacked the other kid. It all happened so fast the catcher was unable to position himself in a way to avoid getting hit and my son reacted as quickly and as well as he could.

Many were very upset and questioned him even being ejected. The parents on the other team yelled about it the whole game. One of their parents came up to my husband and a couple other parents (with my son there) after the game and gave them a piece of her mind, which included how she thought our team played dirty. Another game this season 1 of our pitchers hit 2 of their players and they were upset that our coached didn't take him out of the game (rules do not say he had to be removed). So they were mad going into this game and decided to make my son the scapegoat.

I must add, too, that my son is extremely non-confrontational and would NEVER do anything to intentionally hurt another player. He just doesn't have it in him. Really, no kid on our team does, but as one of the coaches put it, Zach is the last one who would ever do anything intentional.

The league that they play for says that they follow the "high school association" rules, but those rules only say there is an ejection for 1 game in the event of malicious conduct. I guess that the select league that our team is in decided to "kick it up a notch".

I can understand if a child has a record of rough play or it's a second offense, but for a player that has NEVER done anything even remotely questionable it seems way harsh.

All of our coaches have done everything they can do to get the league to reverse the decison, but no luck. Thankfully we're hopefully playing for a different league in the spring.

So what are the penalties in your organization and what constitutes malicious conduct?

 

[Tigger&Belle's DD <3]

It's so ridiculous!!

I can't believe the other team made such a stink about it, especially since they got what they would have wanted with Zach being ejected. Geez...

Also, haven't coaches gotten ejected in the past for foul language? Wouldn't "What the hell did you do?" constitute as foul?

Zach would never do anything to hurt another player. He would never even do anything to hurt his big sister!! (lol)

The "rules of the league" are not fair and I really do hope you can switch leagues in the Spring. At least he seems to be taking it well, but I still hope you fight it even after tonight's game. (And hopefully our team wins on top of it all!) It's too bad. :-(

 

[KAMLEM]

This does not sound like malicious conduct to me and I can definitely relate to how you feel. My daughter plays competitive softball, soccer, futsal and basketball and sometimes the officiating can be very upsetting. The rules about sliding in softball are just crazy. They get called out if they DON'T slide when the umpire thinks they should have then they get called out if they DO slide but they don't do it properly. In our town we have 12 year old kids as referees for competitive, travel soccer games. It gets very frustrating when the results of a game or tournament are impacted by poor officiating. DD's team was in the national futsal championships in California last year and her team lost in the semi-finals. After being tied through 2 overtime periods it came down to penalty kicks and the other team did not follow the rules. When our coach protested nobody would take him seriously. If the other team had followed the rules there is a very good chance that they would not have won. To travel from MA to CA and not be treated fairly was very frustrating.

I'm so sorry for your son. Hopefully he won't take it too badly.

 

[ADisneygirl]

I don't know the exact rules for my son's HS team or for the rec team he plays on, but I've seen this situation many times over the years watching my son play baseball. The problem stems from the fact that the catcher clearly had possession of the ball long before your son got to home plate. I understand the foward momentum from running full speed must have had your son off balance a little and made it harder for him to stop or slide slower. But, all the officials will look at is the fact that the catcher had the ball and it looked like the runner was trying to rough up the catcher to possibly knock the ball loose or something.

I personally do not like when catchers block the plate 3-4 feet up the baseline. I've seen them do it when they don't even have the ball and the runner heading home knocks them over and then gets called for roughness. It can cause a lot of hard feelings on both sides. I think parents should try and stay out of the official calls and certainly not have words with other parents from opposing teams. I think it is tacky when the parents are acting this way and sets a terrible example for the kids on both sides.

I am sorry for your son.

 

[KAMLEM]

I could go on and on about parents getting involved when they shouldn't. We were in a soccer tournament last year and one of the parents on the other team told his daughter that he would give her $5 for every one of our players that she took down. We heard it with our own ears! The father was reported and he was not allowed at the field on the following day but he has already taught his daughter that it's ok to do that. Another year there was a group of parents calling our 8 and 9 year old girls cheaters and taunting them for the entire game because for about 30 seconds at the beginning of the game we had an extra player on the field. It was the coach's fault, not the girls', and it was an innocent mistake that had no impact on the game's outcome. One little girl was in tears because the parents were all screaming at her when she was on their side of the field. They were swearing at us adults, too. Some parents take their kids' sports way too seriously. It's really sad and it sets such a poor example for the kids.

 

[phorsenuf]

If the catcher can't handle getting run over by a player stealing home he ought not be catching! LOL

The the name of the game baby!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

In this case the catcher did have the ball before my son got to him, but barely. Yeah, another time the catcher blocked the plate without possession of the ball and the ump didn't say anything to him.

My husband talked to the other coach and even he thinks that it's ridiculous that Zach can't play tonight.

It all boils down to the umpire. He says that Zach could have avoided contact. Of course that's easier said than done when you're stealing home. Being ejected for the second game is the decision of this particular league and they could change that rule, but won't. Hopefully they will rethink it for the future.

It will be an interesting game tongiht!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

If the catcher can't handle getting run over by a player stealing home he ought not be catching! LOL

The the name of the game baby!

Yep, it is.

This player was later crying when he was up to bat and, according to our players, his own coach was making fun of him. Tells me that he's not exactly the toughest kid around. And no, I don't hold crying against a kid (sometimes they reall are hurt), but if the coach was making fun of him it seems like he probably does that on a regular basis.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

If the catcher can't handle getting run over by a player stealing home he ought not be catching! LOL

The the name of the game baby!

Not in most youth baseball games around here.

My son plays in a couple of AAU tournaments a year that do not have a mandatory slide rule -- but other than that that runner is out. They have a choice of sliding, trying to run around the catcher but within the baseline, or trying returning to 3rd base and/or force a run-down. Whether or not to eject the player and apply different penalties is the decision of the umpire.

I'm sorry this happened to your son. But I've had kids playing baseball for years. I've seen a couple of concussions and a broken leg, and more kids taken to the hospital than I can even remember.

Once they hit about 12 or 13, those kids start to play hard and fast and the injuries get much more serious. They are just trying to protect the kids.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Terrible that a parent would pay their child to knock down players! Of course fairly recently wasn't there the father of a young baseball player that wanted his son to hurt a mentally challenged player so that the boy wouldn't be able to play?

Shocking what some people will do.

You know the ironic thing about the obnoxious parents at Sunday's game is that earlier in the season my DH was talking to the other coach of the team. He was telling my DH that when a kids tries out for their team they really check out the parents, too, because they want parents that will get along with the other parents because they have such a great bunch of parents. The "B Team Parents" must have shown up on Sunday.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Does your league have a rule about the way you should slide? When I played softball, if we absolutely knew that we were going to make contact then we could not slide feet forward with our cleats on. We had to make an effort to slide arm, head or chest first. If contact was made when sliding feet first, it was considered malicious and ejecting from the game happened. If it was the first time then you played the next game but if you had a warning already then no next game.

 

[LvsTnk]

Putting aside weather or not it was intentional how can they suspend him for more than one game? I love when people make up their own rules. Could it be that they fear your team.

People really need to keep their mouths shut except for cheering on the team before, during, and after an event. My oldest was at sectionals wrestling last year when a member of the team hosting the event actually told my DH to get the **** out of his school?? He was right up in his face. He was upset because DH was cheering on my son and he was going against his teammate.

Really people need to calm down. I mean people too kids and adults.

Oh and by the way DD plays soccer (HS,club) and they are taught to roll around and bleed that fall for all its worth.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

They are just trying to protect the kids.

That's true and seriously I agree. But as a catcher you do have an increased chance of a player running into you, which is why they have to slide into home. And if my son really was being malicious then I would so totally agree with the outcome. But knowing that he was trying to avoid contact, but it happened so fast given the physics of the situation that it was nearly impossible.

 

[phorsenuf]

Not in most youth baseball games around here.

My son plays in a couple of AAU tournaments a year that do not have a mandatory slide rule -- but other than that that runner is out. They have a choice of sliding, trying to run around the catcher but within the baseline, or trying returning to 3rd base and/or force a run-down. Whether or not to eject the player and apply different penalties is the decision of the umpire.

I'm sorry this happened to your son. But I've had kids playing baseball for years. I've seen a couple of concussions and a broken leg, and more kids taken to the hospital than I can even remember.

Once they hit about 12 or 13, those kids start to play hard and fast and the injuries get much more serious. They are just trying to protect the kids.

I know what you are saying but if kids want to make high school grade ball or higher you have to play aggresive. I don't mean to the point of purposely taking people out but you certainly can't tip-toe around them.
But, if you are going to catch you have to take the knocks.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Putting aside weather or not it was intentional how can they suspend him for more than one game? I love when people make up their own rules. Could it be that they fear your team.

That's their policy. Stupid policy maybe, for something unintentional, but policy regardless.

The coach of the other team was ok with my son playing, knowing that he has a good batting average, so at least that wasn't in question. Our team can still win tonight and hopefully will. They haven't lost a game all season so why being tonight?

Yeah, one mom almost picked a fight with me because one of our parents questioned the umpire when the catcher blocked the line when he didn't have the ball and the mother started yelling at our dad. I told her "shhhh" and "let the umpire handle it, the parents need to stay out of it" and she got enraged. The umpire told the dad (who used to be one of the coaches) that he couldn't talk to him unless he was a coach and if he was a coach he shouldn't be sitting in the bleachers, which was totally fair. But for that mom to start yelling was .

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Does your league have a rule about the way you should slide?

Not that I know of, but I'm not sure. I usually see them slide headfirst into home. The only time I see a head first slide is when the pitcher is trying to pick them off when they are on base. I'll ask tonight, though.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

And the worst thing about all this is having this stress at a time that I have all this Halloween candy staring me in the face. Not good!!!

 

[Tigger&Belle's DD <3]

I wish I was home to help you with that, Mom!! LOL.

At least Zach has that to distract him from the stupid baseball stuff.

 

[KAMLEM]

Does your league have a rule about the way you should slide? When I played softball, if we absolutely knew that we were going to make contact then we could not slide feet forward with our cleats on. We had to make an effort to slide arm, head or chest first. If contact was made when sliding feet first, it was considered malicious and ejecting from the game happened. If it was the first time then you played the next game but if you had a warning already then no next game.

My DD plays competitive softball and in her league they are not allowed to slide head first, it has to be feet first.

 

[Tigger&Belle's DD <3]

That's what I don't understand. If Zach slid head-first, it would have hurt HIM probably just as much! It's not like his cleats made contact with the pitcher first.