BleacherCoaches.com

Just found this very amusing. In yesterday's BM vs Bedford softball game. The Tribune has BM listed for 26 hits. The Altoona Mirror has 10. Seriously, how could there be a 16 hit difference. Are they counting any ball in play a hit? The error difference was 3 compared to 7. So what happened on the other 12?

Isnt there such a thing as an OFFICIAL scorer? How hard is it to check with that person? They don't have to be right, but they are the official stat keeper.

The home team's scorebook is the official book.

Again, why aren't the head coaches on top of this stuff?

There are so many head coaches that are horrible at doing a book, or reading a scorebook. Really it's sad how many really don't know those basic things about the game. When you aren't there and have to take the box score on the phone you are at their mercy as to how accurate things are.

I can back up what Ty says. We're happy to get the teams calling in. That said, scorekeeping isn't a high priority in hiring coaches. We've had numerous instances this year when we've had to explain to coaches or scorekeepers what constitutes an RBI and, on rarer occasions, a hit or an extra-base hit. But, without actually being at the game, you never can tell if the coach or whoever is keeping the book is doing it right. We even have some teams that don't keep things for the opposing teams.

Also, while scorekeepers are supposed to communicate (more so in basketball, when they should be sitting together and need to be on the same page with things like fouls and score), that often doesn't happen. I had to harp on it when I coached, telling the scorekeeper to repeat outloud who committed the foul or who scored the basketball and the correct score. Sometimes kids do it, though, and getting them to talk in a situation like that was as hard as teaching the players how to run their plays.

On top of that, while the home book is considered to be the official book, that team wouldn't necessarily be reporting to all the papers. For instance, Bedford would have called the McCort game in to the Mirror, even if it was in Johnstown, because McCort isn't part of the Mirror coverage area. Everett might call in a game with Tussey to the Mirror and the Bedford Gazette, but Tussey would report it to the Huntingdon Daily News.

We also ask coaches to have first name of key players on both teams as well as team records. Seems like that would be easy for the scorekeeper to track down while the teams were getting the equipment together and getting ready to leave, but we probably don't get that at least one-third of the time. That can be an issue when both teams are local and you have to look up the information on a deadline with 30 more events being reported.

We've started a dialogue with the District 6 ADs where we might be able to work something where all home teams would report boxes at least for basketball via email to every paper in the district. The initial reception was good, but obviously there'll be some things that have to be worked out with it.

What's the deal with this: It's been pointed out to me, several times, that when there is a 3 man ump crew, TWO checks are written out, and it's up to the three to agree how it's split. Why not just ONE check? First of all, if you can have 3 umps for some games, why can't you get them every game? And personally, I don't think 3 necessarily do a better job than 2. It seems there are just as many controversies. Just last week in a FH home game, I'm not going to mention any names here, but you can probably infer from many of my previous posts to whom I'm referring. There were men on base, there was a controversial call at first base, and an appeal was made. The home ump says "I didn't see it, I'm watching 3rd base." The ump behind the mound says "I didn't see it, I'm watching second base." Who the hell is supposed to watch it then? The home umps need to have sufficient skill set to make calls other than balls and strikes, and this particular ump seems to know nothing else. Not to mention his variable strike zone.