After all the years scoring with a paper and pencil, there were some things that turned into habit, and I’m finding there are some things happening using a program to score that are turning into habits too. The trouble with habits is, they can and often do cause trouble, and when you least expect it. 
This happened to me yesterday. I hope it never happens to you, but if it does, be prepared to swallow a heap-o-humble-pie like I had to.
We were in the 4th inning of a game where nothing special was going on. We were the home team, and it was 1-0,us, in the bottom of the 4th. Our leadoff hitter, #4 in the lineup, had just flown out to center on a routine play. #5 worked the count to 3-2 after being up 3-0, and popped the ball to the 1st baseman. I’ve learned not to expect an out, and sure enough, the ball clunked off the glove and the batter was safe. No biggee, ROE3.
The next batter was 2-2 after 6 pitches, and the runner got stupid, and got picked. But as luck would have it, the relay from F3 wasn’t in time. No biggee. POSB, R1 moves to 2nd. A K made it 2 down, and a walk make it runners on 1st and 2nd. The next boy was a JV call up the other day, and his granddad was sitting close at hand and we’d been talking off and on during the game. The boy got one on the screws and sent a liner into left center for his 2nd hit of the game, and his 1st Varsity RBI. No biggee, R2 scores, R1 goes to 2nd.
Next batter gets hit to load the bases, and its still nothing special going on. Now our leadoff hitter is up. He hits a bouncer that looks like its gonna be trouble from the outset. Of course the runners are moving on contact, but the ball is hit slowly enough that the batter beats it easily for an IF hit. No biggee yet, but then 5 makes a throw to 1st that’s in the dirt, and we have a snowball fight!
R3 scores, R2 goes to 3rd, and Ri goes to 2nd. Not really a big deal, but it takes a bit of time to get all the players moved, make sure the runs score, and make sure the right fielder gets the error. I’m talking maybe 15-20 seconds at most, but those few seconds really created a problem.
The next batter singles to left center for 2 more runs, and the score is 6-0. R3 scores and R2 scores. Next batter hits a routine ground out and the inning’s over.
Our pitcher gets them 1-2-3 on 10 pitches, and here we come again. Our 1st batter hits a popup to 2nd, and yes, it was another brick. ROEF4. The runner steals 2nd before the batter flies out to left. The next batter Ks, and the next is hit. The next batter drops a beauty of a bunt and beats it out to load the bases.
Up walks out leadoff hitter, just like the last inning, and I look to see what he’d done in his 1st AB. WHOA! Hold on a minute. The computer says it’s the #9 hitter, but the leadoff hitter is standing there with a bat in his hand. Before I can figger out what the heck’s goin’ on, this kid hits a screamer into RCF that clears the bases, makes the score 9-0, and by the time I move all the players around, the next player has hit a duck fart over the F5’s head and in front of the F7. Of course the runner was moving on contact, and he scores easily and the batter is standing on 2nd with a double. The umpire asks me if that was the 10th run, I say yes, and the game is called.
But I’m still looking at the wrong player having gotten the winning hit as far as the computer is concerned, and I haven’t got a clue what the heck happened. The other scorer is Pod and left in a big hurry, so I’m sitting there with my teeth in my mouth wondering if I’ll be able to figger out what happened.
I get home and begin looking around, trying to see what the heck happened, but can’t for the life of me see it. So, I called the father of the kid who’d hit the 2 pops that got dropped, and between us we got it down to what happened in those 15-20 seconds. I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on on the field because I was bizzy moving runners, and it turns out the opposing coach IBBd our batter! I didn’t see him go, and the IBB wasn’t announced so I didn’t hear it. So, when I looked up, just in time to see the single drive in the 2 runners, nothing clicked. And when the inning was over on just one pitch to the next batter, it was too late.
Well, it took a bit of maneuvering, but I went back and re-entered the whole thing from the IBB on so all the numbers would be correct, but the whole thing took a lot more time than I wanted to spend on it. So now I have to instill a new habit in myself, to not “trust” the computer.
I got had by “Garbage in; Garbage out!”