33-1

Do you tell kids to stop playing?--you put in the second string and they want to impress---you always play to win and play hard--sometimes things cannot be prevented---the losing team may have been just that bad even after the winner went deep into their bench

How many innings did the game go? In our state there is a "mercy" rule that ends a game after 5 innings if a team is up by 10 runs.

Still I've seen plenty of 33 to 1 type scores even in the 5th inning. It occurs because a few teams are really awful, with pitchers who can't throw strikes. Our state champ, using an ace 90 mph pitcher could probably beat some teams 100 to zip in a 7 inning game if they tried, and if there were no mercy rule..

Wonder what the record for a lopsided HS game is. Certainly much worse than 33-1.

Games went 7 innings as far as I know....sounds like someone should have shown mercy at 5. The state champs did pitch their star for 3 innings....and that's not going over well on the boards.....

I should add that scoring one run against the state champ is an accomplisment. Some of our local teams couldn't do that.

There should be no 10 run/mercy rule at the HS level or any other level for that matter--- use the game as part of the learning and baseball education process

Use the game to give the subs playing time---the winner throwing their ace only three innings is fine---no "in your face stuff" there---obviously the losing team was overmatched no matter how deep the winner went into their bench

The game is over-- you go on !!!!

The game was five innings. After one inning, the score was 11-0. One player in that inning had two home runs, including a grand slam, and seven RBIs. The score easily could have been 50-0, but the winning team (after the third inning) essentially advanced one base at a time on balls hit to the wall along with putting in many backup players (who for most other teams not only would start but would hit in the heart of the order).

It was amazing the game ever ended, as outs were exceedingly difficult to come by.

quote:

The state champs did pitch their star for 3 innings....and that's not going over well on the boards.....

Yeah, I see their point. Maybe the coach was padding the kids stats for the scouts.

This brings up a related topic: Our HS coach never seems to vary his rotation. Our #1 pitcher will sometimes face an easy opponant (no, not THAT easy). Is that common? Would most coaches have their ace skip an easy start if the following game were much tougher?

jemaz

I ask you is that the winning teams fault?

Three innings for the starter is no big thing-- he needs to gets innings in for the season--if the opposition cannot get outs whose fault is that?

What is with all the "bleeding Hearts"---after the game is over the kids forget it and go on the next game--let the parents back off and relax

About skipping your #1 starter ....

We only play on the average 2 games/week, so skipping your #1 guy doesn't make sense. There are situations where he would go a whole week without pitching at all.

You have to have faith in your #2 guy. Come playoffs, you must have him plus a quality #3. A good coach keeps his rotation intact while getting innings for his top 3-4 on a consistent basis.

TR:

In the spirit of full disclosure, my second son plays for the winning team. And, no, it was not the winning team's fault. The losing team is a school of more than 1500 students in an area exploding with growth. They have historically been this bad (although not quite 33-1). It is a game that no one ever wants to play. No one ever even wants to make the drive (about 30 miles).

But I agree with your points fully and I am amazed at the tenor of the discussion in certain places. And, no, the coach was not attempting to pad the "ace's" stats for the scouts. He already is signed, sealed and delivered for next year to Stanford. The pitcher who would have been next will probably be a top two round draft pick in June and the one after that is junior who is being recruited heavily already by every Pac 10 school and a lot of others.

I agree with TR. Don’t blame the winning squad.

The question should be, why is the losing team so bad?

Were they similar size schools? Is this the first time they have played against each other? If not, is the score normally this lopsided?

It was said that the winning team took steps to minimize the damage. That is commendable to the extent it doesn’t make a complete travesty of the game.

I’d like to know if the winners won with class and did the losers lose with class?

I would hope that the losing team isn’t spending time feeling sorry for themselves, it sounds like they need all the time they can get, to work on their game.

Didn't mean to start a problem....we don't play either team....and don't live in the same area of the state....it was a point of curiosity....

What I'm hearing is that there is no way the team could have kept the score down....and bleeding hearts need to quit....correct?

If the loser is a school of 1500 in the Greater Phoenix area, it seems to me that what they should be upset about is the head coach and AD of the school that got beat so bad. Out of a student population in the Phoenix area, if you can't field a decent team it sure looks to me like the problem is not with a great team that pounded them, but with their own baseball program. They need to look in the mirror.

We once played a game like that. In the last inning or two, the kids all decided to bat from the opposite side. We continued to pull away.

Sometimes coaches will order no stealing in lopsided games.
---
One problem with a mercy rule is that those shortened games always seem to occur on gorgeous 72 degree days when everyone wants to play forever.

Georgia has a run rule of 15 after 3 and 10 after 5. You don't steal but you don't ask kids to stop working of the fundamentals of hitting and baserunning. If you bunt, next kid gets it.

First of all I hate the 10 run rule in HS. There are many times we would like to get other kids in the game but they miss out on innings. We were up the other night 6-0 in the bottom of the 4th. Too early to make massive subs but we are thinking if we score 4 and hold them the game is over. We scored 5 and started getting kids at bats. We put some guys in the top of the fifth but we shut them out and the game was over. Would have been nice to see those guys get a chance to play a couple of innings. As far as 33-1 in my opinion it says more to the lack of ability of the looser than it does to the winner. The team that lost should not be upset at the winner but at themselves. What are they doing to get better and what have they been doing? If we get 10 runed I have no problem with the winning team they are supposed to try to score. They are supposed to play hard untill the last out. My guys better or they wont play. Dont you think subs are trying to prove themselves when they get a chance to play. I bet the subs on the winning team were as good or better than the starters on the loosing team. I dont see a problem except with a team that is capable of getting beat 33-1 by another HS team.

ANY COACH, in my opinion, that permits his team to beat another baseball team by a score of 33-1, has NO CLASS!!!!!

quote:

ANY COACH, in my opinion, that permits his team to beat another baseball team by a score of 33-1, has NO CLASS!!!!!

What should that coach have done? Take half his players off the field?

Take this for what it's worth.

Our school-First year in existence class 6A Florida lost to Apopka HS 21-0(11-0 in first
inning with no outs)!

Second year we lost 5-3.

Last year we won 4-3.

All three years Apopka was ranked at least top 15 in state.

We had a young team to begin with and most of the boys on the 21-0 team were there
for the victory last year. They survived, the victory was sweet.

I do have to admit though, that it really has to be tough to get up to play a team
with little or no talent. I don't believe it helps either team. JMO

quote:

Originally posted by BeenthereIL:
ANY COACH, in my opinion, that permits his team to beat another baseball team by a score of 33-1, has NO CLASS!!!!!

A most ridiculous statement.

MOC


I agree with that it makes it that much sweeter for the beaten to win two years down the road.

I also agree that helps neither teams to be in games like these

BUT

When you put the subs in and the other team still cant field and get outs what can you do as a coach--- are you going to tell kids to strike out on purpose---NO WAY !!!!

Beenthere--it has nothing to do with a coaches class --sometimes s--t happens and it cannot be prevented--it not fun on either side but you do not stop the game because of the score --not at the HS level

Yesterday in Las Vegas...A high school baseall score was 32-2. There were 26 runs in the 3rd inning. Wow.

Thats HS baseball !!!!!

222-0

Both Georgia Tech and Cumberland are able to laugh at that most famous score...89 years later.

Georgia Tech used every sub on the team, too.

Oh, I almost forgot. One reason that Tech pounded Cumberland in football was that Cumberland's baseball team had beaten Tech 22-0 the year before.

Tech's baseball and football coach was John Heisman, as in the trophy.
http://www.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/gamestory.html

TR...you have a PM

arizonared

Got it and back atcha

OK guys we are killing them. This is what I want you to do strike out on purpose. Get picked off on purpose. Make errors on purpose. Walk some guys on purpose. And you subs dont try to get a hit or score. If your hitting the ball and they can not make a play what do you do? If they cant throw a strike what do you do? It would be more humiliating to me for a team to not try than to try.

The winning coach in the game in question has only been coaching HS baseball for 35 years or so and is one of the more esteemed coaches in the nation. He's a prominent USA baseball guy as well. In other words, he has no reason to pad stats or the like.
I saw them play the next day and they dropped a 17 spot on that opponent...it also could have been much much worse.

The difference between 33-1 and 10-1 is nothing.

If the winning coach empties his bench, gets kids some innings and ABs and isn't trying to take extra bases, hey, that's the way it goes. He's not disrespecting the opponent.

The only thing I'd say is if it's a non-league team, try to avoid scheduling the game. If it's a league situation or a scheduling date you can't prevent, then play it and made the best of it.

All the folks who get outraged about the score, remember, if you play the game long enough you'll be on the winning end of a game like this. You'll be on the losing end one day, too.

OldVaman,

I agree with your take and don't see 33-1 as any big deal. It happens in all sports. It might be news, which isn't the case here, if the team tried to run up the score by piling on while using only the starters or something like that. Sometimes it happens with the inferior team laying the wood on. Last summer, the Indians put 22 runs up on the Yankees which I believe was their all-time worst defeat. Of course, the Yankees promptly came back and won the remaining games of the series.

Coach May - I also agree with you as well, other than playing your reserves and playing station-to-station, there is nothing you can do but play. Anthing less IMHO risks injury - especially in baseball.

OLDVAMAN

Have been on both ends a number of times and sometimes the score does not indicate the true game that was played.

This past fall we were in a game that 0-0 into the 5th and we were no hitting them and we lost 11-1. Sometimes the wheels just come off the wagon so fast you cannot stop it

Once again, in my opinion, any high school coach that "buries" an opponent 33-1, has NO CLASS!!!!

That is my opinion.

Coach May...If you were in the dugout on the opposite side of the diamond and ran up the score on me, we would have plenty of "problems".

Just because the "mope" on the other side of the diamond didn't know enough to pull his players off of the field to avoid getting embarrassed, doesn't mean you should "bury" his kids!...It's all about the "kids" isn't it.

What lesson did the kids who got buried possibly learn? To hate the other coach and the other players, that's all.

BEEN

Nobody is talking about running up the score-- there are times that it can't be prevented and no way do your kids to "make out" on purpose nor do I pull them off the field

Beenthere,

You are saying it is the coaches fault. Let me ask, what is the coach supposed to do? It has been stated that he progressed 1 base at a time, put in subs, etc. Instead of condemning, offer a solution. I could not find one other than the other team forfeiting. That is certainly not an answer for the winning team. So what do you do? Tell the kids to swing and miss? What do you do?

I suppose the winning team could have intentionally walked about 35 kids in a row to even up the score.

I doubt that would have made folks any happier though.

If I am beating someone badly we pull are starters. Play station to station baseball. No stealing or advancing on pass balls. No bunting no hit and run etc. Outside of that what are you supposed to do Beenthere? You tell me? If you are in the other dugout and you have a problem with me when Im trying to do everything I can not to embarrass you I could care less. Im not going to strike out on purpose. Im not going to tell my subs not to try. You can call the game if you want to. I would be more upset with the opposing team if they did strike out on purpose and didnt try.

Coach May,

I get not wanting to humiliate anyone as is being suggested by some. I think it would be even more humiliating however if the winning team were to condescend or patronize the losing team by essentially giving up or trying to "play down" - it would be the ultimate sign of disrespect. It seems as though there are unwritten rules in baseball for handling this situation at all levels and beyond those, there is not much you can do. The more interesting situation is when to go into station-to-station mode in the first place. Occasionally, teams go into the mode and wished they hadn't.

I agree with Coach May. My son's team played a very very small private school several years ago. We have a 10 after 5 inning rule here, but we couldn't get to 5 to end it. Our coach cleared the bench, station to station, etc. It's a very fine line between doing that and slapping the other team in the face with an arrogance that they can't get an out on their own. You have to do what you can with what you got - put in the kid to pitch that never gets to pitch, etc. However, to stand between 2nd and 3rd like "here I am - please get me out" would be patronizing and disrespectful. By the way, this team is on our schedule again this year at their request. Will the coach start our starters? We'll see.