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Calling Games

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:23 am
by sixofdiamonds
Some league members expect to play softball and will play it in almost any kind of foul weather. Not playing is just not in their DNA. Another group of league members could be labeled fair weather players. They just don't like playing in adverse conditions. Making both groups happy with the decision to cancel or play games in dicey weather is always a tough call.

There are 2 sides to every coin. Getting ready and driving to a field that just became unplayable with subsequent game postponements does suck. Getting ready and driving to a perfectly playable field where your game has been prematurely postponed sucks just as much.

My job as league director has me so tuned into the weather all of the time. Weathermen (and women) rarely get it right. Mother Nature herself can throw curve balls your way at any time. I can't begin to tell you how many times a nasty looking storm approached from the West only to dissipate as it crossed the mountains. The opposite scenario can occur just as often- rain that develops out of nowhere like pop-up t-storms.

Games cannot be called based on a weather event that might occur in the future. The ball field has to make the call. If the field is playable, play ball! If the field is not playable, the games get postponed. These are the guidelines the league and its umpires have always followed. These are the guidelines the league and its umpires will continue to follow. There is no other way.

As heard on every schedule on the Game Line, "In the event of inclement weather, call the Game Line and please call it often as games may be postponed at any given time".

The ball field makes the call.