Top of 8th inning, semi-final game, and there is a drop-dead/revert to previous completed inning time limit in place and there is 10 minutes left.

I’ve run tournaments so I know the challenges, but I think drop dead – and especially revert – is wrong … declare last inning whenever you need to but then you have to finish it.

We score 3 quick runs to take the lead with only 1 out. How would you play this and how would you proceed if you were the home team? Be honest…

OUR COACH’S ANSWER

Great question!

I am not a fan of the “drop-dead” rule either, but it is what it is… The answer below is based on me being the coach of a competitive traveling team, not a regular season in-house game.

I am assuming that my team is losing after the bottom of the 7th inning. If I score 3 quick runs and take the lead in the 8th and there are 10 minutes left, I have my kids strike out to end the inning. I get my kids out there and ready to go with no warm-up pitches. The other team will try to take it’s time, but I would be all over the ump to get them moving because we are ready.

If I am the home team, I tell my kids to take their normal time and get prepared to hit like usual. I may tell my kids to take a step out of the box in between pitches. I definitely tell my players that they are “taking” a strike. No swinging until they get one strike on them.

Basically, we will do what we need to do within the rules to win the game. We didn’t make the rules, so we will use them to our benefit if possible. However, we will not give the umpire a hard time if he hurries us somewhat…

I hope that helps!

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