DirtyRiders wrote:JonRiv I respect your opinion. Maybe the post was a little harsh. I was just looking for opinions on how you protect the players today. I was advocating trying to hurt anyone and I apologize if it came off that way. I am not a Coach and none of the kids involved were my daughters. But I do disagree that when a runner barrels over an unprotected catcher that it is not poor sportsmanship...it is a situation where a serious injury could have occurred. So I will ask it another way? If you were the coach how would you have protected that kid?
My daughter was involved with a similar incident (also in 14u) several years ago at an ASA tournament in Saugerties NY. She was catching and the runner rammed my daughter old school style to dislodge the ball(my D held on) There was no call by the ump and the UIC was also unresponsive. My DD suffered disc damage and pain for many years(one of the reasons she became an outfielder) I'm not sure how further escalation would have provided any protection? Obviously the rules should have been enforced and the player should have been ejected. I was one of the coaches and I pointed out to the ump(and UIC) in the rule book , but beyond that ordering pitchers to start beaning 13 year old girls- sorry, just makes it worse.