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Bravo to Hallsville’s softball team, shame on the UIL
I wish I would have been in Lindale this weekend to watch one of the most inspiring stories of recent memory, courtesy of Hallsville’s softball team. For those who missed it, Hallsville won two games on Saturday to win the best-of-three Class 4A area series over Rockwall Heath, 2-1. Hallsville rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 5-4 win in Game 3. That alone would have been worth it. What made Hallsville’s rally even more impressive was it came after dropping a 3-2 decision on Friday … in 24 innings. I’ll write it louder … 24 INNINGS! Twenty … four … innings. Unofficially, that’s a state record. And two pitchers went the entire way to boot: Hallsville’s Kayla Jackson and Heath’s Chelsea Eddy. Someone who was at the game let me know that Jackson pitched hurt most of that game. Sometime during “regulation” in the first seven innings, a batted ball hit Jackson on her right hand, her pitching hand. She kept on pitching, and pitched 11 innings on Saturday to boot. Kudos to Eddy too for enduring the marathon of pitching. Only one other team sport comes to mind right away that often has similar marathon games: ice hockey. The NHL playoff season usually is sprinkled with games that go on and on. But some hockey players make about $10 million a year, or about $9,999,993 more than what a Hallsville Ladycat made this weekend, if they made a stop at Whataburger. The point is that NHL players are paid very well to endure physical torture. The Hallsville Ladycats aren’t, and I hope another 24-inning doesn’t come up again. The University Interscholastic League can prevent. The UIL has had this chance for years, but they haven’t made a move. In a typical Amateur Softball Association game in the offseason, as well as in-season high-school tournaments, there is a rule to reduce the possibility of marathon games considerably. If a game lasts 10 innings, a runner is placed on second base to open the 10th, usually the last batter of the previous inning. It’s called an international tiebreaker, or an ITB for short. A run that breaks the tie usually happens within three innings with the ITB in play. Of course since throwing underhand is a natural body motion, there isn’t quite the danger of a girl’s shoulder getting ruined from slinging a softball. Some pitchers will throw six games in the summer in 102-degree heat. Softball pitchers often take pride in how tough they are, and Jackson may be the best girl athlete in the area. Good, tough pitchers can take over a softball game, like what Jackson and Eddy did on Friday. But Friday’s game went six and a half hours without a break, and that’s too much. The pitchers may be able to take it, but the ability to stay alert gets dulled playing that long. When the alert guard goes down, trouble happens. What if in the 21st inning, a fastball hits a girl in the elbow, breaking it? What if in the 22nd inning, a hard-hit foul ball goes into a dugout, hitting somebody who isn’t wearing a helmet in the head? Those are extreme examples, but in today’s lawsuit-happy world, I wouldn’t be surprised if something happens in the 27th inning that hurts somebody, then the UIL gets hit with a lawsuit claiming a softball game shouldn’t last that long. A multi-million dollar lawsuit would get the UIL’s attention. This is another wake-up call for something that’s happened for years. There have been marathon games in the UIL’s backyard of the state tournament. Sanger needed 17 innings to win the Class 3A title in 2000. Keller needed 15 to beat Garland to win Class 5A in 2005. There’s just too much potential for trouble for games that long. The UIL should implement the ITB for the 2009 season. And make Friday’s Hallsville-Heath game a record that is unlikely to be broken. That would be a fine tribute to a noble group of young ladies what they endured.
Comments
By Tommy Brown
May 4, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this
I do not agree with the writer on how to end a extra inning game. I would propose to the U.I.L.,to limit the number of innings pitched to 10 innings per day,playoffs or not. This way ,hopefully, more student-athletes would be developed into pitchers,and really find out which TEAM,has the best players.