Expert: Tom Mielke - 7/2/2009

Question
My daughter plays in the 9-12 year old softball league. Last night the opposing coach got mad because my daughter was throwing a no hitter against him team into the 4th inning. He had his girls to start screaming "hey pitcher, look at us" while she was pitching. I asked the umpire if he could stop this. He did but the other coach got very mad and said we were creating rules. He believed this was no different that chanting "Hey batter batter swing". The umpire told him it was different and made his team quit. The coach then along with some other spectators then chose to start screaming at our batters. In the end the result was the same. In five innings my daughter struck out 10 and only gave up one hit. I was just wanting to know what the rules actually say about this, and how can i get a copy of the rules. Thank you

Answer
Charles,

You won't find anything specific to your issue in the rules.  The rules do give the authority to penalize a team or player for making a "travesty" of the game.  Go to www.nfhs.com to buy a copy of the high school rules.  Search out your district ASA commissioner for a copy of ASA rules.

Tom