Strike Zone Mat
- Thread starter RAG101
- Start date
Country469
Well-Known Member
How ****ing boring is it gonna be when 24 men get together and watch an underhand ball miss the mat all night cuz they can't throw strikes. The ball comes in 12 mph underhand, if you can't hit a ball close to the zone well, its because you suck.
RAG101
New Member
I agree. I'm not for the idea exactly but this league is for complete beginners. Most of which have never picked up a bat before. This can get immensely boring anyhow but more times than not it results in the umps widening the strike zone to just speed everything up.
tonys1
Moderator
It sounds like you answered your own question though.
Country469
Well-Known Member
This is exactly what should happen at that level.
Games last an hour, keep them moving or no one wants to play.
Begginers need action, balls in play, constant learning, and the best way to do that is force the ball in play, not via walks.
Super boring. All the leagues around me have put it in play and it has slowed the games down to a crawl and made everything a walk-fest, especially in Upper when guys know the strike zone.
It has also made the quality of umpires a joke, because they stick someone back there who can say strike if it hits the mat of not and that's it. Forget close plays or infield fly's.
EAJuggalo
Addicted to Softballfans
As a good umpire, I hate the damn mats. Most of the guys I have to work with locally, love them. Ours go three inches in front of the plate, three inches on either side and two feet straight back from the point. I might have 10 pitches a game that hit the mat to get called strikes, of those maybe two would be strikes without the mat. Of course this is not counting the pitches that get put into play. There is no skill in pitching to those mats and it is impossible for batters to reach the entire "strike zone" from one position.
Iceman6409
Active Member
Just my two cents. Where I am I have two leagues that use the mat. One is the normal rubber mat but the other one uses a wood cut out of the mat.. I LOVE the wood mat for what it's worth. Everyone in the park can hear if that ball touches any part of the plate and there is zero argument about what is a ball or strike. However I find it does shift the focus onto the arc of the pitch. The league with the rubber mat doesn't seem to care as much if a pitch is high or low. The wood mat league is freakin crazy about it. Just that league. That league is a 6-12 league and if they feel a pitch is 12' 1" they go nuts if we don't call it illegal in the air. However in my case I find mat ball speeds up the games. Much less arguing about what is a ball or strike and with a 1-1 start count the are forced to swing. Overall though I have mixed feelings about it. I could go either way. Just my opinion
dttruax
Addicted to Softballfans
Around here most of the umps play "invisible mat ball".... you know, where there is no strike mat, but they only call strikes based on where the ball hits behind the plate, not where it crosses. That and pitches being called "deep" are my 2 biggest peeves while pitching.
Chris_R
I Thought I Reacted Well
We've played with a mat for a couple of seasons now in one of my leagues. It's been a blessing and a curse...for the exact same reasons. I've seen more people go down looking than ever before because our crappy umps pretty much call everything that touches the mat a strike, regardless of where it crosses. The only times we hear "illegal pitch" is if it's 20'+ high or nearly rolled on the ground.
Oh, and hitting the plate itself is a strike too.
Oh, and hitting the plate itself is a strike too.
ilyk2win
Addicted to Softballfans
Uhm, isn't THE purpose of the mat to clearly define what is a strike based on where it lands. So if it hits the mat they SHOULD call that a strike. Where it crosses is totally out of the equation when there's a mat. Maybe it's just the way you worded it???
But if it's a "complete beginner's league" (OP), why are players questioning strike calls? Players that have never picked up a bat before FOR SURE don't know all of the ruiles of the game and certainly don't know the definition of the strike zone in slowpitch.
This whole thread is confusing.....
Chris_R
I Thought I Reacted Well
No, you're right. I didn't word it right. I was mainly talking about the pitch heights and lack of pitches being called illegal because the umps in our league are so bad. Take last night for example, I was standing way up in the box because the pitcher had shown a tendency to throw short to all the hitters in front of me. His first pitch to me was higher and deeper. The pitch probably hit 15-16' and came past me above eye level, but ended up catching the back inch of the mat for strike 2.
irishmafia
Addicted to Softballfans
A perfect example why it isn't "real" softball if there is a mat
MaverickAH
Well-Known Member
Is it a mat ball league? If not, what's the sense? If I'm you ump & it's not a mat ball league, guess where that mat is going???
Let me ask you this...….
What's more difficult for a beginner? Hitting a slowly lobbed softball or consistently hitting a 17" x 34" rectangle area on the ground from 50'?
I can guarantee you that it's the latter!
I do a coed mat league every week. The good thing is that it's 45 minute games, innings are capped at 6 runs, they start with a 1-1 count & games consist of 6 innings. Even with that, legal strikes can be hard to come by. Thank goodness that most competent hitters don't want to take a walk & will swing any anything remotely close. Only the hitters who are horrible look for a walk.
My experience has been that if players aren't swinging, playing with a mat can slow the game down to a crawl if the pitcher can't hit it. A mat takes away an umpire's discretion to move the game along. There's also nothing worse than having a 4'11" girl trying to cover the entire area of the mat!
Iceman6409
Active Member
Iceman6409
Active Member
Most of the umpires and most of the players where I am call and want the supposed "deep" pitch called. I refuse to do it and apparently I am one of the few. I have looked in the rule book multiple times and nowhere does it say anything about where the ball lands whether it is a strike or ball. But it CLEARLY states it is where the ball crosses the plate according to the batters individual strike zone. Deep does not exist in any rule book I know of. I even had a tournament team one time who pulled me aside after a game, very nicely I might add, and we had an honest discussion on the strike zone as they were not pleased with my calling of the where the ball crosses the plate. They told me they all felt that if a ball crosses the plate and is caught in the air by the catcher, set up in a normal catcher position, that they wanted that called a ball because they feel if a catcher catching the pitch in the air, even though it went over the plate belt high and it was within the arc, HAS to have excessive speed on it.
Couldn't believe that. They even put me in the batters box and had a pitcher pitch balls to the catcher with me in the box. Every single pitch that came across the plate in my zone was caught by the catcher in the air. PERFECT pitches. They told me those are all supposed to be called a ball. And it wasn't just a few of the players. Every single player was on the same page. To this day I cannot wrap my head around that at all. We all walked away agreeing to disagree. Freakin nuts.
But the overall message is a if a properly pitched ball crosses home plate within the batters strike zone it is to be called a strike no matter where it lands unless there really is excessive speed. Deep does not exist in the rule book nor does it say anywhere that an umpire should make a ball or strike call based on where it lands.
r8dr_rider
Well-Known Member
Why isn’t it “real” softball? Actually real softball is fast pitch for females. So if you really want to play real softball tuck it in and try to keep up with them girls.
If not keep drinking and play the slow pitch game with or without a mat. Who really cares? Are you going pro or what???
Why does this thread exist? We are playing a sport where a ball is thrown at like 10 mph in an arc.
irishmafia
Addicted to Softballfans
Played both in the 70's and softball was not originally a girls game. But you have these wannabe players who still take the first strike because that is what they were taught in little league when they were children. I helped to eliminate that. You're welcome.
.
Mat ball isn't real because it eliminates the strike zone which is just about the same as it was in the 1930's. Just as well play t-ball, but many would probably quit when the 6yo out hits them
In USA seniors it’s part of their game. It can good or bad. You may not realize certain things about the strike mat. My very time calling a game using a mat, a guy pitching obviously pitched his whole life threw a awesome breaking ball. It clearly went from one corner all thru the strike zone as a perfectly thrown strike. However, as the ball landed it missed the mat by centimeters. I was raising my arm to call the strike but caught myself in time. Now here is one thing you may not know. The entire base plate now is part of the mat. If that pitch touches it anywhere it’s a strike. No more dead ball calls.