10-26-2020, 11:28 AM
As a Little League scorekeeper, I've seen plenty of plays like the one that ended game 4. All strictly my opinion, but in a 12-year old game...
Outfielder boots the ball--Little League error
Cut-off player's throw is to the wrong side of the plate--not a Little League error because it was catchable and easily beat the runner who was tumbling on the ground at the time
Catcher fails to catch the ball--Little League error
Pitcher does not backup the catcher--mental error, but not a Little League error
In the real MLB world, probably should only be one error, since the runner was going to take third without any error and the batter was going to take second--not sure why?--on the throw to the plate.
Lazy Little League scorekeeper would have called it a 2 RBI double.
The hardest plays to scorekeep are what I call "double pickles." Base runners on first and second try to advance on a passed ball and the ball gets tossed all over the infield as the defensive players fail to tag out the runners, who both take multiple bases. I've scored such fiascos as "E-all" or "E-many" because I can't keep track of the positions, the order in which they touched the ball, and who was ultimately responsible for allowing the runner at second to score and the runner at first to make it to third. This happened a lot at the 9- or 10-year old level, when a lot of kids are pitching and playing "real" catcher for the first time.
Lazy Little League scoreekeeper would call it a double steal.
Outfielder boots the ball--Little League error
Cut-off player's throw is to the wrong side of the plate--not a Little League error because it was catchable and easily beat the runner who was tumbling on the ground at the time
Catcher fails to catch the ball--Little League error
Pitcher does not backup the catcher--mental error, but not a Little League error
In the real MLB world, probably should only be one error, since the runner was going to take third without any error and the batter was going to take second--not sure why?--on the throw to the plate.
Lazy Little League scorekeeper would have called it a 2 RBI double.
The hardest plays to scorekeep are what I call "double pickles." Base runners on first and second try to advance on a passed ball and the ball gets tossed all over the infield as the defensive players fail to tag out the runners, who both take multiple bases. I've scored such fiascos as "E-all" or "E-many" because I can't keep track of the positions, the order in which they touched the ball, and who was ultimately responsible for allowing the runner at second to score and the runner at first to make it to third. This happened a lot at the 9- or 10-year old level, when a lot of kids are pitching and playing "real" catcher for the first time.
Lazy Little League scoreekeeper would call it a double steal.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)