Mailboxes across the state should be filled very soon
- if not already - with the
Spring 2013 edition of "The Softball
News". As usual, the Spring version of this publication is
full of a wealth of information teams should find very useful as we
head into a new season including rule changes, tournament schedules,
classification guidelines, reclassified teams and rules clinic
dates. There are also regular articles like "President's
Report", "Commissioner's Column", "From Behind The Catcher" and "Ump
Chat". Speaking of the "Commissioner's Column", there is an
article announcing the resignation of state commissioner Jim Hanley
at the end of the year.
The biggest news, however, involves the North Dakota
Softball Hall of Fame as
five new members were announced.
Congratulations to this year's Hall of Fame inductees Tim Burckhard,
Darcie Hanson, Tim Michelsen, Don Minette and Mike Wolf.
This year's banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April
20th at the Jamestown Civic Center.
We are pleased to announce that we added to our
Forms page a blank copy of our team rosters.
However, we have implemented features that will allow managers to
edit many of the fields directly from their computer in hopes of
improving the legibility of the data on the rosters. Edited
rosters may be saved locally on your computer. Once all
necessary fields have been filled, the roster may then be printed in
order for signatures to be added. Due to the requirement for
these signatures, a hard copy of this roster form must still be
turned in to your local league representative. Rosters
submitted via e-mail will not be accepted.
Forty-five
umpire
and manager rules clinics have been scheduled throughout the
state in advance of the 2013 season, starting with the Deputy
Umpire-In-Chief clinic in Jamestown on March 23rd. All umpires
and managers are strongly encouraged to attend at least one of the
clinics, although anyone may do so.
Before or after most of the manager's clinics and
before or after most of the field clinics, teams will be able to get
stickers put on their bats. If you want to get bats stickered,
please bring them before or after the clinics end so as not to
interrupt the field or rules clinics. If you have questions
concerning stickers or rules clinics in general, please contact UIC
Mike Wolf or contact your local DUIC. Contact information can
be found on the Umpires page.
The biggest news out of this year's winter meeting
involved a restructuring of the
classification guidelines for Rec II & below teams in men's
slowpitch. These teams will now be allowed no more than three
players one classification higher than their own classification.
No players two or more classifications higher will be allowed.
The national guidelines for Class A, B, C, D & E/Rec I remain
unchanged.
The home run rule has also been changed at the men's
Rec III & Rec IV levels of play. Rec III state and
invitational tournaments will have a 1 home run limit with every
home run after the first being an out. Likewise, at Rec IV
tournaments, there will be no home runs allowed, meaning any home
run hit will result in an out. Local associations may still
implement whatever home run limit they like in their league games.
State tournament entry fees have been increased this
season as well. The fee to participate in the men's slowpitch
Division 1, 2 & 3 tournaments is now $200. Women's class C & D
state tournament fees are $175. All men's & women's Masters &
Rec state tournaments as well as all Junior Olympic state
tournaments now have a fee of $150.
Visit the Meeting Minutes
page for links to the complete minutes of this meeting and others
from year's past.
"We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jack
Jones as Asst. Commissioner for the NDASA. Jack has a passion for
softball and has experience in all phases of our program. We look
forward to working with Jack and the benefits he will bring to the
day to day operation of ASA softball in North Dakota."
Dick Gulmon
President, NDASA
We are proud to announce news out of the ASA meetings
in Dallas in mid-November that North Dakota has been awarded not
one, but two national tournaments in 2014. After playing host
to the Junior Olympic Girls' Fast Pitch Northern Class B 14-Under
National in 2013, Bismarck will follow that up by hosting the Junior
Olympic Girls' Fast Pitch Northern
Class B 16-Under National in 2014. Meanwhile, Mandan has been
awarded the 2014 Men's Slow Pitch Northern Class E/Rec I National.
Following is a 2012 letter submitted to ASA on behalf of the
association's Equipment Testing & Certification Committee by NDASA
President Dick Gulmon....
In the past year the
Equipment Committee, Dr. Lloyd Smith/WSU Lab and ASA staff members,
have spent a considerable amount of time on slow pitch equipment
issues and we have utilized the Trackman radar system in field
conditions for the fast pitch game as well. Trackman was used at
several events including a number of 16U and 18U GFP tournaments,
NCAA events, and slow pitch events, including the ASA Championship
Series in Oklahoma City. The Trackman technology was made possible
by a partnership developed by ASA, WSU Lab, NCAA and the NFHS for
the purchase and sharing of this technology. The Trackman
technology has proven to be essential to the decision making process
in monitoring game conditions, field standards and research.
Increasing our understanding of how equipment performs and impacts
our game will quantify how rule changes affect play so we can make
decisions about field dimensions, softballs, bats and the effects of
temperature on equipment.
More....
Advances in
technology that have improved today's slowpitch softball bats
and resulted in greater offense is not enough for some players,
some of whom have turned to illegal means of altering those same
bats. The phenomenon has become prevalent enough to
warrant some associations purchasing bat testing equipment and
the state association constantly examining the processes
involved in removing those bats from the game. With that
in mind, NDASA President Dick Gulmon is stressing to all players
and associations the
Amateur
Softball Association's Championship Play Bat Confiscation
Process (updated 11/28/2012). The oft
overlooked risk of using such bats are to the safety of those in
the field, but the risk to those using the bats is spelled out
pretty clearly:
"Any player discovered using an altered bat, including a doctored
bat or a bat with additional weight shall be called out and
suspended from further tournament competition for a minimum of two
years." (updated in the
2010 ASA Code, Article 510 M. 06)
"A
team that is discovered using or have within its possession or
control an altered bat may be disqualified from further tournament
competition."
The
document goes on to state that ASA may take possession of any bat
suspected of being altered. If proven to be altered, the player
shall surrender ownership of it permanently. Otherwise, the bat or
one of equal or greater value will be returned.
The
confiscation process documentation also contains an Incident Report
which much be completed by those who take possession of a suspect bat,
then submitted to Dick Gulmon, 883 Chautauqua Blvd, Valley City ND
58072.
The Amateur Softball
Association announced the debut on their new mobile web site
in the June 2012 edition "Ball and Strikes Online Magazine"
with the article "ASA
Softball Goes Mobile!". Per the article, ASA
Mobile allows users to....
- Search ASA
Tournaments: Users can search for and locate
current, future and past ASA National Championships and
Qualifiers.
- View ASA
Certified Equipment: The quick-use option
allows users to view and search for ASA approved and
non-approved bats and balls.
- Shop:
Users can have quick access to specific items they wish
to purchase, ranging from hats to ASA Hall of Fame
Complex event tickets.
"The new mobile-optimized website is a
different version of ASA Softball's original website,
developed to suit the hardware of smartphones. Users
will still be able to access ASASoftball.com on their phones
and desktop computers to view information not available on
M.ASASoftball.com." |
 |
From the official web site of the Amateur Softball
Association,
Softball.org...
MYRTLE
BEACH, S.C. - Ten individuals received softball's highest honor
on Wednesday evening as the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)
of America inducted ten members to the National Softball Hall of
Fame at the 31st Annual celebration in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
A night full of memories and emotions, the 2011 class consisted
of Lori Harrigan (Fast Pitch Player), Julie Johnson (Umpire),
Brian Martie (Fast Pitch Player), Rod Peterson (Manager), Lewis
Secory (Sponsor), Gary Tharaldson (Sponsor), Tim Wahl
(Fast Pitch Player), Max Wilkes (Meritorious Service), Al White
(Modified Player) and Jim Wolford (Umpire).
Gary Tharaldson - Sponsor - Fargo, North Dakota
Gary Tharaldson has dedicated much of his life to supporting ASA
Softball as a sponsor for not just one or two divisions but
across the whole spectrum of ASA Softball. He was a sponsor for
38 years of the Men's A, B and C Slow Pitch Divisions and
supported five different levels of senior ball for a total of 24
years. Tharaldson sponsored women's teams for 15 years as well
as both Boys and Girls Junior Olympic Teams. His sponsored teams
have participated in over 30 National Tournaments. Outside of
his teams, Tharaldson gave back by providing North Dakota state
tournament trophies and banners for all divisions for 12 years.
He also sponsored the North Dakota Hall of Fame Banquet for 10
years. Tharaldson has been a key component in keeping the upper
division of the McQuade Charity Tournament going. Tharaldson was
also a player during his time as sponsor winning two National
Championships and over playing 1,000 games as a pitcher. He had
a best year record of 58-2 and a career batting average of over
.600.
On behalf of everyone involved with the North Dakota Amateur
Softball Association, we would like to congratulate Gary Tharaldson.
Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to support
softball in our state and to earn your rightful place in the
National Softball Hall of Fame.
