Playoff Rules

And now it counts!!

Everything up until this point has been about meeting people, building camaraderie, and having fun.  Those things can and should continue, but from this point on the games actually matter too.  So, a few things to note from a rules perspective.

Playoffs follow the normal WAKA rules with the addition of the tournament guidelines which can be found at  http://www.kickball.com/files/WAKA_League_Tournament_Guidelines.pdf.  The highlights are:

• The higher seeded team gets choice of home or away.
• A game is automatically over at the end of the 3rd inning, or any inning after, if a team is up by 12 or more runs.
• If after 5 innings the game is tied, extra innings will be played with:
• The last kicker from the previous inning starting on 2nd base and
• Only 8 fielders (4 men & 4 women).
• If a game is still tied when time expires, 3 individuals from each team will pair off and play 3 rounds of head-to-head Rock-Paper-Scissors.  The team winning 2 of the 3 rounds is the winner.

I know it can get heated in the playoffs, but as always keep in mind that only THE CAPTAIN and CO-CAPTAIN may discuss calls with the referee (others are subject to ejection from the game) and they MUST ACCEPT the final ruling of the head referee.

Good luck!

Flip Cup Rules / Etiquette

This season has seen a considerable drop in the number of rules questions I'm getting.  I'll take this opportunity to give a very BIG THANK YOU to the people who have been Head Refs this season as I suspect it's mostly due to them.  With a lack of a rules question for me to write about, I'll use this week to discuss Flip Cup.  Since Flip Cup is a gentlemanly game, it's more about etiquette than rules, but if you follow the points below, no one should have any reason to protest.

Happy Flipping!

• Beer should be filled to the first line of the cup, or to an amount even to the person across from you.
• Only one hand is permitted to make the flip. A second hand can be used as balance assistance when playing on tables with less than ideal edges, but should in no way be used to guide the cup during the flip.
• Mid-air flips are not allowed.  The cup base must be touching the table when the flip is made.
• If a person touches their cup after they flip it, but before it completely settles, it must be reflipped.
• A person is not allowed to touch their cup until the person's cup before them has completely settled.

The Miskicks vs. Lone Wolfpac

After a crushing 16-2 loss to CBR, followed by an equally crushing Bears loss, The Miskicks went into this week battered and bruised - but nonetheless, determined. We beat Bender Rehab just a week prior, and we knew another win was in us - could we find it amidst all the PBR in our bellies?

The Miskicks took the plate first sending Sarah, then Matt, up to the plate. Thanks to a Sarah's kick and Matt being walked, we had two runners already on base when Steve approached the plate. His kick sent the Lone Wolfpack hunting around the field for the kickball while Matt and Sarah ran home two runs! The Miskicks held Lone Wolfpack to 0 in the bottom of the 1st.

I'd write more, but it's a lot the same from here out. The top of the 2nd inning saw Jordan, James, Brett and Perry at the plate - but Lone Wolfpack's catching kept us from gaining additional runs. We returned the favor in the bottom of the 2nd, holding Lone Wolfpack to 0. The third inning? No additional runs from either team. The fourth? No runs. The fifth? YOU GUESSED IT, no runs. 

The Miskicks MVP for the week was Taylor, who had some amazing catches and a great toss to Sarah that kept the Lone Wolfpack from scoring on us. Props to both teams for incredible defense and completion of the FASTEST game of kickball I've ever seen. 

Kick in a Box vs. Pitches Love Kicks

KiaB played better on the kickball field than Da Bear played on the football field, but they still showed their support the whole time.

Bear Down!

Ball Me Maybe vs. Lone Wolfpac

And to re-cap our last game against Lone Wolfpac:

 

The atmosphere: routine and debonair. The ref: red-headed Colleen. The conditions: naked weather and smelly (due to dog park). The location: Churchill 2 next to said dog park.

 

BMM came into this game with a nervous confidence. How would the team perform coming off such a high? The night was falling quickly, and a quiet dusk fell upon the presented teams. A quick RPS win secured the home field advantage for BMM, and players took their proper place in the field.

BMM took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. In the bottom of the second, BMM had impressive base running and brought another 2 baserunnershome.

There are still some rules that need to be ironed out for certain players: 1) You must tag up. 2) The only base you can over run is first.BMM has had repeated problems with the overrunning of second and third base. Schweinsteiger, after an incredible kick to far left field, decided to overrun third base. Purple team immediately ran over to him approx. 10 ft off the base and tagged him out. Pathetic. Groans, screams and wailing could be heard from BMM players. Schweinsteiger hung his blonde-haired blue-eyed German head. Purple team suppressed their laughter.

After the third inning, the sky was dark. Though nearly impossible to see, BMM fielding technique did not suffer.

Upon the victorious final out in the bottom of the 5^th inning, the BMM team cheer could once again be heard echoing Churchill field… This cheer did not stop; it was chanted down the hipster highway and as BMM proudly took their stand for flip cup at Nick’s. A tense, fierce fight that was decided in the FINAL cup ensued when BMM challenged Lone Wolfpac. A victory for BMM was won. The first, and most likely the last. BMM will not find its strength in this game of nonsense. But a score of 4-3, BMM VICTORS, has gone done in the WAKAkickball history books. Tis not to be forgotten!

 

Foul? But he touched it!

What up kickballers!

There seems to be a lot of confusion around foul balls.  No, really.  It not that I like writing up the same stuff every season.  It's just that the same things always seem to perplex the newbies (and still some of the vets).

• So, for the incident in the title: A ball initially landing or touched in foul territory is a foul.
• For another incident I heard of: A ball whose direction is altered by contact with an object in foul territory is a foul.

And here's the usual rundown of the other less well known rules about fouls:

• Fouls don't count as strikes.
• A kick made on or above the knee is foul.
• A ball touched more than once by the kicker is a foul.
• A ball kicked outside the kicking box (like in front of the plate) is a foul.
• A person jumping from fair territory is still in fair territory while in the air.
• All fouls can be caught for an out as long as they don't touch a foreign object such as a fence.
• and Runners can tag up and advance on foul balls until the pitcher gets the ball on the pitcher's mound.

And here's the usual reference to the applicable rules which can be found at http://www.kickball.com/rules and http://www.kickball.com/rulesfaq/: 1.04, 9.01, 9.02, 13.01, 13.02

Peace!

The Miskicks vs. Bender Rehab

The Miskicks came to the plate this week with a W in their sights. The first inning started with Bender Rehab at the plate, who quickly pulled in two runs. The Miskicks sent Cristina, Matt and James to the plate to pull in two runs and keep things tied. Two is never enough for us, so Steve and Brett stepped up to the plate and brought our run total to four! Bender Rehab was hot on our tail in the 2nd inning, scoring a third run, but the Miskicks held them there with supreme defensive skills. Jordan lead off the bottom of the 2nd but was soon benched with an leg injury! Kevin stepped while Jordan recuperated with a carbonated beverage not to be named, and quickly got on first. Sarah kicked next and Trendy ended the inning with a pop up. Bender Rehab came back in the top of the third to make two more runs and put the game at 5-4, Bender's advantage. The Miskicks replied by sending a run through in the bottom of the third, tying things up at 5-5. It was announced that the fourth inning would be our final inning and we entered the fourth on a tie game of 5-5.

They say it's always darkest before the dawn. And things had been dark for the Miskicks, like halfway through the season without a win dark.  But things change. And the sun always comes up. 

It was a tense fourth inning. Bender Rehab took the plate first, and The Miskicks stepped up their defense BIG TIME. The win was so close we could taste it. Sarah's shin stopped a ball, and all star Miskicker, Brett, made an amazing catch and throw to out a Bender and prevent them from scoring in 4th. We took the plate knowing that all we needed to secure our first win of the season was one. more. run.

And then we got it! I don't remember who got it, I was too busy screaming. A 6-5 game and The Miskicks finally have their W, against Bender Rehab. Watch out everyone, we are coming for you now!

Kick in a Box vs. CBR

Kick in a Box takes the field,
CBR opposed to yield.
The darkness sets in
So neither team wins.
Frustrations, by beer were healed.