Bellaire Little League

Bellaire Little League

2016 Guidelines for Scorekeepers

By: Mitch Shults,

Revision History

Date / By / Revision Description
1/26/2017 / M. Shults / Revised to reflect change due to removal of SportsEngine/Gamechanger Integration.
2/23/2016 / M. Shults / Revised to adjust for lack of head-to-head auto-scheduling between gamechanger and sportsengine. Added ToC.
12/29/2016 / M. Shults / Updated for revised approach to game setup, updated references.
Fall, 2016 / M. Shults / Original

The purpose of this note is to provide relevant information for designated scorekeepers in the Bellaire Little League, primarily for their reference when using the Gamechanger application, which is the preferred scorekeeping method for the League this season.

The detailed rules for scorekeeping in Little League can be found in this publication: It is a copy of Little League International’s ‘What’s the Score?’ document. Scorekeepers should familiarize themselves with the contents. Questions regarding scorekeeping situations during games should be directed to team managers and/or umpires when the ball is no longer in-play.

Contents:

Regarding Gamechanger Setup:

Completing Setup for your Team:

Installing the App:

Logging In:

Score a Game:

Before your first game of the season starts:

Before any game starts, after arriving at the ballpark:

Helping The Managers:

Keeping Your Cool:

At the end of each half-inning:

At the end of the game:

Once the scorebook is reconciled and you’re ready to finalize the game:

Regarding Gamechanger Setup:

Completing Setup for your Team:

• Login to the Gamechanger Website at using the scorekeeper account for your team. If you score for other teams, such as a select team, using your personal e-mail account, then you may want to set up a generic e-mail account for BLL team scoring, so that others on the team can share scorekeeping responsibilities with you.
• Click on 'My Teams'
• Your BLL team will be displayed (among any other teams associated with your account)
• At the start of the season, add the players on the roster and their jersey numbers to the team in Gamechanger. Jersey numbers are important for figuring out who is in which position at game time.
• Invite each of the parents of your team to join the team and associate them with their kid:
• Click on 'Team Home'
• Page down and click 'Send Invites'
• Enter the e-mail addresses of each parent on your team
• Click 'Submit'
• On the resulting page, click on 'Family' next to each parent and select the child or children on the team who belong to that individual
• Parents are allowed to see only the individual stats of their kid(s), not the stats of any other kids on the team. Everyone should treat stats information as confidential and use it only for coaching purposes. Violations of this rule can be addressedby cutting off of all access to even individual stats by any family members on the team.
• Once parents have access to the team, they are free to invite other friends and family to join the team. Encourage this. Encourage everyone to purchase a basic or premium subscription to Gamechanger so that they can 'watch' the game remotely via the livestream.
• Folks who are invited by non-admins will have to be confirmed if they request access as 'family'. If you don't know the person in question, ask the parent of the child specified in the request if they want to give the requestor access to their kid's stats. If approved, make the association. Otherwise, leave them in 'Fan' status.
• Regarding stats access: All teams are set up to allow confirmed family of players to see only their child's stats. PLEASE DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING. The stats should be used only by the manager to help with coaching. The League doesn't use the stats in making District selection decisions, basically because there's so much variability across teams in how scorekeeping gets done. It is not good for team morale to have kids comparing their stats with each other.

Installing the App:

-From your Android or iOS device, go to the Play Store and search for ‘Gamechanger’. The app will be displayed. Download it and install it to your device.

Logging In:

-Once the application is installed, open the application and login using the e-mail address that you have associated with your Gamechanger team.

Score a Game:

All official games will be set up by the BLL in Gamechanger as 'head to head' games. The League will make sure that all games are set up within one hour of game time. Please confirm at least 15 minutes before game time that the game is ready for you. If the game isn't available, then [William, how do you want scorekeepers to contact you in an emergency?]

The home team is the official scorekeeping team for each game. Since the games will be set up head-to-head, stats for both teams will be maintained by the home team scorekeeper.

If the home team scorekeeper is unable to keep score for any reason, then the visiting team scorekeeper can score the game. Whoever starts the scoring must finish the scoring. Switching off doesn't work.

Whichever scorekeeper is not running Gamechanger should assist the official scorekeeper with play calling. Scorekeepers must rise above the partisan heat of the moment in pursuit of accuracy. Disagreements over how to score a play will happen. Don't get caught up in arguing over it, or you could fall behind and miss plays. Make note of a disagreement, consult the LLI scoring rules, and make a correction if needed before finalizing the game.

If neither team can keep score electronically, then the home team is responsible for manually updating the box score and the per-pitcher pitch counts in SportsEngine.

Before the game starts but within 15 minutes of scheduled start time:

-From a location where you have access to the Internet

• On the device you will use for scoring
• Open the Gamechanger app and login using your e-mail address and password
• Watch for the app to briefly display a ‘synchronizing data’ icon in the middle of the screen. The display of this message indicates that you have successfully synchronized any local changes with the server and any server-side changes (such as schedule updates or roster changes) with the device
• Since games are scheduled head-to-head, there's no need to enter opposing team rosters and jersey numbers. Just mark the positions of the home team in the field and start scoring the game.

Before your first game of the season starts:

-Set Gamechanger application defaults

• Go to the schedule and tap on the upcoming game. Select 'Score Game'
• Tap on 'Leave as Is' on the 'Home/Away' inquiry
• Tap 'Menu' and 'Settings'
• Review your settings and ensure that they are set as follows:
• Innings/game = 6
• Short Fielder/Extra Outfielder = 'Disabled'
• Pitch Count Alerts are set to 30 for the first alert and 35 for second alert
• 'Advanced Fielding' is disabled (unless you're highly skilled at Gamechanger use and you want to try your hand at advanced scorekeeping)
• Enable Game Clock is enabled
• Track Pitch Types is disabled (again, unless you're looking for more scorekeeping challenges)
• Track Pitch Velocity is disabled (unless someone has a radar gun)
• Show Playing Time is enabled

Before any game starts, after arriving at the ballpark:

-Give yourself at least 15 minutes before game time to get set up

-Get your team’s lineup for the game from your coach (if it hasn’t been pre-posted online and synchronized, which is the best approach – teach your managers how to do that).

• MANAGERS: Please provide your plans for inning-by-inning field positions to your scorekeeper. You are free to change those plans during the game, but the scorekeeper needs to know who is in which field position at the start of each half-inning, and it is very helpful to have some idea of your plans from the start of the game.
• SCOREKEEPERS: Do NOT share the inning-by-inning position plans with the opposing team’s manager. That information is ONLY for use by scorekeepers and should be kept in confidence throughout the game. (Our managers can get pretty competitive.) Follow the ‘scorekeepers code’.

-Since all League games within BLL are being scheduled in advance by the league in Gamechanger, when you login to Gamechanger and synchronize, you will find that the rosters for both teams have already been downloaded, even if this is the first time the two teams have ever played each other.

• If you’ve ever used Gamechanger in the past, this is a significant change from what you’re used to.

-BLL recommends that if the Home team is using Gamechanger and that team’s scorekeeper is ready and able to score the game using Gamechanger, then the Home team scorekeeper should be the official scorekeeper for the game.

-If the above condition is not true, then the Visiting team’s scorekeeper should keep the official book.

-In the event that something happens during the game to the official scorekeeper’s scorekeeping device (runs out of battery, otherwise becomes unusable, etc.), then the fallback is to continue scoring the game using the paper book. At the conclusion of the game, once the official scorekeeper is again able to update Gamechanger, the paper book details should be transcribed into the official Gamechanger scorebook and the game reviewed (see below) and finalized.

-The role of the official scorekeeper is to keep the score for the game, recording the result of all pitches, all balls put in play, all hits, errors, and other elements/outcomes of all plays.

• This can get intense during the game. It is helpful to enlist the assistance of another parent (ideally the opposing team's scorekeeper) who will act as a ‘spotter’ during the game, calling out events to the scorekeeper and keeping track of what happens as the scorekeeper records the details. Both scorekeeper and spotter need to be familiar with the rules of scoring.

Scoring the Game:

-If your team is the Home team, then they will take the field first.

-First order of business is to place all players in the correct positions on the field, especially the pitcher

• The pitcher and catcher positions are required. All other positions are optional, but highly encouraged.

-Using the lineup sheet for reference (if the Manager has followed the advice above), tap each position in the field on the main Gamechanger screen. Select the player from the resulting list who is playing that position in this half-inning. Try to get everyone set before the pitching starts. Ask for help from parents around you, especially early in the season, to identify players. Jersey numbers are a good thing to learn. Make sure that your team’s roster has been updated to reflect player numbers as soon as uniforms are handed out (Team Moms, take note!)

• If the pitching starts before you’ve got all the positions assigned, start scoring the pitches. You can catch up between batters. Focus on infield positions first, then outfield and you should be OK.

-Tracking pitches:

• Each team is responsible for assigning a pitch counter, who will be equipped with a pitch counting device.
• The pitch counter has severalroles: 1) counting pitches and noting the pitch count for each pitcher in the game, and 2) making sure that the scorekeeper properly makes a pitcher substitution when one occurs, and 3) at the time of pitcher substitution, verifying that the pitchcount shown in Gamechanger for the pitcher being relieved matches the pitch counter’s count.
• Note: There are specific rules governing maximum pitch counts for pitchers established by Little League. Gamechanger knows these rules, and will notify the scorekeeper when the limits are being approached. When the notification occurs, the scorekeeper should make sure that the manager knows that the pitch count limit for the current pitcher is approaching. There are other rules governing finishing the last batter when pitch count limits are reached, so don’t get demanding about substitutions.
• Note also that the BLL has additional ground rules governing pitcher eligibility based on the percentage of a team’s total aggregate pitches that are thrown by a single pitcher in a season. Monitoring this rule is the managers’/division reps’ responsibility, not the scorekeepers’.

-To start scoring, tap ‘Pitch’ in the center of the screen. This is the heart of Gamechanger, and the element that makes it so simple to use.

-Tapping ‘Pitch’ brings up the main scoring menu. Your options are:

Option / Meaning
Ball / The umpire called a ball (if the ump doesn’t call it loudly enough, speak up. Make sure he knows that you’re the official scorekeeper, and you need to hear the calls. Be persistent about it.)
Called Strike / The umpire called a strike, and the batter did not make a swing attempt.
Swing and a Miss / The batter swung at the ball and missed, without touching it
Foul Ball / The batter swung and either tipped the ball or hit it forward into foul territory (without it being caught)
Ball In Play / The batter swung, hit the ball, and it’s potentially playable, either fair or foul. More on this below.
Hit by Pitch / The batter was hit by a pitch (without the ball hitting the bat first) – batter takes first base.
Intentional Ball / Pitcher throws a ball with the intention of walking the batter (not very common, but it happens)
C. Interference / The catcher interfered with the batter, usually by getting his glove too close and touching the bat during the swing. Batter gets first base.
Illegal Pitch / Our guys don’t throw spitballs or cut balls very often, so this almost never happens.

-If the selection is ‘Ball In Play’, things get exciting. Sometimes VERY exciting for the scorekeeper when the errors start piling up. It’s not unusual to see multiple fielding, catching and throwing errors on a single play. The important thing to keep in mind during the chaos is this: What really matters is correctly scoring whether or not the batter was put out or reached first cleanly or if an error or fielder’s choice occurred. The ‘What’s the Score’ publication explains all of the rules for this. You aren’t expected to have that book memorized, but you need to know the basics. Ask for help if you’re confused in a particular situation.

-Your ‘Ball In Play’ options are listed below:

Option / Meaning
Ground Ball / Ball hits the ground in the infield, and it isn’t hit ‘smoking hot’. In other words, there’s a good chance that a correctly executed fielding play will result in an out at first.
Hard Ground Ball / The ground ball was very hard-hit. If such a ball is targeting a ‘gap’, such as between 3rd and short, short and second, or second and first, there’s a good chance of a base hit. If it’s hit directly at a fielder, then an error may be likely, or perhaps a legitimate infield hit (if the ball is played so deeply that the fielder can’t reach first in time.
Fly Ball / Ball is hit in the air on a higher trajectory than a line drive, beyond the infield.
Line Drive / Ball is hit in the air with minimal arc. May or may not be reachable by an infielder or outfielder, but there isn’t much time to get to it.
Bunt / Batter either squares around to bunt or executes a ‘drag bunt’ with the intention of keeping the ball in play close to the plate.
Pop-Fly / Ball hit in a high arc in reach of the infield

-Upon tapping on the appropriate ‘Ball in Play’ option, you’ll be presented by a third level of options where you specify the outcome of the initial step in the play. The options vary based on the set of possible outcomes for each type of ‘ball in play’ situation. For example, for a Ground Ball, the following options are available:

Option / Meaning
Out at First / Batter thrown out at first. You’ll next be prompted to identify the fielder who made the throw.
Single / Batter reached first, no errors were committed in the process, and no ‘fielder’s choice’ occurred. (For example, if there was a runner already at first, the ball was hit to the shortstop, and the shortstop chose to get the force at second, then that’s a fielder’s choice and does not constitute a hit, even if the batter would very likely have beaten the throw if the play had been to first).
Double / Same as single, only batter makes it to second, not due to an error or fielder’s choice (unusual on a ground ball)
Triple / Same as Double, only even more unusual.
Error / Batter reached first base due to a fielding, throwing or catching error by the defense. You’ll be asked who committed the error. If the fielder booted the ball or threw it beyond the reasonable reach of the first baseman, then the error is on the fielder. If the ball was catchable and in time, then the error goes to the first baseman. If fielder fielded the ball cleanly and threw the ball competently and the first baseman caught the ball but it was not in time, then score it a single – no error has occurred.
Foul Ball / Ball was hit outside of either foul line.
Homerun / Same as triple, only REALLY unusual (without errors)
Bat. Interference / Umpire will call this one. Batter does something that constitutes interference, and he’s called out. More unusual than catcher interference, but it happens

-The hard ground ball options are the same. For all other options, which involve the possibility of the ball going into the air, whether fair or foul, there’s a possibility of a player attempting to catch the ball and committing an error in the process. If that happens, it’s scored as a ‘Foul Ball + Error’, and you’ll be asked to identify the fielder who made the error.