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st tribune thursday september 4 1997 p13 the tribune rts leisure got a score call our hotline at 6402100 consistency needed from umpires the illegal pitch frenzy which destroyed the cable tech midget girls high hopes of winning the recent provin cial womens softball asso ciation pwsa champi onships is an example of what can happen when every umpire in the province is on his own when it comes to interpreting a crucial rule for those who were on vacation and missed last tuesdays tribune horror story the stouffville midget girls fell victim to two kingston area umpires who decided that after not being called for an illegal pitch ip all season it was time to play catch up with stouffville pitchers amanda connolly and amanda crowder the two teens were left shocked frustrated and utterly broken in spirit by the endless calls while coaches dave miller fred timms and paul sheppard left shak ing their heads in utter disbelief as their teams pwsa hopes were shattered by these two umpires the fact the stouffville team wasnt called for a single ip in their third and final game with a dif ferent umpiring crew presiding spoke volumes for the provincewide problem of inconsistency in calling ips the bottom line is that the problem simply must be addressed by softball ontario from whose jurisdiction all rules and their inter pretations come apparently the powers that be decreed at the start of the season to adopt a zero tolerance approach to ips but unfortunately there has been no consistency in calling the foul pitches i can understand the concept of calling illegal pitches said longtime stouffville girls softball advocate cathy bennett who is in her second season as a pwsa director the boys have been getting away with murder but the sports notes bruce stapley problem is there are too many interpretations of the illegal pitch rule they dont get called all summer long then all of a sud den theyre called at the finals complained cathy theres enough pressure on a pitcher to pitch well she said theres danger this hit and miss approach to rules interpretation could serve to drive players away from the game it will be brought to the attention of the umpires association weve got to clear it up for the girls or youre going to lose them some pitch ers have been pitching this way since mite level its going to have to be dealt with she conclud ed thats not what softballs all about cathy said fellow pwsa director joanne mau- the of downsview who was in attendance for last weekends debacle was quite upset by what hap pened to the stouffville squad cliff dunkeld a former umpire who spent 13 years on the pwsa board before becoming an auditor with the ontario amateur softball asso ciation is encouraging parents of the stouffville players to write the pwsa as well as softball ontario he said he never encountered anything like what befell the stouffville midgets in all his time with the pwsa cliff wants to have all stouffville pitchers shown a video of just whats legal and whats not at the beginning of next sea son but allowed that umpires differing interpre tations of the ip rule could still cause turmoil they must be consistent he said of the umpires dave miller allowed it was the most frustrating thing ive ever experienced in coach ing softball it was just the biggest joke some please see page 14h return to sender eightyearold jessica farrell of stouffville squints as she attempts to return this shot to her grandmother while the pair were practicing their game this past weekend at the uxbridge arena tennis courts photo by steve somerville minor hockey set to celebrate 50 years the whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association wsmha will cel ebrate 50 years of ice memories with a season long celebration the association is looking to the com munity for assistance with its planned roster of activities a display will be going in the new lobby of the second ice pad where it will remain all season the display will include pictures news articles trophies sweaters and other memorabilia from past years please see page 14 save a dollar a trip get a transponder to order one visit your local participating driver and vehicle issuing office or call 18884070407 zip across town 407 str express toll route