Ripken: On some occasions, there should be tying in baseball

R. Budd Ripken…at your service.

Participation in tournaments should be as much about the baseball experience as winning and losing. Almost everything we do on the baseball field teaches us a lesson about life. Sometimes in life there are no winners or losers in a situation despite the hard work that goes into a project. It is the responsibility of coaches to emphasize this and make sure that lessons are learned - even in the event of a tie. Instead of focusing on the scoreboard, let’s concentrate on stepping up to a new level of competition, competing against new teams that aren’t in our league, playing on new fields and seeing where we stand among other teams in our age group. If there is time to play extra innings, then of course the game should be continued. However, when time and field space are issues, limits must be set, and sometimes contests are declared ties. In some ways, I think I’d prefer that to playing an exciting game and then losing on one bloop hit that scores a runner who was placed on second for the sole purpose of breaking a tie.