McLeod: Gamesmanship Has Its Place but A Line was Crossed on Sunday

It’s almost funny, in the most macabre way.

On the scale of classiness and sportsmanship, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen. And yet, this one felt different. No one died and, at the end of the day, actually, no one lost. But that’s exactly the point.

Historically, Texas head coach Mike White has demonstrated that he does not care what is said about him and that his focus is simply on winning. Usually, that is true. But during Sunday afternoon’s shenanigans, his focus shifted from winning to “not losing” and doing whatever it took to enact that new goal.

The situation that presented itself was this: Texas and Kentucky were scheduled for a 12:30 first pitch; due to a scheduled flight, Kentucky had a drop-dead time of 3:30.

For those unfamiliar, a drop dead time must be set at the meeting between coaches and umpires at home plate before the game. There are different distinctions of a drop-dead time, usually chosen based on the circumstances specific to why a team has to be finished playing by a certain time. The existence of, circumstances surrounding, and enforcement of the drop-dead time on Sunday are not in dispute.

Texas held a 4-0 lead until the 5^th inning, when Kentucky began to come back and ultimately tied the game at 4-4. That tie score held for the rest of regulation, forcing extra innings.

In the top of the 8^th inning, Kentucky scored three runs to take a 7-4 lead, their first lead of the game. The clock began to get short, running even past 3:15 as the Wildcats still batted.

Worthy of note here is the rule on what happens if a game reaches a drop-dead time. In that instance, if an inning is in progress and the drop-dead time occurs, the game reverts back to the last fully-completed inning.

On Sunday, if the drop-dead time was reached before the 8^th inning was completed, the game would revert back to the 7^th inning and be called a tie.

If you didn’t know before, now you do. And so did Mike White.

Personally, I love a good use of strategy and I enjoy even some good gamesmanship at times. I’m not a chess player, but I do enjoy a good chess analogy. But what someone said to me after I used a chess analogy on Sunday is completely appropriate here:

“It’s not a chess match,” they said, “because chess implies a strategy to win, not manipulation.”

Manipulation is the perfect word for Mike White’s antics on Sunday. He, and by extension, the Longhorns, did whatever they could to avoid losing a second game on opening week.

Let’s start in the top of the 7^th inning. After Kentucky scored their three runs, the Wildcats had a runner on first base with two outs. Mike White went to the circle to have a meeting with pitcher Mac Morgan.

That meeting lasted exactly one minute. After the meeting, White walked back to the dugout, only to emerge twenty seconds later to make a pitching change. The game did not resume for three minutes, as Sophia Simpson replaced Morgan and took her warm-up pitches.

Simpson threw three pitches to the Kentucky hitter, reaching a 2-1 count and with the runner at first base advancing from first to three in the course of those three pitches.

White attempted to go to the circle for another pitcher’s conference, but was not allowed to do so by the first base umpire – there had already been one coaches conference in the inning, remember. Instead, the entire infield met in the circle for roughly 45 seconds, the better part of a minute.

The time was 3:19 pm.

On the next pitch after the conference, Kentucky’s runner at third left the base early and was called out. That was the third out of the inning, meaning there were roughly ten minutes left for the bottom half of the inning if the game were to be an official 8-inning affair.

The bottom of the 8^th started at 3:22 pm. The international tiebreaker rule was in effect, meaning Texas started the inning with a runner on second base just as Kentucky had done in the top half of the frame.

The first batter of the inning flew out to center field for the first out. The runner at second base did not advance.

At 3:24, Mia Scott stepped to the plate. She took ball one, then spoke to the umpire. Based on what happened in front of the Texas dugout thereafter, Scott needed to put some contact solution or eyedrops in her eyes.

It was a particularly windy day in Clearwater, with dust flying up from the infield with every strong breeze.

Scott took a four-pitch walk, which brought the game-tying run to the plate. “Game-tying” the honest way, that is. The way that required actually playing the game, not manipulating it.

Rachel Lawson made a quick trip to the circle in what might have been the fastest mound visit in the history of SEC softball.

Then it was Alyssa Washington to the plate. Washington took her time stepping to the plate, but once she did, Stephanie Schoonover threw two pitches right down the middle, then wasted one pitch high and another was fouled away.

White decided it was time for a pinch-runner at second base – this was the player who had gone out there before any pitches were thrown in the inning. The runner who starts an inning at second base is designated as the player who made the last out of the previous inning, but can be substituted for as if they had reached the base via a hit.

Washington struck out looking on the next pitch, a pitch on the outside corner.

Katie Cimusz stepped to the plate at 3:29 pm. With two runners on base, she represented both the game-tying run and Texas’ last opportunity to avoid taking the loss.

Well, their last opportunity to avoid losing without manipulation, that is.

The first two pitches to Cimusz both went down the heart of the plate, sending the Longhorns down to their final strike.

What was Mike White’s response?

Down to their final strike of the game, the Longhorns needed a pinch runner at first base.

The time was 3:30. The game ended, officially a 4-4 tie after seven innings. Everything that happened in the eighth inning actually didn’t happen, at least not as far as the official stat book was concerned.

Much of what transpired on Sunday can be attributed to gamesmanship – even Kentucky’s runner leaving early to end the top half of the 8^th. But gamesmanship has its limits and those limits were crossed by Mike White and Texas on Sunday.

When I sought out a former coach to gauge their opinion on the 8^th inning happenings on Sunday, the response was worth quoting. “I would be embarrassed,” they said, “to get on the bus, to face my team, as the head coach at the University of Texas, and tell them we had to do that to avoid a loss.”

The “official” scorebook may show a 4-4 final score, but Texas was a beaten team on Sunday. And Mike White knows it.