NE Senior Softball Web Site User Hints
Menus
There are 2 primary menus for navigating the web site: “Look Around” and “Organization“. The Organization menu lets you check out our league organization with a link to a page for each of our director-level positions. The content for each of these pages is controlled by the responsible director and can be edited by them directly. The Look Around menu will be the most useful for most users on a regular basis. The top link there is “Who We Are“, which gives a brief description of our league and serves as our site’s home page, or “landing page”. It also contains the Commish Corner, so it’s content is controlled by the League Commissioner. The following gives some hints for using a few of the pages listed in the Look Around menu.
News:
This page will list news items as they happen chronologically. This means they are only really “news” for a brief period, but they will stay on the page until purged (probably at the end of the season).
Calendar:
This page displays the web site’s calendar of games and other events. It starts in month-display format, but you can change it to a week-display or even a day-display using the links in brackets in the upper right. You can also click on the day of the month number in the upper right corner of each day cell to change to the day-display for that day. Moving your mouse over an event in the calendar (month-display only) gives a floating display with event details that are easier to read. Clicking on some events (not games) will take you to the event’s page with more details. Regardless of which display format you are in (month, week, day), you can use the right and left pointing chevrons in the upper corners to advance to the next period or move back to the previous period.
Players:
This page displays a list of registered players that are in the site’s database for a given season. You can use the team filter (drop-down selection menus) to pick the team of interest. If you select a specific team, the list displayed is the current roster for that team. Team managers are highlighted with a yellow background and players with an asterisk (*) to the left of their name are members of the “Juiced-Bat” club since they are old enough to play without bat restrictions. You can click on a player’s name to get the player’s info along with a photograph if one has been submitted for the site. This information will be displayed in a pop-up with the appearance of a baseball card (front side and back side). In the upper-right corner of the card, there is a player serial number in parentheses. When viewing one of these baseball card pop-ups, you can use the right and left facing chevrons in the lower corners to advance to the previous or next player in the current list being viewed. If your photograph does not appear on your player information card, you can send an electronic copy of your favorite head shot to the web master to be uploaded to the site.
Teams:
This page displays a list of teams in order of the current standings. There is a season filter drop-down menu to select which season you’re looking for which defaults to the current or latest season. If the selected season has or had multiple divisions, these will be displayed in separate lists. Each team list will include the following columns:
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Division – identifies the division the team is in;
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Team Name – displays the name of the team as a link that takes you to a page with the team’s list of scheduled games for that season; this column also has a ball player icon that is a link to the team’s roster (the roster is simply the Players page described above that is pre-filtered for that team);
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Manager – displays the manager’s name – click on the manger’s name to get a pop-up window with his player info baseball card;
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W-L-T – shows the team’s won-loss record (and win percentage in parentheses) based on the currently reported scores, keep in mind that scores don’t always get reported to the web site immediately after games finish;
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GB – shows the number of games back the team is from the leader (within in the division, if applicable).
Games:
The Games page is not listed in the Look Around menu, because its value is in the context of a particular team. So, it is accessed by clicking on a team name on the Teams page. This page displays a list of scheduled games for the selected team. The list shows When the game was/will be played, the Home team, the Visitor team, which Field number, and, if it has been played, the reported results of the game. The selected team’s logo will be highlighted with a yellow background in the Home or Visitor column.
Score Keeping
Team managers will be responsible for updating the scores in the league database using the web site. I suggest that it primarily be the responsibility of the winning team’s manager to enter the game score.
In order to do this, all team managers must be registered with a login account on the web site. Once you have created your account, it will be updated to enable you to enter scores. If you are a team manager, please find the time to register so you can enter scores.
If you are logged in, and you navigate to your team’s game list, you will see an “add” link in the Score column after the scheduled game time has passed. Only those of you with the proper privilege will see the link, and it only shows up when the game time is in the past. In addition to the runs scored for each team, there is a Notes field in which you can enter a brief comment for display in the Games page if it makes sense. Comments/notes will not be common, but could be used for things like “called for time”, “rained out”, “called for lightning”, etc.
To enter scores from a computer:
- Login to the site
- click on Teams in the “Look Around” menu to get the list of teams
- click on your team name in the Teams list to get your list of games
- find a game that has been played and click the “add” link under the Score column
- a screen is displayed where you enter the scores (and comment if necessary) and click Update button
To enter scores from a smart phone (even at the field!!):
- Login by touching “Login” next to the main “Menu” tab when the menu is expanded
- touch on Teams in the site menu to get the list of teams
- touch on your team name in the Teams list to get your list of games
- find a game that has been played and touch the “add” link under the Score column
- a screen is displayed where you enter the scores (and comment if necessary) and touch Update button
Umpire Rating
In our continuing efforts to enhance the operation and performance of our senior league, an objective of our NSS Board is to maintain a consistent team of six to eight well-qualified, experienced and dependable umpires to officiate our games. Each umpire’s game performance will be evaluated by team managers and board members throughout the season, and evaluations shall be based on five specific accountabilities: (1) timeliness in moving the game along; (2) knowledge and proper enforcement of current ASA and NSS senior softball rules; (3) making decisive and reliable judgment calls; (4) hustle from the plate to the base(s) and (5) relationships and reactions with managers and players.
Each umpire will wear a red or royal blue umpire’s cap with a number (for example 4) indicated on the left side of the cap that will help identify the specific umpire that officiates your game. The umpires registered to officiate in each season will be entered in the database and will appear in a list on the Facilities & Scheduling page. The number assigned to each umpire is listed along with the umpire’s name and other info. Privileged users (board members) may add umpires by clicking on the “add new” link that appears under the umpire list when logged in.
Umpire Evaluation cards are to be completed for each game by team managers including a rating for each of the five performance accountabilities and any problems, special circumstances or general comments. After the conclusion of the game, the completed Umpire Evaluation cards should be given to one of our league officers or the manager can complete the umpire rating online within 24 hours.
To complete the umpire rating online, managers can go to their team’s game list page, i.e., the same page where scoring is entered as described above. If logged in, a separate “rate” link should be available in the “(umps)” column if an umpire rating has not been entered for that game. Any game that has past its scheduled date will either have a “rate” link to click on or “ok”, if the manager has already entered an umpire rating for that game.
When the “rate” link is clicked, a popup window appears with an electronic copy of the umpire rating card to be filled out. The game information is displayed at the top and the umpire number and name fields should be populated according to the schedule for that game. If necessary, when the umpire number field is changed, the umpire name field is updated. After completing the umpire rating scales and comments, click the “Enter” button to save the rating card to the database or “Cancel” to exit without saving.
