Call to the Bullpen: Little League Pitch Count

Despite the challenges the rule poses, Venditti and Ray Coloa, the manager of Jampol's opponent, Star Ace and Sons, saw reasons to like the rule.

"It's tough, but then again it's about the kids, not hurting the kids, protecting the kids. So be it. If we lose that way, we lose," said Coloa.

But some parents aren't happy about the new rule. Tyrone Bowman, whose son plays Little League, said when he first heard that the rule was coming he thought, "Uh-oh… here comes another nightmare for Little League."

To some this is just another example of how we baby our kids these days -- creating more rules, and more "big brother" safeguards. Bowman said he thinks the new rules are driven by politics.

"They're just sitting there panicking -- every time one kid gets hurt out of a million it's time to change the rules," he said.

Call to the Bullpen

So what about the kids themselves?

When pitcher Mike Barath was removed from the game, he wasn't too happy about coming out. And when it was Mangiapelli's turn to hand the ball over, he didn't want to come out either. But even the 75 pitches had taken a toll. When asked if his arm ever hurts, Mangiapelli said, "Yeah… it hurts mostly in my shoulder."

For Mangiapelli it was, in fact, time to come out. Maybe the rule-writers are onto something.

With the new rule in mind, the winner of the epic battle between Jampol Paint and Hardware and Star Ace and Son is maybe not the most crucial outcome in this game. Maybe the most important outcome of the night was that no one got hurt.