u/flash17k

First off, I mainly score youth games which usually do not go any longer than 4-5 innings. But this method of scoring is not limited to youth games. Just this example is.

Instead of a traditional diamonds/batters/innings score card, I like to keep track of plate appearances in a running log. I also like to fit everything on one sheet instead of having to go back/forth between two pages.

I also keep track of every pitch (not just 3 balls, 2 strikes) because I'm keeping stats for our pitchers. And since players tend to rotate to different defensive positions throughout a game, there's also a place to track defensive rotations and track which defense was in play during every plate appearance.

Youth games also tend to allow Extra Hitters, so I've got spots available for up to 16 total batters, either as substitutes or for continuous lineups.

Every row is a batter's plate appearance. The columns track which inning it is ("1T" for top of 1st" and so on), which defense is in play, which batter (jersey number) is up to bat, the total pitch sequence, and then the result/impetus for each out or base reached, plus a running total score for each side.

The bottom middle section is just for examples of how things are recorded. I print out a blank version of this sheet which does not include those examples, and the empty rows continue to the bottom of the page. Then I use a multi-color pen to fill everything in as it's happening during the game. One team is in black, the other is in blue, and all outs are in red so they're easy to see. I usually draw a horizontal line beneath the last at-bat of the inning, and I also usually circle any base hits so they're easy to count later.

After I've completed scoring the game, I enter all this info by hand into a huge running log in a Google Sheet where I have a bunch of formulas and helper columns to extrapolate a ton of statistics, and I share those stats with the rest of my coaching staff, the players and their parents. It's fun.

As I said, this is normally used for shorter youth games, but could easily be continued on another page for longer games. I have been considering making a modified version for full 9-inning games, but it would probably be impossible to fit on one page, so would need to be reformatted for efficiency. I really like having everything on a single page, though. It's really nice to be able to tell someone exactly what's going on, what the score is, who's up next, where a player last played defense, how many total pitches our current pitcher has, etc, without having to go back/forth between pages.

This was born out of wanting a tabular spreadsheet format that would be easy to use for statistics. But I honestly find it easier to follow along with visually.

Happy to share this with anyone who wants to try it out.