Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountaincoach
Minor incident that got my curiosity. No big deal. It wasn't a game changer or big controversy. We were on defense last night. Slow roller hit down the 3rd base line. Ball rolled clearly foul at least 3 inches outside the line. You just have to trust me when I say the ball was clearly outside the line in foul territory, and the entire crowd on both sides obviously agreed. My 3rd baseman let it roll and stop there before she picked it up. Yep, you guessed it, PU ruled fair ball. I couldn't help but immediately look at him like "are you crazy?", and he immediately said the ball was touching some "white". I said yeah the line splatters out to about 8 or 9 inches wide when nobody works the field or re-chalks the line after about 10 straight games and I'm sure there was probably a few drops of chalk splatter out that far, but no consistent line. Complete judgement call. I know. I didn't push it because I could tell he was trying to make a point about the line itself. Just wondering how you guys handle the same condition. Do you try to keep original 4 inch line visualized in your head, or do you literally just allow the line to keep getting wider and wider as the day goes by and, as a result, fair territory becomes bigger? You guys know how the fields are handled sometimes during hectic tournaments. They work the fields, but very very rarely do they ever completely drag and re-mark the fields.
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The chalk or paint is merely a convenience to the participants and is not part of the rule. You had an umpire who was poorly trained or an idiot.
I would have demanded an interpretation used to determine it was a fair ball. If the response is what you said, I'd protest the game.