[MD Longhorn]

I couldn't disagree more. If an umpire (experienced or not) has a rule wrong, you have a responsibility to fix it. Hurt feelings and ruffled feathers may be the side effect, but above all our charge is to enforce the rules correctly.

PS - in the situation described, I did not approach her saying "No, she gets first, the ball hit the ground." I approached her (before the uproar had a chance to get uproarious, and out of the earshot of anyone else) to ask her if she ruled her out because in her judgement the ball did NOT hit the ground. If she'd said that, then I'm going back to my position, and if asked by a coach, I'm saying partner did not rule that the ball hit the ground, and had a better position than either myself or the coach - and reminding them about arguing judgement calls. However, she did NOT have that. She had the right judgement, but the wrong rule interpretation.

To me, the scariest part is that she runs a clinic, and SPECIFICALLY discusses this situation, advising to rule the batter out. I assume there's a whole host of new or young officials in Denton Texas screwing this up on a daily basis.