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I guess I should get a facemask for my daughter's helmet and get her used to using it. She just finished 7th grade, and the summer rec. season ended last night. So, next year will be a warm-up to high school ball. I wish more people knew about this rule change. The kids will probably need to become accustomed to using the face mask!
And, speaking of rules...
My daughters (14U & 12U) play in a VERY unorganized fastpitch league with 3 other towns. No-one seems to know which rule book we're using. Since they allow the pitcher to "step back" it can't be ASA. I've sort of assumed they must be following NFHS. Anyway, last night in 14U a pitched ball hit the ground in front of the batter and then hit the batter (who attempted to jump over the ball) in the ankle. Umpire calls a dead ball, but wouldn't award the batter first base. Her ruling was that the batter wasn't entitled to first base because the ball hit the ground first. Now, I have a 2004 NFHS rules book, and 8.1.2.b says it does not matter if the ball strikes the ground before hitting the batter. The REALLY sad thing was that the coach on the other team agreed with my rule book interpretation, but said he'd observed the same call in high-school fastpitch several times last season!!! Do other fastpitch rulebooks use a different ruling, or was this ump (and apparently others) just plain wrong?
I was thinking about volunteering to umpire next year in this league, and maybe eventually umpiring at the high-school level. The above examples have made me think that maybe there is a lack of competent umpires in this area. I've spent a lot of time studying the rule books, but where would I go (in mid-Michigan or Grand Rapids area) for an umpire school or clinic?
Thanks for reading my ramblings!
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