[IRISHMAFIA]

Don,

First thing is that you need to remember that the lead runner is your partner's responsibility. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have made the call, because the angle and vicinity probably gives you the best look.

The back end of a double play is one of the hardest calls for a BU to make. At the speed the ball is thrown in the adult game, it isn't realistic that a BU is going to be able to be that close to a play and follow the ball and stay focused. Even if the umpires are following the ball, for the runner to have interfered with the SS's throw, it would have had to been before the ball left his hand at which time you are still watching the play.

The PU should be exiting the plate area toward 3B for a possible play if the runner is not tagged out. The BU's responsibility is the call @ 1B. From the sixty-some feet distance, the PU should have had a wider view range and if anything happened, he should have seen it.

As far as an appeal, it doesn't exit here. As you noted, if the PU saw an act he considered interference, he calls it then and there, DEAD BALL. An umpire who does allow a play to continue and later rules interference (excluding coach's interference with a runner on a fly ball) either doesn't know the rules or how to do his job.

Tell the coach that the rule book he gets with his registration makes for some wonderful reading if he is interested in learning how the game is played.

You handled the play properly. You go to your partner ONLY if you believe you may have seen something that COULD have been interference, but you do that ONLY if you are convinced you may have missed something. If you are confident with your call, DO NOT go to your partner and ask if s/he had anything different on this type of play.

Good luck,