[DownTownTonyBrown]

Didn't see the game. Not certain of LL mechanics.

But the best location to determine whether a ball bounces into the fielder's mit is not with the ball coming over your head (in the same line/plane as the flight of the ball) BUT FROM A LOCATION PERPENDICULAR TO THE FLIGHT OF THE BALL.

With no one on, the NFHS Mechanics manual stipulates for three-man the U2 (moving from behind first) should "call catch/no catch on fly balls to center field on which the center fielder moves to his left or STRAIGHT BACK ..."

and that U3 (moving from behind third) should "call catch/no catch on fly balls to center field on which the center fielder moves to his right or comes STRAIGHT IN ..."

Perhaps this is similar to what the LL guys were doing...???

This straightlining is why it is difficult for the PU to judge a bounce to an infielder. The path of the ball may only vary an inch or two after the bounce 100 feet away, and not be perceptible to the PU. Whereas, an umpire perpendicular to the ball's flight can more readily see the bounce and tell that, although the ball may have only came up an inch, it bounced two feet before hitting the fielder's glove.

Position!