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Originally posted by Roger Greene
I'll take your word, Mike, that softball does not recognize "last time by" (I can't recall any case plays dealing wiht it in softball, and don't have any references with me today)but that makes the appeal process pretty interesting then.
Given this play with an addition that the runner wasn't standing on 3rd when the play ended, but instead through some other misplay had advanced home to score we are faced with this problem.
The runner who has scored has passed 3rd base 3 times, (1)first time by advancing=miss number 1; (2) second time by retreating=miss number 2; (3)third time by advancing=touch number 1.
Now for the appeal, F5 in possession of the ball touches 3rd base and appeals that the runner missed 3rd.
Do we now:
Ask which time or pick out the time ourslelves? If we ask which time, at what point do we stop letting F5 guess which time we observed?
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When you believe that the defense is guessing. If it is apparent that they know they saw a violation and they are just trying to match-up what they saw with what the umpire saw, there is no problem with multiple appeals.
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If we just honor the appeal without making any distinction on which time by is being appealed, how do we maintian any creditability with the observers and participants who only observed the runner clearly tag 3rd base on her way to score?
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I will ask them which runner they are appealing and what they are appealing. If there are multiple passes, I may ask which time. If I believe they know or are simply reruning the play in their mind, I'll allow that. If they just start throwing out numbers, the first one is it. This is one of those things that the umpire will know when they have a clue or are just guessing.
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I'm not trying to argue that the interpertation of "last time by" is applied to softball, just that by not adopting this interp that the "other game" has, we may be opening up a can of worms that I won't have to deal with when doing those "other games"
Roger Greene
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I don't see your "can of worms" at all. Either the player runs the bases in a legal order or they don't. Under a "last time by" you can have the following:
(base of play hijacked from greymule)
Abel on 1B, no outs. Baker hits a long fly ball into right-center. Abel rounds 2B and is on his way to 3B when F9 makes a diving catch and collides with the fence. F9 gets the wind knocked out of him and isn't capable of getting the ball back to the infield. Abel deadheads across the infield and retouches 1B. Seeing F9 still holding the ball, Abel takes off toward 2B and continues to 3B when the weak throw doesn't reach the cut-off F4.
The defense appeals Abel missing 2B when returning to retouch 1B. Based on the "last time by" theory, the umpire must deny the appeal because Abel touched 2B on the way to 3B.
Now, I know what's coming next, "but Blue, he didn't even try! He missed it by a mile!"
Well, that's just tough, isn't it? There is no rule book of which I'm aware that allows a runner to just outright miss the base if he is close enough and still be ruled safe. ASA makes it plain and simple, either you touch the base every time you are supposed to touch it or you don't. Period! If you fail to perform as a runner, YOU placed yourself in jeopardy, not the defense, not your coach, not the umpire, not the fans, but YOU!