Quote:
Originally posted by MichaelVA2000
High school varsity game. I'm B/U and after back to back homeruns the third batter of the inning fouls her first pitch about fifty yards over the backstop.
PU has no other backup balls and I see that a man has retrieved one of the homerun balls and is outside of the centerfield fence. P/U asks F7 to get the ball from him and the man refuses to give the ball back.
As the coaches are looking around their dugouts for another game ball I ran out to the centerfield fence and requested the ball from the man. He says "I'm not giving the ball back, it was my daughter who hit the homerun and I'm keeping it for her." I explained we needed the ball to continue the game and that I would mark the ball and perhaps the coach would give his daughter the ball after the game. After several more requests the man walks closer to the fence, cusses and throws the ball away from me into left field. I then told him that because of his language and unsportmanlike conduct, he had to leave the playing area. The school AD escorted the man from the area.
F8 returned the ball to me and I marked it, informed my PU about the situation and the game continued.
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You don't have enough going on inside the fence?
Since when is it the umpire's job to retrieve game balls? I would have just let the ball go and inform the team responsible for game balls that a fan walked away with their ball.
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The bat issue in softball is as much about liability, insurance and litigation as it is about competition, inflated egos and softball.
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