[Dakota]

Ed is a well-known troll from eteamz. Best to ignore him.

A couple of technical / rules issues raised in this thread, though.

1) State associations (in all softball organizations I am aware of, including ASA, NFHS, AFA, etc. - no Pony in these parts) are independent of each other. Officials in one state have no authority over officials in another state.

2) "National Governing Body of Softball" is not what ASA "calls itself." It is what ASA is. This means the ASA is the governing body for international softball as it pertains to US national teams, team formation, rules, etc. It relates to international competion. It is something ASA has earned and is justly proud of.

3) Both Pony and LL are predominately baseball-centric organizations who also have a softball division. Nothing necessarily wrong with that in principle, but you cannot pretend it is not true, either. LL, in particular, has what might be called modified baseball rules rather than softball rules. Don't know about Pony.

As to the OP's question, the answer will depend on the rules being used in the game, as several have pointed out. There would be a different interpretation between ASA and NFHS, as WMB has pointed out.