[RPatrino]

Folks,

Had a quadruple header this Saturday, and all in all it was a pretty good day. Two plates and two bases. Had some coach's that seemed to have been working with a different set of rules than the rest of us though, does that surprise anyone?

One sitch, runner coming in from 2nd on a single, catcher does not have the ball and was in not in position to block the plate or make a play on the runner. R2 comes in standing up, catcher moves to try to get ball and they have a minor collision, nothing malicious or flagrant. Coach comes unglued, saying that runner should be out because he has to slide. We conference, I explain there is no "must slide" rule, the contact was incidental and we will play on. The coach was convinced that I was ignorant of a rule that, 'everyone knows that there is a must slide rule in baseball, even in HS, Blue you have to know that!!!".

Second sitch, BR beats a throw to first that was thrown VERY high. F3 reaches for throw, it glances off his glove and bounds away from him. BR makes a turn toward second, takes two steps toward second base and slips and falls. In the mean time the F3 has corralled the ball and the BR is scrambling back to first. F3 makes the tag and I call the BR out. Same coach as above complains that "he can overun first and turn in any direction he wants, he can't be tagged out!!!", I explain "that applies to walks only, and not in high school, a BR makes a wide turn at first on a single and he can't be put out?" He looked puzzled at me and said, " you just don't get it", and walked away!!

Don't be alarmed, you have entered the twilight zone of summer baseball.