[fastpitch]

Our resident UIC and the local umpire association president were kind enough to offer friendly advice early on to me as a coach about treating umpires with respect and calmly approaching them. I continue to learn from them currently as a first year umpire. I had lots of calls reversed as a coach. If I could not think of anything to say that was remotely plausible I stayed in the dugout so as not to ruin my credibility with the umpires. If I could think of any premise on which to say blocked, pulled, rule interpretation, etc. that's my job as a coach. I still hate to hear arrogant umpires brag about how they don't ask for help even when it might be warranted.

The worst or best depending on your perspective, appeal I ever made was in an ISA tournament - we were losing the semi final to an inferior team, 30 seconds remaining confirmed with PU, 2 outs, no runners on base. I told the PU I would like to just take the out for the next batter and proceed to the next inning. He let me do it and the other team did not complain until after we beat them by several runs in the next inning. They never put up the money to protest, though there was a lot of discussion after the game, and we went on to win the tournament.

Yes, I could have told the batter to step across HP after the pitcher was ready and have done that too in other games, not always called though and the other coach could have called time. It's a shame we have to deal with time limits but a reality. In our area the ASA umpires are by far the best followed by the smaller associations, excluding NF and NCAA of course.