[mcrowder]

How many of you still yell "BALLGAME!" the instant an apparent winning run crosses the plate?

Scrimmage game this weekend, and a training event for my newer guys.

6-6 game, 0 out, ladies on 2nd and 3rd. DEEP DEEP fly to center, caught and the runner scampers home. Runner on 2nd rounds 3rd and is about halfway home when PU (rookie) yells "BALLGAME!" as the ball is coming in and even steps in front of R2, who veers off and heads for the dugout to cheer.

Luckily for them, defense is not paying attention at all, as I (and rookie BU - kudos, kiddo) notice that R1 was at least a yard off third as she watched the ball get caught, and then runs straight home.

BU asked me some rookie questions (should I have called her out? etc), but then asked a good one - what would we have done if the defense ended up appealing. I explained the timing of appeals to them, but then also explained that we (the umpiring crew) would have been up a creek as it was EXTREMELY clear that R2 would have scored (and easily) had PU not intervened. So correcting the appeal situation would have been unfair to an offense that still would have scored the winning run had the umpire not jumped the gun.

So --- how many of you stop and yell ballgame? Personally, I've always just let play finish before yelling or doing anything to end the game. I didn't have this sitch in mind, but I have always felt that telling some players to stop playing when others may not know it's over is just asking for someone to take off a helmet and get clocked by a thrown ball, or some such. But this play was a great example why we should let play finish before calling a game over.