[scarolinablue]

I went from having my best game (IMO) of the season last night (4-2 1:40 7-inning game between two local HS powers and rivals) to my worst game of the season tonight (18-13 3:15 uglyfest between a good 4A school and a so-so prep school in a spring break tourney). I say it was my worst game of the season because I felt my strike zone tonight was a tad on the inconsistent side, mainly on the low strike. Probably had 6-8 pitches that I muffed...maybe that's not too bad in this length of game, but I hate missing that many, or even feeling like I did.

Where I got into trouble, and the basis for question #1 is: Batter foul tips, I heard, but wasn't sure of, a possible catcher's interference. Since I wasn't sure, I rang up the foul tip strike. Third base coach calmy walks up, asks what I have, and asks me, accepts my explanation, but asks me to ask my partner (who was in C, not that I think it matters). He, of course, has nothing, as you can't/don't make that call from C. However, as I walked out to him, I begin to replay the sitch in my mind and am now convinced there probably was interference. My question is: should I have overturned this call. I'm pretty sure this isn't something the BU can't overturn, and I decided to eat the foul tip strike and play ball. Two pitches later, kid hits a double, all was forgotten, but should I have overturned this?

Question #2: Other team's coach didn't like one of my low strikes, but by now, it was the fourth inning or so and I had called it there all game (in hindsight, again, I was calling it just about a ball below the knees...lower than I normally would call it, but I had established it there and kept it there). In this case, I probably missed it and it was mid-shin, and this probably influenced my lack of ejection that followed. He approached calmly, asked how I could call that a strike, and I told him it was the same place I'd been calling them all game, we're not discussing this any further, let's play ball. He then proceeds to ask me what the rule book defines a strike as. I tell him we're not going to discuss balls and strikes, and that's certainly not a valid question and this discussion is over. He won't leave, and repeats his question. I realize I should have dumped him right there, but I didn't. Instead I give him a loud warning (which they stress in these parts, warn first, then restrict, then eject - ejections are stressed, by the SC High School League, as a means of last resort, so maybe that's why I didn't dump him). He then tells me not to raise my voice to him, and I repeat that right back to him. I'm now about to dump him when my BU steps in between and coach retreats. I realize I let this go too far and should have dumped him when he asked the "rulebook definition" question. Opinions?

Next inning, he comes to me to make a substitution, he offers a mild apology, and we have no problems the rest of the game. However, I'm second-guessing myself the rest of the game, struggled to maintain focus, and I'm sure that caused me to muff a few other pitches the rest of the way. All in all, just a bad day, but we'll strap it on again tomorrow and do it again.

The funny thing is, the other big argument I had tonight was on something that I think is a tough call but I got absolutely right. LH batter slaps a high-hopper down the third-base line...first bounce at the edge of the homeplate dirt about a foot fair, ball goes about 30 feet or more in the air, I'm right on the line, ball crosses the base (by definition, in fair territory) and lands about 25 feet past the base about 6 inches in foul territory. I'm pointing fair ball, batter ends up on second base, here comes the defensive coach. Fans (this teams fans were sitting on the first base side, so looking right down the line, and of course all they see is the ball landing past the base in foul ground) are screaming "foul ball, are you blind?" Coach comes up and says, to the catcher, but of course directed at me "what did you see." Pipsqueak says "I saw a foul ball", coach says to me "how could you call that fair?" I explain that it bounced fair, crossed the base in fair territory, and that yes, it landed in foul territory, but that is irrelevant since it both bounced fair and crossed the base in fair territory. He blows up as he turns away and screams "how could that possibly be fair if it lands foul. Unbelievable!" Maybe I could have dumped him too.

Sorry for the rant...I think I just needed to vent. I feel better already. Guess I have some frustration over the SCHSL really wanting us to avoid ejections...I feel like warnings and restrictions are really wimpy alternatives. I think I'll just need to start keeping the league office busy.