[MisterV]

Hello to all,

I am a HS JV coach. Before that I actually umpired some JV games for a couple years. Since then, in my 4 years of coaching I have only had one disagreement with an umpire. I try to never disrespect the men in blue, and don't allow my players to do it either. Tonight, however, I flew off the handle a little bit. I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy. If I turn out to be wrong on this, I swear on my honor that I will e-mail the home school with an apology.

Top of the 2nd, one out. I have a runner on third base, and I am in the third base coaching box. My batter hits a foul pop-up about halfway between the plate and the fence. The catcher made a nice catch for the second out. My runner on third has retreated and is standing on the when the ball is caught.

After catching the ball, the catcher handed the ball to the pitcher who had come over to back up the play. The pitcher started walking back towards the circle as the catcher walked further away from the plate to pick up her mask. Seeing no one covering the plate, and whereas time had not been called, I told my runner to go. She crossed the plate almost unnoticed.

Here I am, patting myself on the back for being so brilliant (HA!) when the plate umpire called my runner out for the third out of the inning. I swear I was very calm when I asked him why my girl was out. He really had no answer. In fact, the play seemed to have him confused. I know for a fact that neither umpire saw my girl cross the plate. I asked again if either one of them called time. Neither said they did. "So why is my girl out?" I asked.

Finally, the base umpire said, "Coach, it's the look-back rule." I must admit that this is where I began losing some composure. I argued that my girl scored before the pitcher even made it to the circle. Anyway, even if she didn't, she certainly started running before the pitcher was in the circle. Further, how could the look-back rule apply when my girl ran continuously from third to home without hesitation?

Anyway, the out stood and the inning was over. In fact, the rains came later and the game was suspended. Since it is JV probably won't be made up, so no harm done. However, I pride myself on knowing the rules and on the good rapport I have with the men and women who call our games. I know I will not sleep until I know that I was either right or wrong. If I was wrong I need to be able to tell my players why. I will eargerly await your responses.