[drh898]

I had a play at the plate in a tournament the other day. I'm the PU, bases are loaded, 2 out. Ball is hit back to pitcher, runner on 3rd is coming home. Pitcher is slow to react, runner slides feet first PAST home plate, missing it and then slaps her hand on it as she is at shoulder level with the plate. By the time she slaps the plate the ball has beaten her to the catcher who is standing on the plate. I call her out. Coach goes ballistic and do the parents seated behind me.

My partner comes over to me between innings and tells me that was a stupid call, that I should have called her safe and I would have not had an arguement from anyone as the only person who saw that she slide past the plate without touching it was me and maybe some guy behind the fence who was lined up with the 3rd base line. He then proceeds to tell me that calls should be made taking into account what the he thinks everyone else is seeing, in other words, don't make the tough calls that can be seen as controversial. I've talked with other umps about this and, to my surprise, this is quite common.

I don't go out of my way to look for trouble but I do call what I see. Tell me what you think about this.