[7in60]

This is my fourth year umpiring softball. The reason I got into it was because a local women's fast pitch league needed an umpire. The other umpires I work with are not carded and do not wear proper uniforms. I've taken a lot of crap from the coach of one team. Mostly questioning calls by yelling from 3B or the bench. I have let it go because the head ump never said anything and I figured that's how things go in a local league. This forum has opened my eyes to the fact that it's up to me what is and isn't ok on the field, no matter where I am. Thank you all for that.

I will preface tonight's episode by discussing bunting. This league has a strategy where to advance the runner, the batter will square to bunt and take the pitch, with the runner going. In the past I have called that a strike with no complaints, but after discussing it with another carded umpire last season my take is that it is a legal batting stance to square to bunt with the bat over the plate, and an attempt is not made at the pitch unless the bat moves.

So tonight one of his batters squares to bunt,holding the bat high. The pitch is above her belt, and she lifts the bat. I call "yes, she did" and signal a strike. She steps out, quietly says "no I didn't", and drops an f-bomb under her breath. She was discreet so I didn't have an issue with it. The coach, who is at third, says "can I appeal that, blue?" I shook my head. He replied "watch it, then!" This is typical of the stuff he's done in the past. After the exchange I was upset because I felt like he asked me a question just as a set up to take a shot at me. Once the play began I figured it was too late to do anything. What's is the action here?

A second issue was that the game started 4 minutes late at 9:04 because one team had some players show up late. There is a 10-minute grace period which cuts into the game time, i.e. no new inning after 10:45pm, regardless of start time. I called last inning at 10:35 going intop the 6th. After his team batted in the top of the 6th he called me over and told me that if they got 3 up 3 down that he would argue because we hadn't played 1:45. It was a tie game, his team is visiting. We finished right about the 1:45 mark with his team down by a run at 10:49. Is the grace period standard? Does he have an argument here? I asked a veteran pitcher from the early game and she confirmed that my ruling was correct, but until I see it on paper, I'll settle for the consensus here.