A point of interest
All;
Here is a matter of interest that has a direct relationship to the item that we were discussing.
Over at eteamz, there is a long article (OBR board, "Called on account of darkness") about a college wood bat league that it is about 100 miles from me in central Pennsylvania. (The funny thing is that the writer does not say what kind of league that it is and some of the respondents seem to think that it is some kind of Little League.) Anyway, the pitcher is giving an intentional walk to the batter and one team is attempting to delay the game in order to get it called on account of darkness. The batter decides to swing during the intentional walk so the pitcher drills him on the next pitch. Chaos broke out and the umpire ended the game.
It appears that this swing took place after a 1-0 count so I would not have called a ball when the batter swung, but I would have taken preventative action to forestall the next pitch. Perhaps that is the point at which the umpire should have called the game, I don't know.
What I do know is that preventing things like this is what impresses NCAA assignors. OTOH, having a s$$$house in your game like what was related in the article does nothing to give the assignor confidence in you. Dealing with these situations is as important as being consistent in balls and strikes if an umpire decides to shoot for the top of the amateur ranks.
Having been at the center of an umpire association's internal workings, I can assure the reader that this game did nothing good for the umpires' careers.
Peter
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