[tarheelcoach]

My first full season of umpiring came to a conclusion tonight. Somewhere between 120-150 games split between HS, USSSA, and Dixie.
This last one was a little kid fall ball game (82 degrees at 6:00 game time - gotta love the south). And of course, it was one that had like eight close plays and two that really had me scratching my head.

Here's two that had my thinking -

1.) R1 heads to third on overthrow of first base on ground ball. That ball gets by the 3B, so R1 keeps on going to home. He dives headfirst into home (a no-no in Dixie), but I call him safe. Why? The ball rolled under the fence before he dove. Once the play is dead, I can't nail him for sliding headfirst, right? Runners advance without liability to be put out, correct? To apply this to big kid ball, if R1 had plowed the catcher over with the ball out of play, could I call him out, or do I just eject him?

2.) R3, passed ball. Pitcher takes throw from the catcher and goes to his knees. The runner slides into the pitcher and ends up shy of the plate. Still no tag. Pitcher and R3 both look at me, suddenly realize there is a reason the old man hasn't made a call and scramble to tag/reach the plate. The pitcher takes his throwing forearm and literally pushes R3 away from the plate before swinging his glove around and tagging him. I called the runner safe because of the push. But the pitcher has the ball, so it can't be obstruction, right? What is it? I kind of think its similar to a fielder forcing a runner off a base and then tagging him. What do you think?

Thousands of games as a coach, hundreds now as an official, and still way too much to learn!