[AtlUmpSteve]

snorman 75;

A few points to make here, First off, you and the rest of your New York area buddies need to understand that ONLY YOU call a middle school game "modified". When you post "modified" on a national site, everyone else assumes you mean what the ASA and national term is; modified is an adult game similar to fastpitch, with some pitching restrictions. So, all the people that were outraged about you working one-man didn't understand that this is a 6th to 8th grade middle school game, generally of 12B caliber play. As such, while one-man isn't ideal, it is generally workable by anyone with reasonable skills.

Second, never guess an out. If there is some overriding factor that leads you to believe "out" is the right call, fine, but a pure guess is unacceptable. If you didn't see an out, the runner is safe. As an aside, I use the similarity to law to understand that you can often not be 100% sure; but use the civil requirement of a "preponderance of evidence" when making your call, require "beyond a reasonable doubt" before suggesting to a partner that s/he change a call already made. What you describe meets neither of these, so "safe" should have been the call.

Finally, when you ask how you could have avoided the problem, you were told you had to leave the plate area (where there was no play), to get where you would have an angle and be nearer the apparent plays. You responded that your basketball background told you that you coluld let no one get behind you. Well, you are destined to repeat, and will never fix the problem if you stick with what didn't (and won't) work. Stay in the same place next time, and you will have the same problem. You must get to where you can see all likely plays, and your priority is THE MOST LIKELY play. If you had headed to the first base side of the pitching circle, you would have been able to look back to see the lead runner(s) touch home, and could have worked back toward home if a play developed there. At the same time, you would have had a better angle (and the ability to close to any possible play) at any other base.

So, if you want help, listen to the suggestions, and buy into the advice of those who know what they are talking about. If you want us to tell you it is OK that you didn't get a good position when you could have, you won't hear that here, as we are our own worst critics.