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Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve
Probably not; not sure about NFHS, but I believe it has been proposed (and roundly poo-poo'd) in ASA before.
I reminded my contact that similar "logic" was used years ago when NFHS realized their "automatic appeal" (umpires were to call out runners that left early on a caught fly ball or missed a base, without an appeal being made) was being ignored by a large number of umpires who refused to notice unless it was a gross miss. Those umpires (the ones that would admit it) theorized that it wasn't their responsibility to enforce a rule they didn't agree with, because 1) it should be an appeal by the defense, even if the NFHS rules said it wasn't, and 2) it would be an "impact call". The nonenforcement forced NFHS to make it an appeal again, as the only means to get any consistency.
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Same "logic" as to the Federation's automatic base award on an OBS call. Lot of young ladies got some seriously bruised legs blocking 1B when they figured out the umpires were not going to make the OBS call and give the runner a base unearned.
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The bat issue in softball is as much about liability, insurance and litigation as it is about competition, inflated egos and softball.
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