[greymule]

We were lucky in the play in question. Both the offense and the defense played as if the ball had been called fair, so it was easy to see exactly where the runners would have been with the correct call.

However, had the batter stood dumbfounded at the plate and F7 let the ball roll to the fence, I guess there would have been nothing left to do but keep it as a foul ball.

As for judgment versus rule interpretation, I can see leaving judgment calls completely alone unless our partner asks for help. However, with a rule, we have to have some way of getting things right without simply announcing that our partner's ruling was in error. Certainly the argument that we may see that call again with the same team is a strong one.

And there are many ASA rules that ASA coaches, often men brought up on baseball (even in FP), don't know. How many ASA coaches know that if B4 bats instead of B3 and hits into a double play, the defense can appeal and get 3 outs? In baseball, if they appeal, it's one out and B4 bats again. And in Fed softball, it's two outs and B4 bats again.

Last year, in a tournament game between two very good SP teams, both packed with former baseball stars, R1 was hit by a fair smash while in contact with 1B. Both he and the defense started off the field thinking R1's being hit was the third out of the inning. We corrected the situation, but we could have called practically anything and those guys would have accepted it. The coach of the offense, who has managed good teams for 30 years, told me after the game that he had never heard that the runner was protected while on the base!

It's hard enough for us umps to remember every last detail of whatever association we're doing. We shouldn't trust coaches to keep us honest!