Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve
Rita, you may consider this insignificant, but it really isn't.
There is no "rubber" in softball. If you really think you are a softball umpire, then you should call it what SOFTBALL calls it; a pitcher's plate. Just like no mound; that is the circle.
Respect the game, use the game's terminology.
That said, it really matters NOT that the pitcher happened to be in contact with he pitcher's plate while making a play. Not a pitch, therefore not an illegal pitch. The question, like the terminology, reeks of baseball, not softball.
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It isn't insignificant to use the word "reeks" either.
As it happens I am a baseball umpire and I do understand that game better than I do softball. However, I am umpiring softball in a local association because the assignor respects me as an official and as an umpire and he asked me to umpire games for him.
One of the reasons he respects me is because he knows that I will do my best to learn the game and to call it as it should be called. But there are only two in the association (it's a very small association) who know the game well enough to answer the questions I have. So I come here for different explanations that will expand my knowledge.
Now the softball rulebook says that the pitcher may not throw to a base when in contact with the
plate. I am trying to learn the intricacies of softball. You say it doesn't matter in this case. OK.
I will endeavor to use the correct terminology for the game if I ask more questions. It isn't a matter of respect for the game. That I show by trying to learn more about how to call the game. Using the correct terminology is respecting that it matters to you and others.
Rita