[tcannizzo]

Championship Game 10-U Qualifier. I am PU.

R1 on 3B with 1 out.
B3 taps grounder to F5.
R1 coming home and slides under the tag at the plate. SAFE!
Not only under the tag, but under F2.

F2 holds the tag for an extended period of time. Why? I don’t know.
R1 was under F2, but not what I would consider “pinned”.
There was “space” between them, she could gotten out of there by crawling backwards towards 3B.

Here is where it gets interesting:
R1 gets impatient, takes both hands, puts them on F2’s chest, and “shoves” F2 off of her with significant force, basically knocking F2 on her fanny.
I throw both hands up and loudly declared “TIME" and just paused.

Of course my mind is racing.
I stood there for a good three seconds just looking down at the 2 players with my hands up (I think they were still up).
Came “this close” to ejecting a 10 y/o.

Instead, I walked towards 3B dugout and beckoned the OC.
Since the moment I declared TIME, I was “down-shifting” about 15 lower gears in my mind.

By the time coach came over, I calmly asked, “Coach, can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t eject your player?”
Coach was contrite.
DC came over and he said that he had no problem with what just happened.

Took a deep breathe and I said to both coaches, “OK look, this is the Championship Game, emotions are running high, let me just take this opportunity to issue a warning to both teams, that if anything else happens, I will have no choice.”

They both agreed and we finished the game without further incident.

So far, I have gotten some support for this, but open to discussion.


I am especially interested to hear what your guidelines are for MC and USC. I know the old saying, "You will know it when you see it", but last night, I saw it and didn't know what I saw. Especially in light of what has been going on in these college games over the past couple weeks.


What say ye?