[martynva]

4th Inning of District Final. Visitors up 1-0. Home has R1, 1 out. (Playoffs so we are working 3-man, I am in C Modified). Batter hits perfect DP ball to F-4. Flips to F-6 who catches ball with right foot 12" short of 2B, strides over the base, lands on other foot about 18" past base and fires to 1B for what everyone thinks is inning ending DP. I see that he clearly never touched 2B, Stand Tall and signal SAFE Twice while Yelling "Safe, He's Safe". Runner ends up on 3B. Coach asks for Time and comes out to discuss (very politely I must admit). I explain that F-6 never came within a foot of the base. Best the coach can come up with is "That's a great baseball play, and in a game this important, you need to give him that out" I disagree, and eventually the game goes on. Runner is stranded and Visitors win 2-0.

Post game: I explain to Crew Chief that I'm 100% sure I got it right. He was concentrating on following ball to very close play at 1B so he had no input on my call. He said if I was sure, I should never give the out on "Neighborhood Play" Subsequent email said he spoke to several friends in attendance who all agreed that F6 missed 2B, but said in may Rating that I "should have sold it better".

My thought is that the only way I could have really SOLD it was to continue SAFING until well after the call at 1B. (Probably at least 6-8 times?). Is this what I should have done? Any other thoughts?

P.S. If I had thought of it, I'd have told the Coach that "the league paid for three umpires to ensure we got that play right .... and I did." Truth be known, had it been 2-Man where I was in C and had to follow the play to 1B, it would have been harder to see the footwork. Who knows?