I had the plate for a local weekend ASA girls fastpitch tourney championship game yesterday. The game was progressing well and went into extras with no score. Then the roof caved in on me. Here's what happened.
The visiting team's head coach reported a defensive substitution to me before the start of the bottom of the seventh inning. I had my lineup card out, and wrote down what I thought I heard her tell me--"ten for eleven". I repeated back to her what I understood was the change, and did my one slash mark through "11" and wrote "10" in the sub column next to that player as she stood next to me. After I asked if that was all, I then went over to the opposing team's scorer and announced the change.
In the top of the eighth, the visitors had runners at second and third with two outs. The next batter came up and hit a fly ball over F7's head to break the scoreless deadlock at 2-0. The home team's head coach then requested Time and came to me. He said, "They just used an illegal batter, Blue." I pulled out my lineup card again, and he said, "You did tells us that their #10 subbed for #11, right?" I checked the card and said, "Yes, I did." He responded, "Well, #11 is the one who just got that hit." Oh oh...
I walked up to the visitor's head coach who was in the third base coach's box talking to #11 who came over from second base, and asked her, "You did report to me that your #10 replaced #11, right?" She looked at me puzzled and replied, "No, #10 came in for #7. She's about to bat next." Sure enough, #10 was standing at the plate. I looked at my lineup card, and saw where #7 followed #11 in the starting batting order. I showed her my card and said, "I understood you to say '10 for 11', and that's what I wrote down in front of you." She insisted that she said "10 for 7", and that #11 was still in the game. In fact, #11 played defense in the bottom of the seventh inning.
So now, my mind's a blank, and I call over my partner. We talked it over a few seconds, and then decided to call over the tournament UIC. After explaining what happened, the UIC said, "Manny, what you have on your lineup card is official." I wanted to crawl under home plate and hide. I had no choice but to rule #11 as an unreported substitute, since she re-entered without being reported by what my lineup card reflected. At the time, I ruled #11 out, and took the runs off the board. Sure enough, the home team won the game--and the championship--in the bottom half of the eighth.
I had a lengthy discussion with the UIC in the parking lot after the game. I told her I felt horrible, but she insisted that the coach should have ensured what I reported back to her was the change she wanted. My UIC highly suggested, based on a similar situation that happened to her, that anytime I take a lineup change from a coach, I show him/her what I wrote down on my card, and ask him/her to verbally verify the change. I still felt at fault, and didn't have a pleasant drive home.
Now that I've had some time to reflect, was my ruling correct? Did the fact that #11 never left the field on defense in the bottom of the seventh make a difference? The opposing team never protested the unreported substitution until #11 batted, but in theory (although I can't verify) she became an unreported substitute when she stayed in the game to play defense.
What a way to end a well-played game...
