[Linknblue]

Here's one that happened this weekend. Bases empty. Batter hits long fly ball. I'm BU and am breaking inside on the hit. I glance at ball and see it bounce about 4 feet high on first bounce. My first inclination is that it's a bounce over fence but I really don't know cuz it's just a glance. My partner doesn't signal HR but he doesn't call dead ball, double either. Off Coaches are yelling it's a home run and Def Coaches are yelling it hit right at base of the temp fence and went under it. My partner asks me. I give him no help cuz I simply don't know for sure. Now we're in a situation!!!

Partner asks outfielders near ball where ball landed. They tell him it went under the fence....duh! That was wrong but that's what he did. He now rules "homerun".

Of course def coach goes nuts. I get in middle separating the coach and my partner. I get him calmed down but he's still "nutz".

I'm saying we should have ruled "ground rule double" then talked about it away from everyone.....If all information changed it from double to HR, so be it.

I talked with coaches and spectators afterward and none really could tell where ball landed.......even one of the other def coaches not involved in the "fray".

What say you guys? How would you have handled this situation where neither of blue could really be sure?

By the way, temporary fences suck. You can't tell from the plate or middle infield if a ball bounces in front of the fence or just behind the fence because the fence is plastic mesh with no background. They ought to make them with at least a foot of solid material at the bottom. You're never going to install them so a ball can't go under the fence but I guess that's the nature of "temporary" fencing.

Any opinions on whether the fence should even be installed or just let'm get all they can get without a fence? We're talking enclosed fields with 275 to 300'[ fences anyway.

Thanks