Auto-out and end of game
Full disclosure: I was a player not an umpire in this game, but I will do my best to avoid the obvious bias that comes with being a player as much as I can...
ASA Men's slow pitch, church league
Situation: Bottom of the 7th inning; Visitors lead 11-10; 1 out, runner on first; 9th batter (me) at the plate with an auto-out to follow in the 10th spot.
I hit a ground ball to the shortstop who flips it to the second baseman for the second out of the inning. The scorekeeper almost immediately announces "automatic out, ball game", however neither umpire has called dead ball (and they shouldn't have because I hadn't touched first yet). Without slowing down, I hit first base and continue to 2nd base expected to be tagged out when I got there, but I had nothing to lose. To my surprise, the defense was all walking toward the center of the infield to celebrate and started mocking me for sprinting around the bases even though the game was over. Eventually a couple of players from the defense realized that neither umpire had called for a dead ball and that I might actually be about to score the tying run, but I made it home before anyone attempted to make a play on me.
So the question is, what do you do in this situation if you have the joy of finding yourself in this situation? I'll wait for a few responses and let everyone know what happened.
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My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush
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