Quote:
Originally Posted by chapmaja
Had the following recently in WRECK ball (youth). What's the call?
Play 1: Bases loaded, 2 outs. Ground ball to F5, who runs over and touches 3rd 15 feet before the runner arrives. While the runner was running between 2nd and 3rd, she had to run around F6 who was parked in the middle of the base path.
Play 2: Batted ball is popped up about 10 feet in the air and comes down, off the catchers glove and in between her chest protector and her uniform, from which she grabs the ball securely
(my play she never secured it and it went all the way to the ground)- so I ruled a Foul ball as it was touched in foul territory.
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Now that I've seen all the comments on this, I will say I did not call obstruction on this play. The reason I did not is simple. We have to umpire to the level of the players were are umpiring. In this game I think I could have called obstruction on about half the plays. Instead of call obstruction, I let the out at third stand. The coach never said a word (again this is WRECK Youth Ball).
If this had been travel ball or HS ball, yes I would have made the call.
I officiated to the level of the players, and with that I also do a lot of informing about the rules as well. I am actually well respected by the parents, most of the coaches, and most importantly my assigner for handling many of these situations as teachable moments (that is my primary profession after all).
I have had one coach complain about my reminding the players / teaching them the rules this year. I completely understand where she is coming from as she spent about 10 years as a JV and Varsity HC at a local HS. She, unlike the majority of the coach, knows many of the rules (she was wrong wanting an obstruction that game though, her player moved to get out of the way of a infielder attempting to make an initial play on a batter ball (again, it is WRECK Ball).
If I called everything that could be called, we might get one inning in, instead of 4 or 5 in a 2 hour time limit. Another example from the same games were illegal pitches. We have a local rule that says we are not to call illegally pitches at this level, but inform the players and coach. I had some major crow hops, and the separate and bring the hands together 3 or 4 times pitches in that game. When talking to the coach he admitted he really doesn't know the rules on fastpitch pitching, so it's hard for him to teach them.