Play at the plate

[Jim Krueger]

I have been umpiring High School for 16 years and I have not had many issues either. I guess that is why these situations drive me nuts when they occur. I'm not trying to justify an improper call. I know I got it right. Like Rich said,"was the runner hindered" is the key to this play not where the catcher was positioned while waiting for the ball. The runner didn't change anything (in my opinion) because of where the catcher was positioned before he had the ball. The ball simply beat the runner by a fraction of a second. It is a judgment call that was going to have one coach or the other pissed off, but I would have had a tough sell trying to tell the defensive coach the runner is not out simply because his catcher stood in the wrong spot before he caught the ball and tagged out the runner. Again, thank you for your replies.