NFHS collision

[akabaseball]

OK I am new to this forum stuff, need an opinion about NFHS collision rule.

I know it is way late, but I am still bothered over losing a Varsity catcher this last season on what I thought and most fans thought was a blatant spearing hit on my catcher. We lost him for the season. Brief description of play is: Tag attempt by opponent from 3rd, shallow left field fly-out and bullet return to catcher. Runner in no-mans land has time to stutter step as if he is going back to third, my catcher has possession of ball entire time and blocking plate, runner runs at catcher as if to slide catcher squats to make tag, runner spears catcher in shoulder/head area bending catcher back, up and over knee and ankle.

Question, should that runner have been ejected,,, yes or no. Please do not confuse the Pro game with NFHS rules.

[LDUB]

Sounds like he should have.

But your description is obviously biased because you are a coach of one of the teams. The other coach (probally) and the umpire did not think it was malicious.

[akabaseball]

Yes I am bias, and there is no changing what occurred. I just would like to define the grey area of obstruction/attempt to slide and illegal contact. Injuries happen in sports! It is a shame when it occurs on a play that rules have been established to prevent. So, for argument sake lets pretend like my observations were correct.???
PS the other coach did apologise to me for the hit. So I think he thought is was a cheap shot as well.

[Edited by akabaseball on Aug 17th, 2005 at 02:17 PM]

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by akabaseball

OK I am new to this forum stuff, need an opinion about NFHS collision rule.

I know it is way late, but I am still bothered over losing a Varsity catcher this last season on what I thought and most fans thought was a blatant spearing hit on my catcher. We lost him for the season. Brief description of play is: Tag attempt by opponent from 3rd, shallow left field fly-out and bullet return to catcher. Runner in no-mans land has time to stutter step as if he is going back to third, my catcher has possession of ball entire time and blocking plate, runner runs at catcher as if to slide catcher squats to make tag, runner spears catcher in shoulder/head area bending catcher back, up and over knee and ankle.

Question, should that runner have been ejected,,, yes or no. Please do not confuse the Pro game with NFHS rules.

In addition do not confuse the college game with the HS game.

The terminology (No collision rule) is an NCAA term not a FED term.

In FED there is a No malicious Contact rule which states that if a player committs malicious contact ANYWHERE then the player is OUT and ejecetd, EXCEPT if runner already scored in which case the run counts but the player EJ'D.

Therefore, in FED if IN THE JUDGEMENT of the umpire he/she judged that the slide,etc. was malicious, then the call is:

1. TIME
2. That's Interference
3. R3 is out (assuming he didn't touch the plate yet)
4. R3 is ejeceted.

In addition, in FED if the umpire judged that the defense could have turned a DP on the play, then he could also ring up 2. if it was a Force Play slide situation then it is a No brainer in FED - Ring up 2.

Side Note: I agree with one other poster in that we need "all the players" because it's obvious blue saw something different then you did.

Pete Booth

[LMan]

yep, if it was that obvious and not called, then we aren't getting the whole story.

[akabaseball]

Thanks for that Pete.

I know judgement is exactly that. And I know, I had to lecture my team not to earhole the opposing player.

I would not have had to give that lecture if the judgement had been drawn from the same play we saw.

Its the damage control after a non-call that set me off. I believe if an ump brings down the hammer, players are less likely to retaliate.

[jicecone]

"It is a shame when it occurs on a play that rules have been established to prevent."

I agree coach however, it is NOT the officials responsibility to teach the rules. We can only react after the fact with the penalty, and that doesn't prevent the injury at that point.

I also agree that non-enforcement or not penalizing when necessary, can and will lead to further problems but, I still believe that control and rule knowledge starts and ends on the bench. Yes I know, we are all teachers out there but, at about the Varsity level and up, we,the officials are the last ones that the players are going to listen to, except in the enforcement of the rules. Even then, there is usually an argument, right or wrong.

So in summary coach I hear what your saying but, I believe you have the wrong forum here. The competency or incompetency of the official for your game, would NOT have prevented the injury. Nor would penalizing the player have truly justified the injury to your catcher. I do believe though coach, that you should be addresssing this issue at a coaches forum or the next coaches meeting you have in your area. Because, it is very obvious that if the rules would have been properly addressed ahead of time, this may not have taking place at all.