Asking partner for help...

[bobbybanaduck]

Originally Posted by Fritz

Must be my week to keep steppin' in stuff.........after tracking the posts related to my OP about a check swing appeal and the consensus that if a coach asks, you gotta do it, this is what I get last night:

15U, I'm PU, no outs, R1 and R2. Medium fly hit to right, I tell my partner that I've got R2 to 3rd if he goes. Partner slides from C toward B to watch the catch and R1. Everything is good so far.

F9 makes the catch and throws to 1st to catch R1 who had gone to "halfway" and is now scrambling to get back. Throw is off line (toward 2nd) and bang-bang. My partner calls R1 out and what happens............OC at 1st starts screaming that F3 pulled his foot, and you know what comes next............OHC yells for his team to appeal to "the other blue" (me, standing more than halfway down the 3B line). I turn to look at the OHC (in 3rd base dugout) as my partner calls Time; then the OHC notices where I am at and says "well, forget that". Meanwhile, I'm thinking........"wonder what the boys will say on the board when I post this sitch tomorrow!"

I knew the play at first was happening, but as it was, R2 was tagging for a move to 3rd if the ball got by 1B so I didn't really see the actual call.

And if the OHC had gone ahead and asked for the appeal, my partner and I should have done what?

your responsibility to be a 3B ends when the throw goes to 1B. if R2 advances now it is no longer on the fly ball, it is on the throw. when the throw from F9 was released, you should have read immediately that there was going to be no play at 3B and retreated to the plate. granted, you probably still wouldn't have been able to see it cuz you'd still be tracking back to the plate area, but, by the time they realized that they wanted an appeal, you'd be back at home and would not have to deal with the, "well, forget that," comment from the coach who sees you standing up the 3B line waiting for a play that was never going to happen.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by bobbybanaduck

your responsibility to be a 3B ends when the throw goes to 1B. if R2 advances now it is no longer on the fly ball, it is on the throw. when the throw from F9 was released, you should have read immediately that there was going to be no play at 3B and retreated to the plate. granted, you probably still wouldn't have been able to see it cuz you'd still be tracking back to the plate area, but, by the time they realized that they wanted an appeal, you'd be back at home and would not have to deal with the, "well, forget that," comment from the coach who sees you standing up the 3B line waiting for a play that was never going to happen.

I respectfully beg to differ. Seeing my partner move closer to 1B for the play, and me already being down the line and watching R2 tag up, I think the better positioning would be to stay where I was in case R2 takes off on the dropped throw or chaos at 1B. If I leave at that point, I move back home for a play that is a long way from happening (R2 going to 3B and then home), or a view of the play at 1B while on the run - and leave my partner to suddenly swivel for a play all the way across the diamond.

IMHO, staying put is the smarter move until you see what happens next.

[bobbybanaduck]

Originally Posted by Fritz

I respectfully beg to differ. Seeing my partner move closer to 1B for the play, and me already being down the line and watching R2 tag up, I think the better positioning would be to stay where I was in case R2 takes off on the dropped throw or chaos at 1B. If I leave at that point, I move back home for a play that is a long way from happening (R2 going to 3B and then home), or a view of the play at 1B while on the run - and leave my partner to suddenly swivel for a play all the way across the diamond.

IMHO, staying put is the smarter move until you see what happens next.

long from happening or not, it is your next responsibility. your partner having to swivel is his JOB. he should be in the working area for that play at first, so it's not difficult to read the play going to third if it develops. he lets the ball turn him, gets a step or two, and has an angle on the play. if you stay there cuz it's "easier" and somehow a play develops at the plate, are you next going to tell me that he is to rotate down and cover it? and who's now got the runner from first going to second if he had called him safe on the pulled foot instead of out? you gonna bust in there and take it since he's going to cover your play at he plate? patchwork umpiring at it's finest.