fly out supersedes declared out ?

[ozzy6900]

Originally Posted by Umpmazza

I just went to a College 3 man camp..and nobody said anything about verbalizing " Thats passing"... I'm not gonna say anything, if the ball drops to the ground, i will then call the BR runner out for passing a runner.

This is the correct mechanic for this situation. The Ball is the #1, most important thing in this play, not the passing of a runner. The catch/no catch has to be called first, then if the ball is not caught, the passing of a runner is called as Umpmassa explains. By the way, this is not just the NCAA way, it is the correct mechanic for HS and Pro.

Now, if you are working with a crew of 3 or more umpires, the umpire that sees the passing can say something to the players (as long as he is not responsible for the catch/no catch). This way, at least the players are aware of the situation. He should not declare an out, just the fact that a runner passed another runner. However, if this is a 2 man crew, the OP dictates that the BU is inside and has the catch/no catch responsibility. So the catch/no catch is the only thing that the BU should be worried about. The PU can make a note of the passing but should not be vocalizing anything from his position. As an instructor, I think that the only thing the PU should do here (again, referring to the OP) would be to point at the passing runner and wait for the catch/no catch from the BU.