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CT vs RI New England Regional Video

Here are a couple videos of the play in question that was overruled by an official outside the fence during the Regional Final. Notice how the umpire has the kid get back in the box and seems to be ready to play ball and then gets called to the screen.

Part 1
Part 2

This video and some other info seem to me to refute LL's statement on the issue.

So who won the game? I wonder what part of "the replay will only be used in Williamsport" this regional tournament director didn't understand? Of course we'd ALL like to "get the call right", but it opens a huge can of worms when you go to unauthorized video replay to do so.
What's next - mom in the stands with a handycam? I hope MLB is paying attention to all of this....

JJ

The regional tournament director was following the orders of the CEO of Little League, who directed him, after viewing the replay, to "get the call right". This all flowed downhill from there. Direct your ire at this guy:

Steven Keener
[email protected]

He's the one who decided to steamroll the umpires on the field. The ripple effect of this will be felt on distant shores IF no one stands up to him.

The problem is that if you think the umpiring is bad now, wait until the good ones will not volunteer anymore for the the fact that they're going to get steamrolled...there will always be umpires who will want to work WP, but your quality will go down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by txump81 (Post 689042)

This video and some other info seem to me to refute LL's statement on the issue.

What was LL's statement? Where did they (on the field) get the "unauthorized video"?

Sent to Mr. Skeener

I bet you're getting a ton of hate mail today.

As an umpire, I'm curious to learn what prompted you to have the HBP play overruled. It was my understanding that replay was only going to be used in Williamsport. Given that, I'm confounded to see a judgement call, ruled upon by an umpire, (including a 4-umpire huddle that didn't change anything) get overturned by someone in the stands.

As an umpire, we all strive to "get the call right", but we also expect to not be thrown under the bus by essentially a spectator from 45 feet away (even if that spectator happens to be a LL official). Until and unless replay extends to games like this one, the umpire's call must stand. This one call, while you've corrected it singularly, will likely cost you a host of good umpires who refuse to work in such conditions. This will have to have an overall negative impact on your game. LL already fights the stigma of having subpar umpiring among the umpiring crowd - this is going to make it much worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyg08 (Post 689053)

There are good ones? *blink*

I keed, I keed....

Reply from Mr. Keener

If I'm going to post my complaint, I should post his response, yes? Reads like a copy/paste, so I suspect he's answered this 100 times... but here's the response:

Quote:

With respect to the matter in Bristol you reference, there are elements of this that have been reported inaccurately; however it does not change the fact that a television replay was used to help an umpire make the correct call and that shouldn’t have happened. Mr. Soucy, who was not present in the press box at the time, now understands, as confirmed by Mr. Wright, that Mr. Wright was not directed by me to order a call be reversed by the home plate umpire. My only comments to Mr. Wright in the press box, after seeing the replay were, “I hope he asks for help with this one”. Mr. Wright, as he will attest, called the umpire supervisor via radio while on his way to that area and said, “I can help if needed”. Mr. Wright, who was proceeding to the scoring area while the umpires conferred on the field (who upheld the call of the home plate umpire), told the home plate umpire he could help. The umpire told him that he just wanted to get the call correct. Mr. Wright told the umpire “ it’s your call, but I can help if you need it” The umpire again said he wanted to get the call correct and Mr. Wright proceeded to advise the plate umpire that the ball did hit the batters foot. Those are the facts. Should that have happened? No, but it did.

As President of Little League International, the responsibility for this rests with me, not Corey Wright or Don Soucy, both valued employees of Little League International. A television replay should not have been used at a regional game to assist the field umpires despite an honest effort by a good man to help correct an obvious wrong.

Steve Keener

In looking at this play, I think a case could be made for the batter not making a reasonable attempt to get out of the way of the pitch. I'm curious if the replay umpire could have overruled that if that was the opinion of the home plate umpire.

"...despite an honest effort by a good man to help correct an obvious wrong."

It wasn't obvious to the entire umpiring crew on the field. Obviously.

JJ

If the informed the coaches before the game they were using reply there sure didn't seem that way from the looks on the white teams coaches.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef (Post 689100)

If the informed the coaches before the game they were using reply there sure didn't seem that way from the looks on the white teams coaches.

Any good coach would have protested this on the spot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by REFANDUMP (Post 689068)

Not even close.
1) The pitch was in the batter's box, where it dosen't belong. Bater's box belongs to the batter,
2) Watch the video again (Part 1), as the pitch comes in the batter starts to lower his stance (watch his knees) as he can see it's going to be a low pitch
and that if he's going to swing at it he's going to have to "go down and get it."

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJUmp (Post 689103)

The batter could have made some attempt...it is a curve ball and it looks like he is a smart batter and lets it hit him...it is a 1-0 game.

How old are these kids again?

I highly doubt the batter knew it was going to hit the top of his shoe. Let's be serious here. The thing on his mind was probably what kind of pizza he was going to have after the game (not that there's anything wrong with thinking about that at 12 or however old these kids are)