End of Game Appeal
 

Rule set is Little League Majors. Game is tied in last inning with home team batting and runner on first with one out. Batter hits ball off the left center field fence and R1 proceeds to try and score. The throw from the outfield is high and wide and goes off the backstop. In watching R1 cross the plate, he straddled home and was no where near touching it. Now this is where my question starts. Usually I would end the game and walk off the field but now the defense has the right to appeal the missing of home plate. However, the BR who hit a clean double, went to third on the throw, and is now sprinting home on the overthrow is tagged by the catcher who picked the ball up off the backstop fence. I called him out and slowly started to backpedal to the gate the whole time watching to see if an appeal was going to be made. Fans were yelling that the R1 missed third, but I was not watching here but was following ball to make sure catch was not made then following R1 across the plate. I waited until all players had crossed the foul line and then called game. Coach finally heard fans and asked if they could still appeal and I explained that once all players had left fair territory they could not and he did not seem too concerned about it.

Now my question is, what does one due in the above situation when it comes to a play being made on the BR. In most situations if the front run scores the game is over so no call would be made. However if an appeal is made on the missing of home by R1 and no call is made on the BR then to me you are in for a world of arguing where no call was made. However by making a call on the BR you are saying that something out of the ordinary is going on.



On a side note, in this game I had my first triple play. IFF resulted in batter being out. Runners ran anyhow and the second baseman steps on second then throws to third. Tag at third applied to R2 to give second out. R1 thought he was out on a force and is jogging into the dugout so I called him out for abandonment. Interesting having to explain that play to the arguing coach.

Was the IFF caught?
If yes, R2 is out when F4 touched 2nd base. No need for a tag.

Well, that's true if it was "obvious" he was appealing R2 leaving early. From the description, I don't think so.

The IFF was not caught. Second baseman read it wrong and he had to kind of lunge back and catch it and it hit off his glove and fell (and no it was not intentionally dropped).

I am more concerned though with how to handle the play that ended the game for future reference if it occurs again.

Not a caught ball
 

Whoops, misread the OP ...
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I understand that this was a throw-away situation for you, but ...

If an IFF is not caught, 7.08(d) is not in effect. Base runners are not required to tag-up before advancing, though they are at risk of being tagged out themselves while off the base.
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So, what's the problem with the way he handled it? BR is out #1 on the IFF. F4 drops the fly, picks it up, and steps on 2nd. This is nothing since R1 is not forced and R2 need not tag up. Throw to F5 who tags R2 for out #2. R1 incorrectly thinks he's out and he is out #3 when he abandons.

Whoops! Reading mistake.
 

Nothing wrong, of course, except my reading abilities. Thanks for clearing me up.

LL, gotta love it.

I'd say just stick around and watch the action, nonchalantly. If need be make a mental call on the B/R, but don't signal. That's how we handle steal plays on ball 4 / strike 3 checked swings, so you could use that mindset.

I think I would hang around just long enough to see the play on BR, make no call and start to the exit. If an appeal is made on the missed plate then I can make a call on the play.

An argument may ensue but you simply tell the coach that it is his teams responsibility to make an appeal on a missed base, and not yours to call the missed base. In your situation, it seems that there was no play on the runner that missed touching the plate so as I teach in my clinics, "no play, no call".

One of the problems with LL and youth leagues is that every time a runner touches a base, everyone expects the umpire to make a call of some kind. So if a runner misses a base, everyone expects you to call something when in fact you are not supposed to make a call. This is so you do not tip off either side that an infraction has occurred (as you stated).

I haven't done LL in over 25 years but I have not forgotten how many "rules experts" are managing and in the stands and all of them know more than you in a game. :eek: I get ex-LL umpires in my HS clinics and believe me, there is a lot of re-training that has to be done.

ALWAYS assume that there COULD be something else going on (in this sitch, you KNOW there's a possible appeal. However, in a future sitch it could be your partner with the possible appeal.). Call the play until the play is over. Never call "ball-game!!!" while play is live. If, after the play is over, the game is also over, then call the game.

Second - for this very reason we are very consistent in our behavior after a game. If, for example, we generally sprint off the field and then suddenly don't in your OP, you're tipping someone off. I ALWAYS meet my partner in the infield, compare scores, and then walk off together. In your OP, were this your normal procedure, you could do the same knowing an appeal might come and make sure you're not leaving until the team is out of the infield.

First I heard of meet of meet to compare scores. I generally don't know exactly unless we have excellent scorboard operator (about 95% of the time for score, about 70% for count and/or outs). If close game I generally ask after 6th if board is accurate.

What's a scoreboard? :)

It's the thing that tells you when the game is over, or more importantly, in a runaway or yawner, when it is about to be over.

:eek: It is the official game scorekeeper who you should check in with frequently to make certain that there are no late inning arguments about score, IP and dozens of other highly important issues.