DH question (Fed)

[lpneck]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster...

I am a basketball official who often lurks on that board, and I am also a high school junior varsity baseball coach. I have a dilemma regarding a lineup situation, and was hoping to get some advice from veteran umpires on this board.

I only have 11 players on my team, so my bench is very short. My first basemen is a very good baserunner, but has a weak stick. I have another player who will DH for him, but is literally the slowest player I have ever coached.

I searched other threads on the board about this and the consensus seems to be that this is a legal thing to do...

Able is playing 1B and is being DH'd for by Baker. 1st inning, Baker gets a single. Able in to run for Baker (killing the DH). 4th inning, Baker uses his rentry to hit for Able and singles. Able uses his reentry to pinch run for Baker.

Other threads reference the Spring 2000 Federation newsletter that rules this as legal, so I'm not really questioning whether or not I can do this.

I plan to tell the umpire before every game that this is something that I am potentially planning to do. Considering that this is the JV level and I am going to have lesser experienced umpires working my game, what suggestions do you have if the umpire says that I can't make those substitutions?

Thanks,
lp

[Edited by lpneck on Apr 8th, 2003 at 02:02 PM]