We Kicked it! Bad mechanics?

[mick]

Last night, two-man, Senior LL, trailing team at bat with bases jammed and 2 out. Me at C. Favorite partner is PU.

BR shanked one that was on the 1B line about 20’ behind the bag. F4, F3 and F9 start after the ball.
I took a couple steps toward the play and then decided to stay at C assuming PU had the line and if I left the obvious play at 2B, or possibly 3B will be uncovered.

PU wanted to stay home to cover the plate, but moved up the line 15’ for a look.

F4 dived for the foul ball (by 6-8”) and made the catch? Did we call the batter out? Yes.

Fans on 1b side groan. Three outs. Rally is dead.

Trailing team’s Manager comes to us and started with, “I’m sorry, guys, … I know you had no chance of seeing that play, but the second baseman caught, dropped and reacquired the ball on the bounce.” He was totally polite and, having dealt with this man before, I had no reason to doubt that what he said was totally true.

We both saw the dive the catch and the ball in the glove. Neither of us saw the drop and bounce.

My question is, what could we have done, should have done, differently to get that right?

mick