Help from my Partner

[Andy]

Here is the situation I had in an ASA Qualifier a few years ago. I am the tournament UIC and saw this play.

Three umpire crew, no runners on base. F5 is playing up anticipating a bunt.
Batter swings and hits a ground ball at F5, she reaches down to field it, ball goes through her legs and rolls foul prior to reaching third base. PU calls FOUL. Offensive coach comes out and says that F5 touched the ball in fair territory so it should be a fair ball, requests PU ask his partners for help. PU gets crew together, U3 tells PU that the ball was touched by F5 over fair territory. PU reverses call and awards batter first base.

Defensive coach wants to protest the changing of the call from foul to fair, I am called to the field. After conferring with the crew to determine what happened and exactly what was called, I inform the coach that there is nothing to protest as the PU simply reversed his judgement call after seeking input from partners.

During the post game, I informed PU that he should have politely declined the initial request to get help as he was sure that the ball was not touched and was foul.