Ending the Slaughter - Coach says his runner will leave early. Runner stays on base.
 

Blowout JV game tonight. Winning coach was telling his players to stop advancing on passed balls, but players kept running. After a runner advanced from 2B to 3B on a delayed steal, the coach tells me she's going to leave early.

I am ready for it, but the runner never leaves the base when the pitch is thrown or the ball is in the circle. I didn't call her out. Coach was a little upset with me. Should we ever call the runners out in this situation even if they don't violate? Is there any rule support for an offensive coach to just "take an out" in any code?

Unless you want to end up in a youtube video as being the worst umpire in the world like the out call when the runner was 3 steps past 1st base, no do not just call them out anyway.

So dude is upset with you because his girls won't listen to him?

Call what happens.

Don't make stuff up.

I get that there are times when a coach wants to "get it over with". But if they really need an out, I wish that they'd find some other way to get it besides making US look like the bad guys!

Why don't they just tell their runner to walk into the dugout? There's an out for ya!

A couple of years ago I had a blowout game where a coach said his runners would be leaving early. Only the first few runners didn't, so I didn't call any imaginary outs. Then later in the inning a runner finally did leave early and I called her out. As he's walking across the field, the same coach that told me they'd be leaving early is looking ticked off and says, "I didn't want you to call THAT runner out!". :eek:

I agree. Not the umpires' job.

Have had a couple of coaches who did that sort of thing, and these guys knew how to do it, and their teams knew what was going on.

One was a middle school level coach at one of the perennial local elite schools. Here there is no run rule at that level :eek:, so he would always try shortening the game when possible - especially on the road. When I was new,I actually missed it, and he chastised me ..

The other was a JV coach who was around forever, and he was a master of massaging the 15 run rule. If he was playing a weak team, he'd let his girls score 5...6 runs an inning, then pull back. It seemed like if he was home, they'd be up 12-13, and then score the 2-3 he needed, and send everybody home! :D
A crusty old guy who never yelled at you, only at his kids - but ALWAYS had a question on a rule, that you knew he knew, but was testing you.