Thoughts, notes, and questions from Nationals

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by Rich

I enjoyed the sequence starting at 9:13:16, including the coach with the clipboard and the screaming mom.

(I still think starting point of plate and working right as the play unfolds is the best way to see this play, but I get that softball does it diff'ernt.)

Also, there's what looks like a pretty severe injury on a slide at 11:14:30 on the video that ends up delaying the game for about 27 minutes.

ASA/USA wants us to start 1BLX as PU and rotate as necessary. NCAA is OK with starting at point of plate from the get go. This being an ASA/USA tournament, I went 15-18 feet 1BLX to read the play and closed to 10-12 to make the call on a tag. (I was not the umpire at 9:13)

That injury at 11:14 is the compound fracture I mentioned in the OP. I was U3, right on top of it. Sounded horrible. Sounded like a combination between a wooden bat breaking and a .22 starter pistol. You'll see me immediately kill it and call for medical personnel. Nothing but a clean late slide and an SS who unfortunately stepped directly into a sliding runner, instead of out of the baseline.

As an aside, if you're wondering why I was a bit defensive to the assistant coach immediately after the injury, that's because he told me "That call was absolute bullshit and you know it. You got her hurt and you're gonna cost her that scholarship." Normally in this level of play, that's an ejection for me, but not at that moment. I told him to knock it off, let's be concerned about the player and we could talk about his thoughts on the call later. Instead of talking to me, they went to the TD and said I was rude while they had a hurt player. :|

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

That injury at 11:14 is the compound fracture I mentioned in the OP. I was U3, right on top of it. Sounded horrible. Sounded like a combination between a wooden bat breaking and a .22 starter pistol. You'll see me immediately kill it and call for medical personnel. Nothing but a clean late slide and an SS who unfortunately stepped directly into a sliding runner, instead of out of the baseline.

As an aside, if you're wondering why I was a bit defensive to the assistant coach immediately after the injury, that's because he told me "That call was absolute bullshit and you know it. You got her hurt and you're gonna cost her that scholarship." Normally in this level of play, that's an ejection for me, but not at that moment. I told him to knock it off, let's be concerned about the player and we could talk about his thoughts on the call later. Instead of talking to me, they went to the TD and said I was rude while they had a hurt player. :|

And poo on that coach....he should know shit happens..TD say anything?

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by ASA/NYSSOBLUE

And poo on that coach....he should know shit happens..TD say anything?

The UIC on the field went to the video during the injury delay and came to the same conclusion we did: late slide resulted in an unfortunate injury. He asked what I said to the assistant, and I told him. Nothing further came of it. It was just a "wrong place, wrong time" incident.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by teebob21

The UIC on the field went to the video during the injury delay and came to the same conclusion we did: late slide resulted in an unfortunate injury. He asked what I said to the assistant, and I told him. Nothing further came of it. It was just a "wrong place, wrong time" incident.

Speaking of wrong place, that may have been a problem. I've always been of the belief that when there is an injury to a player (unless the umpire is a trained medical provider) the umpires should move to another area on the field and allow the team to take care of their player.

Nothing good can come of hanging out near the players and coaches during this time.

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

He is an AC. Automatic ejection in my book as you described it. And I would not lose one second of sleep about the ejection.

MTD, Sr.

With all due respect Mark, this is a baseball mentality...one which I would have a hard time subscribing to, even if I still worked baseball. Some of the conferences I work unofficially treat an AC as a subhuman mute homunculus, but I just can't get on board with that.

Every coach on my field has the same amount of rope, regardless of title. Players get less, but that's because they're players. A situation like this, and you have to get mighty personal or profane before I send you off.

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Speaking of wrong place, that may have been a problem. I've always been of the belief that when there is an injury to a player (unless the umpire is a trained medical provider) the umpires should move to another area on the field and allow the team to take care of their player.

Nothing good can come of hanging out near the players and coaches during this time.

Agreed. I have CPR and basic first aid training, but I am not a medical provider. While I immediately knew this was a serious injury, I got out of there as soon as I saw that it was not life-threatening and medical personnel were on the scene.

On a different topic....how about that sell out call on the swipe tag at 3B five minutes before the injury?!! (<--- shameless self promotion)

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by teebob21

Agreed. I have CPR and basic first aid training, but I am not a medical provider. While I immediately knew this was a serious injury, I got out of there as soon as I saw that it was not life-threatening and medical personnel were on the scene.

When I say another area, I mean the moment a coach is approaching the injured player, head to someplace 60+ feet away. Great time to get a drink of water, review any issues with your partners, maybe even take a trip to the head, be anywhere, but near that player and staff. BTW, there was nothing wrong with the call. They don't teach their players to slide properly and he is talking to you?

On a different topic....how about that sell out call on the swipe tag at 3B five minutes before the injury?!! (<--- shameless self promotion)

You need to remember to pull that right leg around

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

Originally Posted by teebob21

With all due respect Mark, this is a baseball mentality...one which I would have a hard time subscribing to, even if I still worked baseball. Some of the conferences I work unofficially treat an AC as a subhuman mute homunculus, but I just can't get on board with that.

Every coach on my field has the same amount of rope, regardless of title. Players get less, but that's because they're players. A situation like this, and you have to get mighty personal or profane before I send you off.



Agreed. I have CPR and basic first aid training, but I am not a medical provider. While I immediately knew this was a serious injury, I got out of there as soon as I saw that it was not life-threatening and medical personnel were on the scene.

On a different topic....how about that sell out call on the swipe tag at 3B five minutes before the injury?!! (<--- shameless self promotion)

One of our hs group's members was a certified EMT - we were reminded time and time again, that he was the only one who was officially allowed to help an injured player - otherwise get your butt out of there, and let the coaches (who are supposed to be certified in first aid) help out.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by ASA/NYSSOBLUE

One of our hs group's members was a certified EMT - we were reminded time and time again, that he was the only one who was officially allowed to help an injured player - otherwise get your butt out of there, and let the coaches (who are supposed to be certified in first aid) help out.

Ran into this at a national where one of our umpires assigned to the tournament was an EMT. A girl on one field had a similar play and went down. That umpire was working an adjacent field. We stopped that game to allow her to help the injured player on the next field.

Yes, it put both games behind, but no one really cared nor complained. If they did, I never heard it.

[Crabby_Bob]

Originally Posted by teebob21

[...]

On a different topic....how about that sell out call on the swipe tag at 3B five minutes before the injury?!! (<--- shameless self promotion)

Good call, but you let her get ahead of you. In your defense, she had no business going to third.

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by Crabby_Bob

Good call, but you let her get ahead of you. In your defense, she had no business going to third.

No kidding. The ball was in the air before she reached 2B and she still kept on going...AND she almost made it! That girl was fast.

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

[QUOTE=

On a different topic....how about that sell out call on the swipe tag at 3B five minutes before the injury?!! (<--- shameless self promotion) [/QUOTE]

It would be shameless...if I could find it

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by ASA/NYSSOBLUE

It would be shameless...if I could find it

Second pitch of the game. https://youtu.be/vDocZqE_iZs?t=40285

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by teebob21

As an aside, if you're wondering why I was a bit defensive to the assistant coach immediately after the injury, that's because he told me "That call was absolute bullshit and you know it. You got her hurt and you're gonna cost her that scholarship."

How in the hell does your call lead to her getting hurt? It wasn't as if you did something that resulted in her putting her leg into the runner's slide. Even if you had judged that the runner did something malicious, ruled the BR out as well, and ejected the runner, the shortstop's leg is still broken. What could you have possibly done differently that would have prevented that and kept the scholarship intact? What an idiotic thing to say.

[Tru_in_Blu]

Originally Posted by Manny A

What an idiotic thing to say.

I won't disagree with that. But we've all probably reacted that way at some point. The fact that it was associated with such a traumatic injury had to be very emotional. And if it happened to be his daughter (perhaps not) that was hurt, that would be real tough.

I think Teebob took the right approach (if there is such a thing in that kind of situation) in focusing on the injured player.

I'm fortunate to not have something like that happen in games I've worked. I had a woman get a broken nose on a bad hop grounder, one broken leg on a play at the plate, and a torn up leg on a slide into home by a woman wearing shorts.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

I won't disagree with that. But we've all probably reacted that way at some point. The fact that it was associated with such a traumatic injury had to be very emotional. And if it happened to be his daughter (perhaps not) that was hurt, that would be real tough.

I think Teebob took the right approach (if there is such a thing in that kind of situation) in focusing on the injured player.

I'm fortunate to not have something like that happen in games I've worked. I had a woman get a broken nose on a bad hop grounder, one broken leg on a play at the plate, and a torn up leg on a slide into home by a woman wearing shorts.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing Teebob's approach. I'm just appalled that the coach would come up with such a blatantly wrong accusation of the umpire's role here. I would've expected something more like the coach accusing the other team's coach for teaching runners to take out fielders. But to place fault with the umpire here is way out of line, even in the heat of the moment.