2 person q - fed

[ilyazhito]

In NFHS baseball, the umpire taps his chest 2 times. It was added to the 2019 rulebook and mechanics manual. Before that, there were several different signals, including folding the arms in an "X" shape in front of the chest, taking off the hat, tapping the chest, and motioning to the other umpire(s) to call him (them) over.

Perhaps softball umpires use a similar signal for communication when there is a situation where they need to communicate (dropped ball, pulled foot, swipe tag, foul ball vs. foul tip, 3rd strike vs foul ball, caught vs uncaught 3rd strike, possible HBP), and an umpire has information to contribute. This would definitely be a situation where the umpires need to get together, since a hit batter would require a stoppage in play and a possible award, depending on the situation (did the batter attempt to avoid the pitch). Even if no hit-by-pitch is ruled, the umpires have nothing to lose by discussing the situation and conclusively reconstructing it, so they can explain to either coach what happened, if a coach asks them about the play.