Is the plate considered "fair territory"?

[mcrowder]

Another myth.

Was watching (scouting the players in my role as District Director, and also watching the umpires as UIC elsewhere) a state tourney for 10U. Two girls briefly were on 2nd simultaneously - the 2nd girl immediately returned to 1st. No play was made on anyone, as there was a girl on 3rd.

Fans go ballistic. "You can't have two girls on base at the same time!" They go on for a good 5 minutes.

My next proper move... go sit elsewhere.

My actual move, wanting too much to help, was to quietly mention that it was not against the rules to have two girls on the same base. They start in on me, starting with "Who the he77 are you," and continuing into, "No wonder the umps don't know the rules if this dumb@$$ is in charge".

My next proper move... go sit elsewhere.

My actual move - pull out the book and show them the rule. They read the part where it says that two players cannot occupy the same base, and refuse to read further. I ask them to tell me what the penalty is in the book, and get my book thrown 20 feet with them saying, "I don't need to read any more - it says right there they can't be on the same base."

My next proper move... go sit elsewhere.

Thankfully, my actual move ... go sit elsewhere.

20 minutes later, as the game is winding down, one of the fans came over and apologized for his idiot friends and thanked me for trying to educate them.