A couple of ripples tonight!!

[Gulf Coast Blue]

Called two as PU tonight......1st one solo......2nd with rookie partner.

First game ok.......and on the fresh field I noticed the foul lines were drawn incorrectly (in foul territory) and that the batter's box was too small (maybe about 5-1/2 feet by 2-1/2)......I covered the incorrect lines in the plate meeting........I rubbed out the front of the box because it was drawn about a foot (maybe 15-16 inches) too short in the front. Explained to coaches that if I had a batter inching too close to the pitcher I would redraw the line as needed.....but no problems in the first game.

2nd game......more competetive and guess what I forgot to address at the plate conference......you guessed it.......the batter's box.

Now this is the 2nd game and the lines were just about obliterated so I just did not think about it, but you could still see where the lines ended in the front on the left hand batters box.

Visitors batter tattoos one in the 4th inning and after play ended one of the home coaches come out and says that the player was out of the box when she hit the ball.......I explained that the boxes were drawn incorrectly and that I should have covered it at the plate meeting.....but that in my judgement the batter was well within the legal boundaries of the box.......he nods and goes back to dugout.

6th inning.......same batter.......whacks another and this time a different coach comes barreling out of the dugout to complain about her being out of the box.......he wants the BR called out for being out of the box.

I told him that I had already explained the situation to the other coach and that the batter was ok.......he did not like my explanation and wanted to continue arguing......so I gave him "THE LOOK" and told him lets play ball.

He was none to happy, but sulked back to the dugout.

Home team attempts a comeback in the bottom of the 6th (they are down 6-4 with one out) with R1 on 2nd and R2 on first when the batter hits a shallow fly ball to F9......R2 gets to far off the bag and gets doubled off first......

I make the out/catch call on the fly ball to F9 and am waiting for my BU to make the call at 1st.......I look over and I am seeing NO indication that she is going to make the call........so I immediately point to her and holler......"it's your call!"......she rings up the third out......game over.

Thank God...........

I usually make a point to find out who the Manager is before a game and try to deal only with them.........I will usually give any assitant coach "THE LOOK" if they want to argue anything......but in this game I did not know who the head coach was.

Long post to a simple question.......Should I have pointed to my partner to make the call? I hated to just stand there and leave her out to dry.....and I did NOT want to poach her call with the possibility that she would wake up and come up with a different call that I had......so I pointed and hollered........right thing to do?

All in all........pretty smooth evening other than the little ripple.........call a couple of makeups tommorow.......then off for Easter weekend with Family.

Joel

[GOS0170]

Some times even veterans get a brain fart. I say that you did the right thing but would have added a post game chat with the rookie to see what was going through his/her mind and used this situation as a positive teaching experience. If explained properly, the rookie would come out of the game with a positive attitude about officiating and a realization that he/she has a lot to learn. Besides, the rookie just might come to you for help with his/her game in the future.

[Steve M]

Joel,
I agree with GOS, you were right to not make her call and it was perfectly OK to remind this new ump that it was her call. AND, I'm assuming that you went over this post-game, so it's not likely to happen again. You might want to remind her that if someday a partner of hers does make a call that should have been her's and she saw it differently, that she should not make any call - it just plain looks like the umps aren't working together.