Rookie Umpire Situation
 

As a rookie umpire, here is one that caught me by surprise and want to know if I got it right:

1. 10U Rec - pitched ball is inside off the plate - batter is confused and rather than getting out of the way ends up putting her hand out as though to catch it - she missed and it only touched her hand she was trying to catch it with. I think a second and call - Ball

2. 18U rec - foul tip caught by catcher, runner steals 2B, SS hears BU call foul ball before runner arrives at 2B and gives up on the play. PU awards 2B, coach appeals and umpires discuss, what is the call? (I was coaching in this one)

Depends on what the PU said, not what the SS heard. If PU said and signaled "foul tip", safe at 2nd. If the PU said "foul ball", he has made a mistake. Not knowing how the play might have ended up absence his mistake, the best solution is to send the runner back to first.

Reread. It states "BU" called foul.

#1 Dead ball - Ball

#2 Bad BU - BU should not call foul ball. It's not their job. PU awarded the base because it is the responsibility of the defense to know what the situation is.

HOWEVER! Once the ball is killed, even by mistake, it's dead. The BU's mistake should cause the runner to have to go back to 1st and a strike (foul) be put on the batter. That is why the BU should not call foul balls.

How many strikes were there? If 2 before the foul tip we can still have the out because the batter was already retired.

Unless there was a runner on base attempting to steal. Then the call would be, dead Ball, INT on the batter who is out and the runner returned.

Oops! Still should return runner to 1st, since BU killed the play.

Good point Mike.

These were 2 entirely separate incidents. There were no runners on when the 10U batter attempted to catch the pitch. In the basestealing sit., my daughter was playing SS, and I asked her what happened but it was windy and could not hear her, of course some would say I cannot hear anyway - that's why I've started umpiring :) Thanks for the replies.

In clinics we wre repeatedly taught that the BU calls the foul ball if the ball hits the batter in the box (off the bat) and PU may not be able to see it.

Is this bad mechanics?

I call "Dead ball" if the ball hits the batter.

This way, if there are situations where the batter has taken a step, I will only be calling the dead ball and thus allowing the PU to rule whether it hit her while she was still in the box (foul ball) or whether she was out of the box and it was fair or foul when it hit her.

Shew! This board saved me again. Being my first year of softball, there are some basic things I didn't know. Until reading this sitch, I didn't realize that the ball stays live in fastpitch on a foul tip. I am sure that eventually I would have done something horrid because of my ignorance. Thanks!

It is just like a strike swinging unless F2 drops it. Then it is a foul ball

One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to study the rule book. It's great to come on this board for advise but it doesn't replace studying and knowing the rules prior to stepping on the field, especially the 'basic things' like foul tips.

Good luck