Why are there appeals, its our job

[UmpireErnie]

NFHS rules used to not have appeals except for BOO. Base running infractions were not appeals. If we saw a runner leave early or miss a base, at the end of the play we just called time and announced the out. It felt really weird.

Appeal plays have been part of softball for, well for a long time. WMB can no doubt consult historical rule books and tell us exactly when the appeal came in to the game.

From a "spirit of the rule" standpoint, making base running infractions appeal plays forces the defense to pay attention to what is going on in the game, lest they miss an out.