NW vs. Bama and Plate Umpire!

[Al]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

An assumption we can make after seeing the pitch five times in slow motion instead of the .25 seconds Scott Thomas had to make the call.



No, he did not give the BR first base. He simply ruled it a batted ball. The fact that it hit the batter should have been picked up by the 3B umpire. It wasn't.



The pitch was called a ball "at the knees" because the knees are NOT in the strike zone.



Now, the pitch that hit the 'Bama batter on the knee with no effort on her behalf to avoid it should have been seen.

Hi Mike,

Forget the slow motion. The call where he awarded the girl 1st base was very poor. Sure it happened fast, but the second it happened it was pretty obvious the ball hit the bat and not her hand. In cases similar, with the sound the ball made, and no pain displayed by the batter I have never seen the umpire award a base.

The one where the ball was kicked after the girl was out of the box should have been seen by the PU, IMO. It was a batted ball, but it also was a kicked ball and he was right there in front of it. The umpire on 3rd was not asked for help and didn't offer any. She also made a poor call on a ball that was touched in fair ground by calling it a foul ball.

The pitch at the knees that he called a ball was at the top of the front knee. It was in the zone at the corner of the plate as well. Of course it's a judgement call and he made the same call against Alabama that would have ended the game, but there were a couple of times that he called pitches that appeared to be in the exact same locations strikes.

Yes, I saw that award go to a girl that didn't try to move away, in fact she moved slightly towards the ball as if to make sure that the ball would hit her. Of all the games I watched; that game had more than it's share of booted calls. I am not one who could have at this point in my experience, but I'm sure you and others on this forum would have done a better job. The teams deserve better, especially the pitchers. ....Al