Please tell me I'm not crazy!

[MisterV]

Hello to all,

I am a HS JV coach. Before that I actually umpired some JV games for a couple years. Since then, in my 4 years of coaching I have only had one disagreement with an umpire. I try to never disrespect the men in blue, and don't allow my players to do it either. Tonight, however, I flew off the handle a little bit. I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy. If I turn out to be wrong on this, I swear on my honor that I will e-mail the home school with an apology.

Top of the 2nd, one out. I have a runner on third base, and I am in the third base coaching box. My batter hits a foul pop-up about halfway between the plate and the fence. The catcher made a nice catch for the second out. My runner on third has retreated and is standing on the when the ball is caught.

After catching the ball, the catcher handed the ball to the pitcher who had come over to back up the play. The pitcher started walking back towards the circle as the catcher walked further away from the plate to pick up her mask. Seeing no one covering the plate, and whereas time had not been called, I told my runner to go. She crossed the plate almost unnoticed.

Here I am, patting myself on the back for being so brilliant (HA!) when the plate umpire called my runner out for the third out of the inning. I swear I was very calm when I asked him why my girl was out. He really had no answer. In fact, the play seemed to have him confused. I know for a fact that neither umpire saw my girl cross the plate. I asked again if either one of them called time. Neither said they did. "So why is my girl out?" I asked.

Finally, the base umpire said, "Coach, it's the look-back rule." I must admit that this is where I began losing some composure. I argued that my girl scored before the pitcher even made it to the circle. Anyway, even if she didn't, she certainly started running before the pitcher was in the circle. Further, how could the look-back rule apply when my girl ran continuously from third to home without hesitation?

Anyway, the out stood and the inning was over. In fact, the rains came later and the game was suspended. Since it is JV probably won't be made up, so no harm done. However, I pride myself on knowing the rules and on the good rapport I have with the men and women who call our games. I know I will not sleep until I know that I was either right or wrong. If I was wrong I need to be able to tell my players why. I will eargerly await your responses.

[wadeintothem]

obviously that is not LBR and a horrible call.

Remember the boy who wrote home from camp:

No mon, no fun,
your son.

So sad, to bad,
your dad.

That was a lot of readin coach!!

[BretMan]

If everything happened just like you say, the umpires seem to have blown this call.

After you got their explanation, you should have pressed the point about the Look Back Rule not even being in effect. If I was in your shoes, my follow-up question would be, "Mr. Umpire, where was the pitcher holding the ball when my runner left third?"

If he gives you an answer like, "She was in the circle", when it was blatantly obvious that she wasn't, I might ask that he check with his partner. If that fails, you're pretty much stuck with the call. Eat it, hope they don't miss another one and get back to playing ball.

[azbigdawg]

Try eating it with some salt... see if that works..... seems like a bad call, but youre right...theres not much you can do....

[JEL]

[QUOTE=MisterV]Hello to all,

I try to never disrespect the men in blue, and don't allow my players to do it either.

Excellent, Thanks coach!



I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy. QUOTE]


Used to Umpire, then became a JV coach, and you want us to say you ain't crazy? :-)

Yeah, they blew it but you knew that already. By sending your runner as you did, it appears you know what you are doing. The officials at your game obviously did not. It is possible that after the catch both quit watching the play and were moving back into position. To me, that is as bad as misinterpreting the rules!

You may have had grounds for a protest if that is allowed in your system. Georgia schools have removed the protest, but a game report can still be filed. Is it worth the trouble to file a report would be the question. I think probably so. Being a JV game, the outcome may not change, (and as you said may not even finish) but whoever scheduled that crew needs to know there is a bit more training to do.

Hopefully that crew has already "gone back to the book" and now realize they were wrong.

[mcrowder]

So what happened when you protested the call?

(PS - Protesting a misapplication of the rule is not disrespecting the umpire. I wish more coaches would protest when there was a TRUE misapplication - these guys screwing up calls like this aren't attending our clinics ... and will never learn if they aren't forced to learn).