|
|
|||
A bad sitiuation
I wasn't there. The losing pitcher's father caught up to me at work the next day and asked me what I thought...
JV game. 2 out. Bottom of 7th. R1 on 1st. Dropped 3rd strike. Ump, working alone, says batter's OUT! Players leave the field. Catcher rolls ball back to pitcher's mound. Batter runs to 1st. Teams line up to shake hands. Home coach argues ruling. Ump realizes she screwed up. Allows batter to go to 1st. Game resumes (after plenty of discussion). Naturally, the home team scores a couple runs and wins the game. The pitcher's father was pretty cool about it. He just wanted my opinion. I told him that once the batter is called out, she's out. This ruling can't be changed. Is it the catcher's job to go ahead and make the play after the ump made the wrong call? |
|
|||
Quote:
> I told him that once the batter is called out, she's out. This ruling can't be changed.< Well, yes it could be be changed. The umpire does have authority to "rectify" a call such as this, but......... >Home coach argues ruling.< Well duh, I would too! but....... > Players leave the field< >Teams line up to shake hands. Home coach argues ruling.< Timing a bit off, defense has left the field, game over. Last edited by JEL; Sun May 13, 2007 at 12:05am. |
|
|||
Quote:
The offense was smart enough to know the game situation and react accordingly in spite of the umpire's error, the defense was not. This is a tough one. If protested and it was upheld, the game resumes at the point at which the error was made. Since you cannot just put the ball on the ground behind the plate, the batter and the box an say, "GO", I'm assuming the "play" with which the game would resume would be the pitch. BTW, as far as once the umpire calls the batter out, she's out, that just isn't true. An umpire can change a call upon review of the information available.
__________________
The bat issue in softball is as much about liability, insurance and litigation as it is about competition, inflated egos and softball. |
|
|||
Thanks for the replies. When I made the comment about not changing the "out" call once it was made, I guess I only meant situations where the defense clearly reacted to the call. I have changed "out" calls in the past when I later discovered the ball had been dropped or if my partner revealed something to me that I hadn't seen. No problem. The goal should be to get it right. My concern is when the incorrect call influences the rest of the play.
Maybe the comment about the offense being alert while the defense was busy celebrating is right on the mark. After all, there is no penalty for tagging a runner who has already been called out, just to make sure she's really out. Everyone learned a lesson in that little fiasco, including the ump. |
|
|||
I agree the ump booted this call,
but FED rule 8-2-4 The batter is out when "the BR fails to advance to first base and enters the team area after...a dropped third strike" I think I saw her enter the team area, she's out.
__________________
"When I umpire I may not always be right, but I am always final!" |
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson |
|
|||
Quote:
Yeah I missed that in the OP also. I had assumed the runner did abandon by lining up (that could then be team area). But knowing now that she ran down to first initially, the umpire corrected her mistake. Also just by calling a runner out does not kill anything (except maybe your credibility some times). |
|
|||
As many have already said...
First, this was not an appeal play, so defense leaving fair territory is irrelevant. Second, this was not a judgment call. The third strike was a judgment call. Ruling the BR out was a misapplication of the third strike rule. Third, the ruling was corrected and the umpire acted to repair the situation as best as he could. The defense did not earn the out; they (and especially the catcher) knew the pitch was not caught, and knew (or should have known) the BR was not out regardless of what the umpire said. They chose to try to get away with one and did not. Fourth, the idea that once an umpire calls a runner out that the call cannot be changed is false. Fifth, it is not "rewarding" the offense. It is correcting the erroneous call that placed the offense in jeopardy.
__________________
Tom |
|
|||
Quote:
We have all made calls that were wrong. We have all made calls that coaches, players and spectators disagree with. They don't continue play if they disagree. The bottom line is the batter was called out. No reason to penalize the defense, who clearly heard the umpire kill any needed tag or throw down to first by calling the batter out. She was called out - right or wrong, everyone has to live with call. This is not able to be appealed, this is not a re-do, the runner does not get first base. Game over.
__________________
"When I umpire I may not always be right, but I am always final!" |
|
|||
I don't see it as a bad judgement call, I see it as a kicked ruling. She clearly called the batter out when, in fact, she wasn't out. That is correctable.
__________________
Mark NFHS, NCAA, NAFA "If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?" Anton Chigurh - "No Country for Old Men" |
|
|||
Quote:
This is NOT a correctable situation! You've killed the play when you called her out. Its the same as if you called a fair ball foul. Doesn't matter where is really was, you called it foul, the play is DEAD!
__________________
"When I umpire I may not always be right, but I am always final!" |
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
Mark NFHS, NCAA, NAFA "If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?" Anton Chigurh - "No Country for Old Men" |
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
"When I umpire I may not always be right, but I am always final!" |
|
|||
Quote:
Players lining up to shake hands? Sounds like all of the defense may have left fair territory. Game over. |
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson |
Bookmarks |
|
|