Umpire for 42 years...

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by Agreen_14

I'll try to explain the slide a little better... R1 took a wide angle to second and at the last second slid into the inside of the bag, cleats high but not too high and slid through the bag with his right knee up. R1 was clearly not going to make the base safely and did what he could to bust up the SS from making the throw... So I guess now after rethinking the whole situation it was partially intentional. It was definitely hardball legal, I'm not sure about Church Men's softball. He could've easily broke the SS's leg.

Obviously HTBT, but here are a couple of things about a play like this...

1) Was the runner already retired before he reached the vacinity of the base? A runner is always allowed to put maximum effort to get to his base as quickly as possible, and to slide into that base. He is not required to go "poof" once he is retired, and he is not required to assume the defense will make the play even if it seems like he is a dead duck. However, if he was retired 15 feet from the bag, and he still tried a "take-out" slide, then you might have something.

2) ASA does not provide different base-running rules for the different levels of play (with the obvious exceptions of things like 10U B and no stealing in certain classes of slowpitch).

3) If the runner had remained on his feet and crashed into the defender, you would also have something, but as an umpire, you can't call the game based on what you think "should be fair" - you have to call it by the rules. And, a legal slide is ALWAYS legal contact.