Looking for a better angle
 

Had this happen this weekend.

USSSA 18U

R1 on 2nd, R2 on 1st, no out. I am in position C, over the SS's right shoulder; she's playing behind the base path, about 5 steps.

Ground ball to SS, she moves forward to field ground ball, comes up with ball in bare hand (right hand) and attempts to tag R1. At the point of "supposed" contact with R1 we have a straight line situation (R1, SS, BU). I couldn't see any contact so I made no call. SS throws to 1st, throw is wide, BR moves to 2nd, R2 moves to 3rd. I anticipated a throw to 3rd for the force and may have moved a step that way, which took me into the straight line scenario above.

SS was adamant that a tag was applied, but I told her "I saw no tag". Coaches came out and argued but to no avail. During the break I conferred with PU (who has many years of experience in USSSA and NFHS and 1 year in NCAA, someone I respect) and he said I made the right call, but it was not the most popular call. Drop it and go on.

My question is:

Could I have been in a better position to get a better angle to make this call? I don't think I could have, but I thought I may have been in a better position if I was closed to 3rd and in a step or two, but that would leave me open to get hit by a line drive.

You could have, but not knowing which way a player may move and avoiding moving into a prosition which could put you in the middle of a play.

IOW, there is no guarantee you can ever get the perfect position for a tag play.

I don't do any USSSA, so cannot comment on their mechanics (assuming they even have any). But, based on ASA and most mechanics I know, you started off the wrong (right) shoulder of F6; without a runner on 3rd, you belong off the left shoulder of F6. That puts you closer to the most statistically likely plays at 2nd and 1st, and would have allowed you to step up on the play with F6, getting a better angle to see the attempted tag at 90 degrees, instead of 180. The third benefit is that you can, from there, get much closer to the long distance call at first, if F6 makes that play.

No reason to be to F6's left; you give up the snap pickoff at 2nd, get further from first, and (as you know now) lose the angle on a tag by F6.

No reason to move toward third unless (1) R1 is stealing on the pitch, or (2), F6 has turned and is committed to that throw. Moving in that direction makes all of the common plays (except those noted) even more difficult than your starting position.

Thanks IRISH and Steve.

Steve, you are right, I should have been over the left shoulder of the SS. I guess I cheated toward the most obvious out (3rd) instead of letting the play happen. Lesson learned.

By the way, the umpire mechanics for USSSA mirror those of ASA and NFHS, just different rules.

Only way to see that swipe tag is to be looking from third towards second or vice versa. Can't do that in two umpire system. Had you had a third umpire the third base umpire could have seen it :D

Heck, if it's like UTrip Girls' FP here, darned lucky to have two umpires on the field, much less three.

No USSSA here but same thing. No 3-umpire except for an occassional championship game in a local tourney. And at our State High School tournament. I'm umpiring the 5A-6A State FP here in OK this weekend..gotta get rid of that 2-man system mindset!!

Having lived in the Amarillo area much of my life, I know your pain first hand. Here's hoping you get no "blue northers" this weekend. I could guarantee that with a banana split from Braum's sent directly to my house. ;)

As for 3-man: I'm not saying everything we do in the Seattle area is perfect, but...we will often do 3-man for practice to try to stay sharp. Sometimes that means we split our 2-man pay 3 ways. Most often, that means we want to do it, rest of crew is OK with it, and the third man does it for free -- just for the sake of practice.

3 Man
 

As is usually the case in the fall, most of the officials work football games. The Saturday assignments were all jumbled because of this. I worked 3 BU (18U), then 2 PU (14U), then off (5 games, no rest). Then the football officials came in from their pigskin games to call. But who's complaining, certainly not me.

IMO, I would love to work more 3 man, especially in NHFS, since the state tournament only does 3 man. All the local USSSA tournaments have 2 man. With my limited (4 years) experience, I have only done two 3 man assignments, and those were both during the NHFS jamboree (1 day of unlimited scrimmage games).

Are they still wearing their striped shirts and knickers? ;)

No, but they forget to take the down indicator off of their wrist.:D