Live ball apeal or not

[canump]

Hey guys & gals
Had a fellow ump call me the other day about a play he had. He was BU for thi game.
R1 on 2nd, R2 on 1st with 1 out. Batter hits hard line drive that bounces off the fence between F9 & F8 in right feild. R1 is runnuing with injured leg, ( occured earlier in game but no subs available as whole team was not there yet due to traffic) (they had 9 players so game started on time). R1 stops at 3rd, R2 is running hard and rounds 2nd heading for 3rd but completely missed 2nd as she was watching the ball, halfway to 3rd she realizes that R1 was standing on the base, she stops & reverses direction back to 2nd. F4 is standing on the outfielfd side of second about 2 steps off. Nobody yelled at that time that runner missed 2nd and F4 caught the throw turned, stepped and at the same time of stepping on 2nd tossed the ball to F1. No verbal or anything about the missed bag as F4 had no idea as her back was to 2nd. R1 makes it back just as F1 yells "Umpy she missed 2nd and that was apeal live"
BU disalowed apeal as no indication came from F4 that she was appealing either verbal or by her actions.
I informed him that he could have considered it as an accidental appeal but he strongly says that the feilder is still required to indicate somehow that he/she is making an appeal.
Any feed back would be appreciated.
Thanks
Wid.

[Dakota]

I don't know Canadian rules on this, but ASA (for one) does not recognize accidental appeals.

I have no problem with the umpire not recognizing the appeal, since he apparently judged that the player taking the throw from the OF just happened to be standing on/near 2B. The throw was seen by the umpire as merely trying to pick off the runner who was off the base.

While a verbal is not required, if the action of the defense is ambiguous, the defender should verbalize something so the umpire is clear on what they are doing. Appealing a missed base will rarely be obvious to the umpire without some kind of indication from the defense. F1 had no standing to make the clarification.

[greymule]

he could have considered it as an accidental appeal

There is no such thing as an accidental appeal, and there never was. There used to be an "accidental force play" in Fed, but I think they did away with it. (And that was Fed baseball; I'm not aware that Fed ever allowed an accidental force play in softball).

The fielder must appeal to the umpire. Merely touching the base is not enough.
(However, when an appeal is obvious, such as when the runner is far off the base when a fly ball is caught, a spoken appeal is not necessary.)

canump, it's a good idea, when offering a play, to cite the code being used.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by canump

... just as F1 yells "Umpy ..."

Must be a Canadian thing... I'm not sure I could get used to being called "Umpy"!

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Must be a Canadian thing... I'm not sure I could get used to being called "Umpy"!

Took me a while to get used to "hey, Blue," while calling USSSA (umpires wear red shirts in USSSA).

And then it took on a whole new meaning once Old School came out!

But pertaining to the OP, if you're speaking ASA, the defensive player with the ball must make it clear to the umpire why they're tagging the bag. The only exception, in my opinion is if you're playing under ADA rules and the F4 is deaf, hh, or mute.

[celebur]

Originally Posted by canump

I informed him that he could have considered it as an accidental appeal but he strongly says that the feilder is still required to indicate somehow that he/she is making an appeal.

Softball Canada rules mirror those of ASA regarding live-ball appeals, so no, there is no 'accidental' appeal.

Others have already commented on what is required for appealing this missed base properly.

[canump]

Thanks guys
Just before I posted that post I read it back to myself and started to doubt my own response so thanks for bringing me down to reality.