Wow, thats good coaching.

So they intentionally have their pitcher illegally pitch, then gave you crap about it.

Why am I not surprised?

The funny thing about the whole thing is the coach never says anything when I call an illegal pitch with nobody on base. Get a runner on base, then call an illegal pitch and then here comes the remarks. In the first game that I called illegal pitches, I called about 6 illegal pitches with nobody on but when a runner is on second and I call her he says "good time to call an illegal pitch now" What was he watching on the 6 previous ones? Dave

Look, I can go out and purchase one of those kitchen timers and hang it on the fence, too. :rolleyes:

but can you USE it properly.....THATS the tricky part.....:D

A couple things:
1. The NCAA made it a point this year that illegal pitches are to be called and "better" umpires are calling it. I was in Florida the first week of March for the Rebel Spring Games and by the mid week the NCAA had called the tourmement director saying your umpires are calling the illegal pitches and the pitchers are adjusting...Good Job.

2. Can we really trust coaches when they tell what happened earlier in the year...NO. But it may have happened the way he said.

3. According to the NCAA Assistant Coaches down on the list of getting leway for there action. It starts with fans, Head Coaches then Assistant Coaches.

I believe that the Assistant Coach that you described went too far and should be gone, but it is still a judgement call.

Since I have them again tomorrow, I think at the plate meeting I will state that if a coach has a problem they should address the proper umpire in a reasonable manner to discuss the problem. Another question. Should it be the Head Coach that asks the umpire questions on a ruling or can it be the Assistant? My guess is that if it can't be civilized neither one should approach the umpire. Do you let the Assistant be the spokesperson if the situation warrants? Dave

Yeah... don't.


:)

Aren't they supposed to know that?
Aren't we supposed to avoid clinics or anything like a warning/ultimatum or implication we expcet trouble at the plate conference?

As long as I decide what "warrants".

You may want to re-think your plate conference coverage. I doubt you would want input from a coach on how to correctly administer a plate conference. At the college level, coaches know whom they are to approach with questions. NCAA wants umpires to answer questions from any coach this year.

OK...I still want to know the name of the small college.....

"Since I have them again tomorrow, I think at the plate meeting I will state that if a coach has a problem they should address the proper umpire in a reasonable manner to discuss the problem." Do not address this, just let it be a whole new game with no history.

"Do you let the Assistant be the spokesperson if the situation warrants?" Yup, as long as it is a 1-on-1 discussion, let any coach approach you. It's college ball, use their standard.

I would also like to know which college is being referred to. I probably worked that tournament. I called several illegal pitches on one team on that exact same violation.

Paul

Well I can tell you this. They are from Nebraska.

Well I guess we were not the good umpires from Az. ;) No teams from Nebraska, just teams from CA,UT,TX,NM,MO,KS,HI,NM,WA,AZ,IL,FL,MN,and MT.

Paul

PS: No timers were used or harmed during the entire tournament. :D

Believe it or not at a JV tourney game today I see something shiny on the backstop. It was a pretty nice timer attached to the fence. I checked if it worked...it didn't. :( . So I used my Target Timex....