Botched Squeeze, Tag @ 3rd

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

Many softball umpires (on this forum, I wont indict all of them) believe that a catcher dropping the ball on a play at home = out. They essentially advocate immediate nano second out, then all else is irrelevant. I have my doubts they call it that way on the field, but at a minimum that is the theory they press on this forum.

I would be more willing to accept that "out" is the good call in this case than I would the crash play at the plate. It does seem the catcher lost control due to impact with the ground.

With this play the catcher runs 70-80 feet with the ball, unlike the nano second play at the plate.

That's what I was thinking. If the catcher drops the ball on a play at the plate, baseball or softball, I'm probably going to have a safe call since in my judgment a nanosecond is not quite long enough to demonstrate control . I also think the call at 3B was correct since I thought the catcher held the ball long enough after the tag.

I'm also glad Tim Welke has gone a long way towards settling a long debate in both baseball and softball umpiring.