Kill it or let it play out?

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

...Dead ball or not, the likelihood of a confrontation was high. Jawing or not, other than something similar to "That's enough, let's play ball" there is little else an umpire may or should do....

I agree with an earlier comment that we are armchair quarterbacking this, but the OP did ask. NFHS gives much clearer guidelines on acceptable behavior than does ASA, so since this was an NFHS game, I disagree that there is "little else an umpire may or should do..." As soon as the umpire recognizes that the game has stopped being played and taunting / baiting has begun, kill the ball and eject or warn (depending on your judgment). If the players continue into fight mode, they deserve to lose the rest of their senior season.

I agree the umpire should not do anything physical to keep the players apart... that job falls to the coaches.