Out of the mouths of freshman coaches
 

Worked a solo freshman game last night. One of the teams shows up with 18 players, 13 of them in red jerseys, 5 in blue. Explain to coach that they must all be like uniforms and her school needs to get some more jerseys, she says they wont spend the money. She then hands me her lineup card and some of her subs have 2 numbers, one being in perenthecies. I ask about this, she explains that those are the players in blue uniforms and if they come into the game they are just going to switch jerseys with a red player. LOL.

Typical complaints from both coaches about runners leaving early etc etc etc. Finally a player hits a line drive into left field, probably 40' past 3rd base. Ball tails a little but easily lands 10' inside the line in fair territory then spins into foul. Batter ends up with a triple out of it, here comes coach. "That was a foul ball!". No coach, it was fair. "No one touched that ball until it was foul" Coach, it landed in fair territory beyond 3rd base it is fair. "I played college softball, I think I know the rules of the game."

You better let me know which team(s) this was so that I can avoid them...or not! :)

Will you send me a report on the team with the Jersey issue? Generally, at the Freshman level, it's not as big a deal, but I want it for reference.

Andy, already sent.

Must have been there on an athletic scholarship.:rolleyes:

I once had a coach question why I wasn't enforcing the LBR. he said "my catcher is having to look the runners back. you should call the runners out". I did my best to give a face saving reply with all his girls around.

Should have told him you remember that pitch, it was called illegal :rolleyes:

You should point the coach to this 2010 editorial change from the NFHS site.

2-20-1f
Clarified that a batted ball is fair if it first falls or is first touched on or over fair territory beyond first, second, or third base.

Another one from yesterday. Runners on 2 & 3, no outs, batter pops up to F5, both runners going on the hit. Runner from 3 crosses plate and turns toward dugout, runner from 2 rounds 3rd and is half way home. Ball gets caught and chaos ensues. Ball thrown to catcher, thrown back to F5, thrown back to catcher, runner that crossed home now decides to head back to 3rd, runner from 2nd is standing on 3rd, ball thrown back to F5 who steps on bag, but doesnt tag runner standing there. Runner standing on 3rd now decides to run back to 2nd. In the mean time the coach is looking at me yelling, "what do we do? what do we do?" Now F5 tries for the triple play by throwing to F4 at 2nd, except she throws it into right center. Runner never retouches 2nd and scores. Now I have both coaches yelling, what do we do?

If F5 tagged the runner standing on 3rd, I'd still require an actual verbal appeal before I'd believe he wanted the runner for leaving early at second.

As for what you do, unless someone calls time, you let B4 bat. If the coach calls time, you deal with what he brings to you. If an infielder tells you that R2 left early you call her out on appeal and go to the next inning.
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MatureOfKind live

Both coaches kept asking me what to do. Just kept my mouth shut, called for next batter and said play ball. After the game I explained to them what they needed to do.

:cool: :)

Yeah, pack up the gear and go home ;)

Think that would have worked if you told them that during the play :D

Really don't understand why they would expect the umpire to tell them especially the coach who played college ball and knew the rules :rolleyes:

Hello, all. It's good to know I have this board of many very knowledgeable officials, who love the best game on earth and give of their time to help improve fellow umpires, which in turn, improves the quality of games for fans, players, and coaches alike.

I'm still hoping a coach will ask me where the fielders feet were in the situation you quoted above, Cecil. I forget who; but someone on this board when asked "where were her feet, blue?" said: ..."In her shoes, coach, but what matters is where the ball was when touched... not where the fielders feet were". :) Nothing like fun at the ole' ball park. Al

C'mon, it's the same coach that wrote the hands are part of the bat and tie goes to the runner rules

"I played college softball, I think I know the rules of the game."

"Coach, I know guys who played Major League Baseball and don't know the rules of that game."

Tim McCarver comes immediately to mind......

Doesn't he have a "twin" named Morgan?

JV coach tonight. Did you know that a batted ball that hits the plate is a foul ball? For some reason I was not aware of that rule. Glad she straightened me out and schooled me on that.

How could you NOT know this?

report to the beginners school this weekend......:cool:

That's when you tell the coach you are pretty sure you got that call right, but if she would like to protest the game, you will be more than willing to sign the book. :D

Last night I had a varsity coach, on a clearly caught swinging strike, call time and come out and ask me if "that" (the strike) was a foul tip. I told him "no, but it wouldn't matter if it was." He said "sure it would, the runner on second would have to go back to first." I tried to explain to him that a foul tip is still a live ball, just like a strike, but I could see that deer in the headlights look on his face and went back to my job.

Know the look, same look I got from this coach when I explained that the entire home plate is in fair territory. She was even more dumbfounded when I told her it wouldnt have mattered if it had hit first in foul ground because the ball didnt touch anything and ended up in fair territory prior to passing 1st or 3rd base.