Florida head coach accuses umpires of cheating his team at WCWS

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by LarryRc

Let me start by saying that I umpire baseball and in no way do I understand the nuances to umping softball. But could this be one of those "rules" that does have some gray areas and is loosely called during the regular season. But when the post season comes, or in this case the College World Series, where EVERYONE is watching, they are told to call every Illegal Pitch regardless of advantage/disadvantage. And in this case Florida pitchers may have been doing this all year and not have been called this tight.

That may very well be the case. If so, the officials who did not make the call in the past may deserve some criticism. But it does not IMO give the coach leave to go on TV and say he is being cheated by the umpires who are calling it as written and as directed.

Look at it in another light. Let’s say that for years you have taken income tax deductions that by the tax code are not allowed and finally this year you get caught. Do you think the IRS would buy the argument that since they didn’t catch you in prior years that they should not penalize you this year? Once they finish laughing at you they will audit all your prior returns! There seems to be this school of thought that since pitchers have gotten away with this in the past that now the umpires are somehow in the wrong for getting it right.