Excellent Sunday of Softball

[MD Longhorn]

After Saturday was rained out, had a great day of Softball on Sunday. Usually I have SOMEthing to post here ... an umpire telling me the hands are part of the bat, a coach making some crazy comment. But not today. Coaches were knowledgeable. Fans were not beligerent even on close ones. Umpiring partners were excellent.

Did have one anomaly. I don't think I've called obstruction on a stolen base where the runner was actually tagged before reaching the base more than 2-3 times in 12 years. Had it twice yesterday - once by partner at home, once by me at 2nd. Both times the throw took the fielder further up the baseline, causing runner to slow and slide early, and in both cases contact the fielder, stop and not make it to the base - and in both cases the fielder still caught the ball, and tagged the now motionless runner. And on both, the coaches came out, briefly questioned, and sat back down with no issue.

Oh, and to reference a recent discussion... one of my partners was one of those very experienced (both in years and knowledge) guys --- told me at our pregame to remember to inform the pitcher what the situation was on a pitching change. I referred to our discussion, he disagreed, so I did it for that game. Discussed it with the assignor/UIC during my break and got the general "Don't do that - it's considered coaching," consensus from both her and the other guys on the same break schedule. Had the chance to let him know how that conversation went during a later game.