Offense opens the gate

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

No ... it's a ball touched by a gate.

...that was under the control of an offensive player.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

...that was under the control of an offensive player.

Honestly, I believe that the solution, whatever it may be MUST also cover the case where the player opens the gate and the ball simply rolls out. There cannot be one ruling for cases where it hits this mistakenly opened gate and rolls out, and another different ruling for where it simply rolls out the open gate.

I see where you're trying very hard to go with this, and I respect that. But to me it doesn't fit, and further it doesn't solve the other situation.

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Honestly, I believe that the solution, whatever it may be MUST also cover the case where the player opens the gate and the ball simply rolls out. There cannot be one ruling for cases where it hits this mistakenly opened gate and rolls out, and another different ruling for where it simply rolls out the open gate.

I see where you're trying very hard to go with this, and I respect that. But to me it doesn't fit, and further it doesn't solve the other situation.

And I agree with you to a point, Mike. I do. To be honest, I don't think that anything "neatly fits" this scenario. To me, this is not a simple case of "oops, it just went into DBT." The actions of the offense, intentionally or not, caused the ball to exit the field of play when it would not have otherwise done so.

[PSUchem]

For once (and probably the last time, ) I'm going to agree with mbcrowder. I don't see this as anything but a ball being thrown out of play. Let's not forget that if the defense had done their job, the ball would not be close to going out of play.

I umpired a game on a field that was totally enclosed, with the gates at the teams' dugouts, nearly in line with 1st and 3rd bases. The gate on the 1st base side did not have a working latch. All you had to do was push on it to get it to swing outward. It just so happened that a pop-up to F3 near the fence ended up directly adjacent to the gate. She caught the ball, leaned on the gate, and the gate swung out causing her to enter deadball territory. Weird? Yes. Was this anything but a catch and carry? No. Would the situation have changed if the gate were functional and the opposing team did not latch it correctly? Nope. Similar instance in the OP.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by PSUchem

For once (and probably the last time, ) I'm going to agree with mbcrowder.

Aw now!