Third strike offense?

[rybo]

Umpired solo 12U girls fast pitch where the offense strategy for team one was ball 4 or run on third strike. After every third strike coaches and parents joined in yelling run, run, run to first. On caught third strikes I would call a loud OUT so batter and catcher knew it was an out. But it was not loud enough to hear over screaming coaches and parents. On almost every third strike the catcher would react and throw down to first. On one particular play with runner on third the batter swings and misses a high pitch for strike three, catcher clearly catches it...the coaches and parents go nuts RUN, RUN, RUN...I try to call OUT twice over the screaming. The batter-runner at first hears my call and hesitates then hears all the screams and runs to first, the catcher throws to first in a panic, throws the ball away, runner at third comes home to score...crowd cheers wildly for the great play to score a run. At this point I had enough and called drawing a throw "interference" called the batter out on strikes and the runner at third out as penalty for interference, no run scores. The offense coaches go nuts claim I never called out and the catcher should know she caught the ball and not thrown. My reply, they are 12 years old and you coaches yell all game at every little aspect of their play you caused the interference. I thought I made the right call, not sure coaches and parents got the message...next inning they yelled for a batter to run on strike two! Due to this and other 12 & 14U games I developed a pre-game speech on coaching sportsmanship and tone it down so the players can learn and enjoy the game. So far it has worked only had to eject one coach so far this year.

[MD Longhorn]

You did not. In fact, I believe you erred once you began calling OUT more than once or trying to be louder, influencing the play. You are the official. Make the calls. Don't affect the game. And definitely don't invent rules to instill your personal sense of fairness.

Absolutely cannot believe this worked more than once. If the coach can't get his catcher to not throw when she's caught the ball, it's not your problem to fix.

And please don't treat 12U like lower-level ball. At 12U, they should know the game.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by rybo

So far it has worked only had to eject one coach so far this year.

only one ? this year ?
Is your area prone to coach ejections?

[BretMan]

You didn't mention the rule set being used, but most specifically say that a batter running on the third strike, when not entitled to, is not a rule violation. The ASA rule is 8-7-P.

Also, to call interference you generally need a player interfere with a legitimate play. How did a throw to first to "retire" an already retired player interfere with a play against an active runner? There was no out to be had at first base, so there no play to be nothing to be interfered with at first base.

As an official you did your job (well, up until you called interference on a play where it shouldn't have been). You called the strike and called the batter out when she started to run. The rest is on the defense. It's an old line, but it bears repeating: The defense is responsible for knowing the situation and playing it accordingly. If they make unnecessary throws over and over again, that is something that their coaches should be addressing, not the umpire.