Just an interesting game

[tcannizzo]

How many games have little to no entertainment value from an umpire's perspective?

Today in a 12-U friendly we had a number of calls in just one game that caused my partner and I to comment to each other afterwards, that you just don't see this much in any single game. (It should be noted that not a single one of these caused any heartburn to any of the coaches. At worst, just mild curiosity about the outcomes of certain of the rulings.) Nothing particularly spectacular about the calls, except that these all happened in a single game.

1st pitch of the game - ILLEGAL PITCH - (P "walked through" her delivery as she took PP, without stopping to simulate taking the sign.) B hits a single to OF. Of course, we just let the play stand. Later coach wanted to know why B got to stay at 1B. He was a baseball guy where the closest thing they have to an IP is a Balk, which is a dead ball. Explained the difference in SB DDB logic that why should we penalize the offense for an infraction committed by defense.

R1 on 1B. B hits ground ball to F4 (playing deep) who instead of tossing to F6 at 2B, tried to tag R1, but missed. NO TAG!

R1 on 2B. B hits ground ball to F6. R1 passes immediatly in front of F6, who was attempting to field the ground ball, but had to flinch to avoid R1. DEAD BALL INT, award B 1B. This might deserve its own thread, but in spite of the INT, F6 throw to 1B actually beat BR. I "think" we ruled properly by awarding B 1B, but it seems counter intuitive to penalize the defense for an infraction committed by the offense. Did we get this one right? After all how can you get a put out after the ball has already been declared as Dead?

R1 on 2B. B bunts up 1B line. F3 fields the bunt and attempts to tag BR. There was no tag, but we have OUT for being more than 3ft out of the base path. It was so obvious that BU did not even need to go to PU for help and made the call from C.

B is up with less than 2 strikes and attempts to bunt. Ball strikes bat and proceeds back to F2, with a noticable reduction in speed and a change in direction where F2 tried to make the catch. Ball first strikes F2's chest protector then falls down to the up-turned mitt, but bounces out and hits the ground. FOUL BALL. How many times has this scenario been discussed vis-a-vis FOUL TIP. Had she caught the ball, we would have had the OUT.

Different B is up with less than 2 strikes and attempts to bunt. Ball is popped up 15-20 feet up and along the 1B line about 15-20 feet. F2 is following B, until B stops (apparently not exactly sure where the ball was and thinking it was foul) F2 who has a reasonable chance to catch the pop up, rear-ends B. DEAD BALL INT, B OUT.

Well, all the interesting plays didn't happen in one game, this one happened in the 2nd game of a DH between the same two teams.

B with less than 2 strikes attempts to bunt the ball. Ball is popped up about 10 ft high about 3 feet in front of HP. Batted discards bat in front of HP and takes off for 1B. As the bat is stationery on the ground, the popped up bunt comes down and strikes the bat. Ball ricochets off bat and goes foul before it is touched by any defender. FOUL BALL.

Just seemed like a lot to happen in such a short time span.