Safe or Out?

[rwest]

Originally Posted by MountieSB

After the call, our head coach went out and asked if the umpire saw the SS bobbling the ball. The umpire said he did, but since she controlled the ball at the moment of the tag, the baserunner was out. We didn't like that explanation, but it was his call to make.

This is another angle which backs up his claim that he saw the bobble. It was a big game and the crew did a very good job, but (you know us coaches!) we would have liked the call to go the other way.

Thanks for all of your input. We're always trying to grow in our understanding of the rules and how the games are called. Appreciate it!

The umpire is correct in that if he believes control was established at the time of the tag the runner is out if the loss of control was due to a separate act. Think of a swipe tag where there is control on the tag and then on the way up the ball moves. This is an out. Now I don't agree that that is the case in this point, but we are seeing this in slow motion. As someone has on their tag line the worst thing to happen to officiating is instant replay. We can't slow the play down like we can with video. We are taught to replay the play in our minds, but even with that we can't slow it down. Also, I can't say that I would not have made the same call.