Xtreamump
 

+1 umpire 12, hey Irish is this a healthy for you, real umpires think on there feet, & on the field, not on there @ss in front of a computer. You are book smart and years ago you may have been a good Umpire. We are playing Fast Pitch Softball now. NO CLONES ALLOWED.

-1

OK I stand corrected about NF baseball.. I have not worked that sport for many many years but thought I had read on another thread that they had done away with minimum one base award. Certainly not that way in softball.

You are absolutely correct that there is no way to know what base the umpire calling OBS is protecting to. Unless someone changes the mechanics of calling OBS you will not ever know until after the play. But as the offense you do know the obstructed runner cannot be put out between the two bases where OBS occurred.

You are wrong that this runner MUST be awarded home simply becuase the play at the plate is close. The key word is subsequently. What exactly happened in the "subsequently"? If the advance and play happen at a base beyond a base originally protected to because the defense throws the ball away could very well result in an out even on a very close play because the advance was not part of the obstruction.

There is one thing that the other umpires are NOT catching that I see.

What if the umpire meant just what he said? That the player only gets the next base? It is entirely possible that he meant just that. It is entirely possible that this umpire doesn't understand that sometimes the umpire is supposed to protect the runner to the base he or she would have reached without the obstruction. It is entirely possible that this umpire thought that one base was the MAXIMUM award possible.

If this is what he meant, then Coach, you had grounds for a protest. If a play is being made on a runner who is obstructed, there is a MINIMUM award of one base in most codes. Your umpire may have misunderstood this and thought it was a maximum.

By the description of your play, if I had judged what you saw, she would have been awarded home.

Rita

xtreamump
 

+1 Rita

Well, Dave did touch on this in an early post, but you are absolutely correct. If may have been worth the coach's time to explore this with a follow-up question to the umpire as to what he saw that made him believe it was only one base. If he believed that was THE RULE, a protest is certainly a viable path. Another favorite faux pas on this rule is the, "they have to attempt to advance to get the base". I would love to know where people come up with this stuff, especially "trained" umpires.

The coach may have been correct to send the runner, but for the wrong reason. This is a simple rule that offers the umpire almost carte blanche authority to undo the damage done. Sometimes I wonder if that simplicity is the reason people try to out think the rule.

This isn't true for any softball rule set that I'm aware of.

Might it be the case for Little League, where some of their softball rules are baseball-based? Other than that, what would be another?

ASA, NFHS, NCAA & ISF all award the base(s) the OBS runner would have attained safely had the OBS not occurred. It is possible that award could be the base behind the runner.

xtreamump
 

+1 even behind the runner.

You are correct. But I do baseball and softball, Little League and otherwise. So most codes for me. But not most softball codes.

In any case, I think the umpire could have made the mistake I said.

It is direct and clear. It might even seem to some (himself, you, and his +1) that it makes more sense and is more fair. Heck, it may actually BE more fair.

Unfortunately, per the rules, it's still WRONG.