Getting Help From Player

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by Manny A

Had an 18U rec game last week, and on the very first pitch of the game, the batter tried to jump over a low pitch in her batter's box. The catcher moved into my slot to try and field the pitch, which ended up going to the backstop, and I couldn't see it. However, I clearly heard the ball hit something, and I thought it was the catcher's mitt, so I called the pitch a Ball.

The batter then looked at me and said, "Blue, the ball hit my foot." I responded, "I thought it hit the catcher's mitt." Then, the catcher, after retrieving the ball, replied, "No, the ball didn't hit my mitt."

Since this was a rec game, I went ahead and sent the batter to first base. The only one who complained, and that was done rather mildly, was the batter's coach. He wanted his batter to stay up there in hopes of getting a pitch to hit.

So, what do you typically do in a situation like this? If a defensive player tells you she dropped the ball on a tag, or an offensive player tells you she failed to touch a base, do you stick with the call you made? Or do you go ahead and change it to acknowledge a player's honesty?

Is everyone taught to get all the info we can from reasonable sources?

In the OP, probably would agree, but my perception of the distance/angle to the batter's foot would affect that probability.