Tag plays with safety base

[dinoian]

I'm working intramurals at my new college, and we're starting up softball this week. We had our official's meeting to go over the rules and one of the things we're doing is safety bases at every base so that guys can run through on our slippery turf field. Fine, good idea, help prevent injuries and whatnot. But here's the catch: It's still tags when there is no force out at the base, and how our rules are written the runner can go for either base, and can slide. This is the first year our school has officials for softball, and our director is a soccer guy with admittedly little to no experience with softball, so we're trying to get the proper rules together.

How can I help convince him that allowing players to run through bases where the only play is a tag play is a bad idea and would more likely lead to injuries, or an unfair advantage for the runner? If we do want to have safety bases everywhere, then the safe thing to do is make every base a force out, correct?

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by dinoian

How can I help convince him that allowing players to run through bases where the only play is a tag play is a bad idea and would more likely lead to injuries, or an unfair advantage for the runner?

Discuss with him this scenario: Runner at second tags up on a fly ball to center field. He's going to run through the third safety base as the ball comes in. The throw is slightly off line, causing the third baseman to move towards the safety base. The runner can't adjust in time to use the regular base, and CRASH!

No thanks. Get rid of those safety bases at second and third. I've seen plenty or adult slow pitch and rec ball games involving some pretty unskilled players, and they do just fine without them. I've seen some older adult leagues that use a second home plate to prevent collisions with the catcher. But I just don't see the benefit of allowing runners to run through bases at second or third.

[Insane Blue]

Originally Posted by Manny A

Discuss with him this scenario: Runner at second tags up on a fly ball to center field. He's going to run through the third safety base as the ball comes in. The throw is slightly off line, causing the third baseman to move towards the safety base. The runner can't adjust in time to use the regular base, and CRASH!

No thanks. Get rid of those safety bases at second and third. I've seen plenty or adult slow pitch and rec ball games involving some pretty unskilled players, and they do just fine without them. I've seen some older adult leagues that use a second home plate to prevent collisions with the catcher. But I just don't see the benefit of allowing runners to run through bases at second or third.

Completely agree with everything you stated here.
First base and maybe a Senior style home-plate rule for safety.

[MD Longhorn]

I agree with both of the posts above.

Consider this... the ASA is, perforce, a very safety-conscious organization. It has to be - they are the ones that get sued when things go wrong. With that in mind, why would anyone consider deviating from the safety rules they have in place. They have both the motivation to keep things safe and the money to test even the weirdest scenarios (and believe me... the ideas your guy has pushed forth are among the weirdest I've ever read) - your guy is wandering into lawsuit territory making ill-advised adjustments here.