JV ball where anything can happen (and probably will)

[UmpireErnie]

JV ballgame between two small schools..one school it's first year for softball program other school's program is maybe three years old. Linescore looks like a slow pitch game...twenty something to eleventy fiveish in the third inning..

Runner on 3B, no outs. Batter hits ball that rolls toward 3B just fair. R1 starts home, then for some reason decides to retreat to 3B while F5 knocks the slow roller down and finally corrals it and manages to tag R1. F5 tosses ball back to F1.

I was PU and had come up 3B line to make fair/foul and to take first play in infield. After the out I notice no runner at 1B..and see batter (now batter-runner!) back in the batters box waiting for the next pitch. My partner had moved into the infield expecting a play at 1B and is now standing there with a surprised look on his face.

I just stopped and waited...finally somebody got it and yelled "throw to first!". Two out!

Batter to coach "I thought it was foul..."

[EsqUmp]

Sounds like a double coach fail.

Doesn't hold up the runner. Doesn't scream for BR to run.

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by EsqUmp

Sounds like a double coach fail.

Doesn't hold up the runner. Doesn't scream for BR to run.

Yep. I don't want to run down the coaches on these teams as I know they are all volunteers and without them neither team would exist. But for a long two or three seconds only my partner and I were aware that the batter-runner was still standing at the plate with a live batted ball still in play...

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by UmpireErnie

Batter to coach "I thought it was foul..."

Probably R1 did too.

[Tru_in_Blu]

I was PU and had come up 3B line to make fair/foul and to take first play in infield.

Is this a standard mechanic? Not to make fair/foul, but to take first play in infield.

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

I was PU and had come up 3B line to make fair/foul and to take first play in infield.

Is this a standard mechanic? Not to make fair/foul, but to take first play in infield.

No I worded that poorly.. I had the fair/foul then F5 batted the ball around a bit.. my partner moved expecting a throw to 1B. When F5 finally corralled the ball I took the call at 3B. I guess you could say it was the initial play and so was technically my partners call.. but we were both already moving to treat the throw to 1B as the initial play so the BR was his and R1 was mine.

We were both on the same page but nobody else was apparently even reading the same book!

[SWFLguy]

You have to love working those games. Yes anything can and does happen. We just have to keep things in perspective.

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by SWFLguy

You have to love working those games. Yes anything can and does happen. We just have to keep things in perspective.

True. The first year program team had exactly nine girls. They had rode a ferry for six plus hours then drove for six more hours to get to the game site from their town. They had a lot of energy even if they didn't always know what to do with it.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by UmpireErnie

Yep. I don't want to run down the coaches on these teams as I know they are all volunteers and without them neither team would exist. But for a long two or three seconds only my partner and I were aware that the batter-runner was still standing at the plate with a live batted ball still in play...

Sounds like 8U ball, not JV. Perhaps that's where these coaches belonged...