Manny:

If you are worried about the 1% (fan/parent) shouting instructions to his child/player affecting what the catcher is doing then two things are happening: (1) You are listening to stuff that does not concern you or the players. And (2) if what the fan/parent of her opponent is doing is distracting her from doing her job then she does not have her head in the game and her coach needs to either tell her to get her head into the game or replace her.

MTD, Sr.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, Mark. I'm not talking about the situation in the OP. I'm talking about situations where I judge they will escalate.

But let's take the OP. If a parent is instructing batters where the catcher is setting up, that's not something I will be concerned about. But as things start getting hairier because opposing parents are shouting at him/her and, in turn, I see the players and coaches getting upset, are you really suggesting I should still do nothing about it?

Sorry, I'm not going to allow things on the field to deteriorate because some pinhead in the stands can't behave. I would hope that somebody responsible for taking care of the problem would nip things in the bud right away. But I've seen those "responsible" people sit by and do nothing because they are oblivious to the problem, or they are too timid to take action. I'll get his/her attention and tell him/her, "Hey, you need to do the right thing here before the game goes to hell."

That's only happened to me a couple of times. In one case, there was a collision at home that I felt was not malicious, so I ruled the runner out but did not eject. A parent (I assume the catcher's dad) went nuts. He was adamant that the runner should have been tossed, and berated her, her coaches, and me. Initially I ignored his dumb @$$, but then one of the coaches from the runner's team started yelling back at him to shut up. The AD at the game was sitting in his golf cart next to the concession stand, totally ignoring the situation. I got his attention quick and asked him to take care of things quick.

That's the 1% I'm talking about.

If people shouting in the stands is affecting what is happening on the field, maybe those affected shouldn't be on the field to start as they are the ones choosing to be affected.

And for all you folks who want to talk about Lil' Susie getting upset and crying or whatever other psuedocatastrophic events which may be taking place, this is where a coach and parent need to be coaches and parents and use the situation as a teaching moment.

What a minute, what the **** is wrong with me? Expecting adults to act like adults and parents acting as responsible parents, I must be out of my mind to think something like that could occur at a ballpark or anywhere, for that matter.

No. You won't. However, it is the UIL, and not TASO or LHSSOA who decide how rules are to be applied in this state. The official's organizations are merely the mouthpieces.

In the OP, this would strictly be a game administrator's issue, IMO. That is why, at least in this state, they are required to be present for every varsity match and recommended for all sub-varsity games.