Another Day, more JV Wackiness
 

What a day today was.

First game, on bases, 10-0 home team win in 5 innings.

Second, a little more interesting. twice, the visiting team is 3 outs away from their own 10 run mercy rule win. 5th inning they score 5 to cut a 12 run lead to 7. 6th inning they cut a 10 run lead to 4. 7th inning, down 4, they go 1-2-3 to end the game.

Had some interesting plays too. I had a really nice punch out, on strike 2 (oops), at least I realized it right away. The batter thought it was strike 3 as well.

Later, had to call a 3 foot running lane violation on the visiting team. D3K, she takes off running to an unoccupied 1st base. Ball bounced into fair territory off the catcher. She picks it up, guns to first but the throw hits the batter (who is in the 2nd 30 towards 1st base), in the middle back, too bad she was about 2 feet into fair territory. Call her out, send the runner who had just come home, back to 3rd base.

Later had a batter take off to first on a passed ball strike 2, with 2 outs. Both runners moved up to 2nd, 3rd. Since the ball got by the catcher and she had no play on any runner, we just sent the batter back to the plate.

I did kick one call I think. Girl lays down a bunt, and the ball bounced up and hit her foot. I called it a foul ball as initially I thought she was still in the box when it hit her. The more I think about it, the more I think she was out of the box and I missed the call. Partner was in the C position and said he couldn't tell if she was or wasn't.

All in all it was a pretty decent day of games. I would have preferred to have less than a 2 hour 10 minute second game, but it is what it is.

[QUOTE=chapmaja;933475]

Would you have done anything different if she had a play on another runner?
(Didn't we just have this conversation)?

Nobody questioned? Nobody argued? - Go with the call, don't overthink it (except maybe to remind yourself to slow down the call next time it happens).

I only wish you hadn't said the "Since the ball got by the catcher and she had no play on any runner" part. Sending the batter back to the plate is the correct thing to do REGARDLESS of where the ball went or whether the catcher had a play on someone or not.

Very Very likely you made the right call. A bunt that bounces and nearly immediately hits the batter is very nearly 100% of the time a foul ball. The rare exception is usually a drag bunt, or a bunt done with a slapper's style. There's just not enough time for a normal bunter to get COMPLETELY out of the box and get hit by a bunt that quickly.

Just for my own edification... say this was a bunt instead of D3K. Runner from 3B off on the pitch, crosses the plate before the throw hits B/R in the back. Run scores, correct?
Sorry for semi-hijack.

:D My understanding is that the batter is called out for interference. This kills the ball at that time. If there are less than two outs, then the run would count.:D

I don't think it's a hijack. I also don't think it matters how the batter runner became a batter runner. The penalty for interference is runners return to the last base touched at the time of the interference. If the runner gets home before the interference, score the run.

Somehow I got scheduled to do bases for a JV game yesterday, after our assignor asked for those available to open their calendar. We have a no-new-inning after 1:45, drop dead at 2:00 time limit for JV, along with the 10-run rule.

Top of the first, and the home team manages to record three outs with the first four or five batters. I thought, "Hmmm, not too bad for JV."

Spoke too soon. In the bottom of the first, the visiting pitcher could not find the strike zone. No idea since the scoreboard wasn't turned on, but I'm guessing that the home team scored around 25 runs on bases-loaded walks. I was almost literally rooted in the C position. Every now and then, the pitcher would manage to get two strikes on the batter, and almost always she would then hit that batter. The visitors did manage to retire a couple of batters on ground outs early in the half-inning, but later on a come-backer to the pitcher after about 10 runs having scored, she threw it away at first. That led to another 15 runs or so scored. Finally, mercifully, the home head coach in the third base coach's box told one of her runners to leave third early to end the inning. Trust me, I was looking for that for about 20 batters.

End of the first, and we "played" for an hour and six minutes.

Top of the second, and the home pitcher suddenly caught the same virus the visiting pitcher had. More bases loaded walks, and I'm back in C. Eventually the inning ends on a dropped third strike that nobody bothers to do anything with (batter goes into the dugout, catcher doesn't go to retrieve the ball, nobody is yelling, "RUN TO FIRST!" or "TAG HOME!" or "THROW TO FIRST!", nothing). Now we're at 1:37 of elapsed time.

My partner gets the two coaches together and announces, "Coaches, we have only 8 minutes left before our no-new-inning limit. What do you want to do, since we will likely not get the third inning started on time? Do you want to play the bottom half of the second?" Visiting coach thinks for a moment, and then responds, "We played enough defense already, so I'm good with stopping now." I'm thinking, "What defense did his players play?? They were standing around for an hour, just like me!"

Honestly, out of about maybe 40 batters who batted, there were only five batters who hit the ball fairly. Three of them led to outs at first base, one was the error I mentioned earlier, and the other was a ball hit to the home pitcher with the bases loaded who tried to throw home but dropped the ball twice.

That's the last time I open up my calendar when asked...

Count your blessings Manny.... Varsity (at least that's what they tell me:D game yesterday.... winning team scored 26 runs on 2 hits with ZERO errors.... almost three hours

[QUOTE=HugoTafurst;933480]Yes, the defensive coach came out to ask if she was really in the box when the ball hit her? I said it was, and he went back. The best line was from the catcher though. "He can't question it, there is no line." Since it was the RH batter's box late in the second game, there was not line to use as reference.

The reason I think, upon further review that she was out of the box after all, is I remember her being at the very front of the box on her at bats. So far forward I was wondering if I was going to have to call her for being out of the box at some point.

Oh well, no more JV till Saturday, but a MS one umpire game Thursday :>

What about this situation. 2 strikes, runner at 3rd. Swing and a miss for strike 3. Batter, not paying attention, does not attempt to advance home. Pitcher comes in to cover the plate. Runner beats the throw. At this point the batter realizes it was a d3K, and begins running. The pitchers throw pegs her in the back and the umpire calls interference on the play because the batter-runner is out of the running lane and interfered.

Would you send the runner back to third, or would you count the run in this situation. I'm counting the run.

Chap! The teams by me must have also caught the wackiness bug.

I'm at a local college field to do a night game between two varsity teams, one whose record is 3-11 and the other whose record is 0-14. I have plate. The home team is designated by the county association as the 0-14 team. We have no time limit, but we do have a run rule of 15 after 5 at bats by the losing team.

Top of the first, visitors score 16 runs. Pitcher looked like she had zero interest in being out there. Bottom of first, 3 outs on three pitches. Top of second, visitors score 7 runs. Bottom of second inning, home team gets a leadoff hit. The next batter is the home pitcher. She pops up in foul territory along the first base side, R1 is off first by 20 feet, catcher catches ball for the out and goes to throw to first for double play. Well, the batter is running full steam to first and puts her hand out to distract first baseman and/or hit the thrown ball. The ball hits her PITCHING hand and deflects away. We call the interference, and the runner on first out as well.

Top of third, pitcher doesn't come out of dugout. Coach tried to talk her into playing, but girl says, "I don't want to. My hand hurts." She finally comes out to throw one warm up pitch which goes over catcher's head and about 15 feet up on screen behind home plate. She sits on ground and says, "I want to go home." On deck batter turns to catcher and says, "you have anyone else who can throw the ball over the plate?" She says "no - except me, but I'm not good. But if I pitch, she (the hurt pitcher) is our only catcher." I think "oh great."

The pitcher leaves, the catcher becomes the new pitcher, and some kid off the bench becomes the new catcher. The equipment she is wearing is 5 sizes too big on her, she's using the glove as if it's on the wrong hand, and she can't throw the ball back to the pitcher, so she has to walk it out to her every time she gets it.

After the score reaches 43-3, we're in the top of the 5th inning with bases loaded and two out. The new pitcher is now starting to get "fair" at pitching and at least able to throw it NEAR enough to the plate to make the other team want to swing. The visiting coach calls time, and says to me, "I am just making position changes." I say "okay." She then tells her first baseman to pitch and her pitcher to go to first. I think "you've got to be kidding me."

This girl grabs the ball and stands about three feet behind the pitcher's plate. The girl who WAS pitching says to the new pitcher, "You have to put both feet on that white thing." So the girl says, "oh, okay." She then goes to take her first warm up pitch by winding up like the kid from that movie where he breaks his arm and can now throw 100 MPH and she stops right before she is ready to fire it in OVERHAND and says, "wait, how do I do this again?" The coach tells her to throw underhand. She does, but never took a step, leaving both feet planted on the pitcher's plate. Needless to say, the ball ended up in the home dugout. She then is told, "take a step forward", and she does, but this time she steps with her pivot foot. After her disaster warm up pitches, and a correction so that at least she's throwing somewhat like what the rule requires (think more like slowpitch), she proceeds to give up an additional 6 runs before we mercifully come to the end the top of the fifth.

The game took 3 hours to play 5 innings. I must have seen over 400 pitches, and probably 370 of them were balls.

I know I have a tight zone, but I've set a new low here! And, no --- the visiting coach didn't tell his girls to "leave" early, nor did my partner find anyone leaving early. And not one girl tried to swing at anything or bunt to help the cause of getting out of there. They played as if it were a championship game.

My partner and I were in softball hell.

If the run scores before the interference, as you stated above, the run counts.

A run scores if BR does not reach 1B safely?

He said nothing about there being 2 outs.

UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH.

I think that's all I can say.

I'm doing the first MS game of the season tomorrow. I just hope they have someone who can attempt to pitch.

Thankfully the MS league has a 5 run per inning rule (or maybe it's 7), and a 2 hour time limit. I have to work volleyball 3 hours after the start of the MS game, so we better at least be close to done, so I can drive and change into my Vb uniform.