How to address an incorrect umpire

[AtlUmpSteve]

I am personally more aggravated by a "no protests allowed" policy than a nuisance fee to discourage frivolous protests. Our state high school association has that "no protests" policy, and I hear about absurd rulings in softball all the time.

I get that there just isn't a good administrative process to handle replaying games, but there really should be some remedy for the teams when officials in any sport grossly misapply rules. Even a partial remedy.

I would much prefer a formal process where 1) the team head coach posts a protest fee (or commits the school to that surcharge), 2) the game officials (like the NCAA process) immediately get a rulebook and look it up, 3) the parties in dispute must each find and cite a specific rule that supports their position, and the vast majority of any disputes would end at that point!! Truly very few NCAA protests get past this point.

Making the team have some skin in the result (protest fee) reduces the frivolous protests; forcing a rulebook review on the spot corrects the majority of myth issues (hands are part of the bat, leaving early on a fly ball is a force out, runners must slide, etc.), as well as corrects most when the officials pull one out of their butt.