Good Calls/Bad Calls

Lots of TB tournaments lately and no good call/bad call posts?

Anyone got any good ones?

I witnessed one this weekend (not trying to start anything, the ump in this game was out of control but we don't want to go there). Ball hit to the outfield. Ball is relayed into the pitcher who was not in the circle. Runners had stopped on first and second. Pitcher throws the ball into the dugout to have the coach clean it off. Ump calls the ball out of play and awards an extra base to the runners. Technically the ump was correct since time had not been called but was a bad call in my opinion.

 

Would you have been happier if the runners had decided to steal two bases each while the ball wasn't in the pitcher's control while in the circle and the umpire allowed it?

 

Ball hit to the outfield and gets stuck under the fence. Players throw their hands up and the ump comes out. He has to wiggle and pull to get the ball out from under the fence because it is stuck. He awards the team a homerun. Players are told to raise their hands when it goes under or around the fence. My players go for everything and this was their first experience of having one stuck. Their only question to me..."what constitutes under the fence if that doesn't, especially when he had to pull and jerk to get it out from under it?" I had no reply.

 

Huh?

Don't understand the question. If the ball is not in the circle and time has not been called, the runners can do whatever they want. Are you asking if someone other than the pitcher had the ball under control in the circle? I am not sure what the rule is there...

My point was everyone on the field considered the play over but the ump hadn't called time yet. The pitcher was by the dugout (she was backing up third) so she tossed the ball into the dugout to get it cleaned off as she had done previously in the game. Since the ump hadn't called time, he called the ball out of play and awarded each runner another base. Again, was the correct call (technically the ball was out of play), I just didn't think he needed to make the call under the circumstances.

 

Ground rule double

I think your girls played it correctly and it should have been ruled a double. Guess next time you tell them to kick it all the way under the fence (without the ump seeing it) just to be sure.

 

SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT WITH THIS GAME

I was the coach on the other side of this highly unusual game. This was not the first questionable call in the game. It appeared that the umpire had an agenda from the beginning of the game. Although our team benefited from several of theses call, I don't like playing games where any team is singled out. The focus of the game should be on the player’s ability and never on the coaches or umpires. I respect the other teams coach's decision to stop the game in the 2nd inning before something regrettable happened.

 

But apparently the ump hadn't called time yet. The ball was still live and the pitcher threw it out of play. If this was a 10U little league regular season game, that may be one thing. It's not, its a game in which the ASA rules are strictly applied. All the pitcher would have had to do was ask the umpire for time first. Which she should have done.

I've seen runners get up after a close play and get tagged out because they didn't ask for time first and the ball was still live. I guess you don't think this is fair either?

I was proposing that if you want the umpire to ignore a rule, why does it have to be the one you want. Okay, so the runners didn't try to advance on their own, but my (obviously weakly made) point was that if you want rules ignored, then they should have. This umpire knew the rules and followed them. I've seen enough posts around here complaining about umpires who don't, and here you've got one and complaints are still being lodged.

 

My understanding here is that this should have been a two base award (i.e. "a ground rule double"). I know that the "Official Baseball Rules" cover balls stuck in the ivy this way. I'm reasonably sure that ASA rules are the same (though they're not handy at the moment).

 

I think you took this the wrong way. I was not complaining about it at all or saying that it wasn't fair. The call benefitted my DDs team and I stated several times that technically it was the right call.

 

Okay, I will note that you're on the recieving end of this call. That's fine. Is there some level of play where you could support the umpire making the technically correct call? NCAA? Olympics? ASA National tournaments?