Wow, I’m not sure where to begin in light of the last couple of posts on the topic. Just as mentioned by Wvanalmsick and words of advice by a few others helped form my final thoughts, we get a post from a reputable OFC’er stating they’d rather lower a shoulder and take out a catcher then slide into her. This isn’t the mindset that I’m used to hearing from others, nor do I agree------sorry.
I have championed in the past to have the rules changed to include a rule mandating no collisions would be acceptable and runners should be required to slide. In light of the major league baseball collision and having witnessed numerous collisions over the years, I struggle to see why anyone with mentality above that of an axe murderer would want this to happen in our game. The mentality of fans is not to come to the ballpark to witness a defensive player to be harmed or maimed for life. They want to see spectacular plays and bombing homeruns while watching 2 teams duel it out till a winner is declared. Fielders are too vulnerable to injury when there is a collision and I believe it should be the responsibility of the offense to avoid the contact.
I believe we need to teach more sliding options as mentioned. With today’s rules as stated, I teach the girls to get creative with their slides. A defensive player assuming a posture over a base does have weaknesses and like any good strategy, we should exploit the weakness to our advantage. A slide by and reach in the back or a good hook slide can open doors to success more times than sliding directly into a waiting mitt and ball. While it may be easy to argue that younger girls are prone to drop the ball, that doesn’t happen as often with older girls. Also, my gazelle of base runners are more valuable to the team effort when they are healthy rather than being bruised or worse from a collision with a catcher twice their size. A good coach will play to his team’s strength and I’ll gamble on my gazelles being able to sneak in a hand around a slower and/or less agile catcher in gear.
I’ve never favored a total block of a base at any time. I believe since both offense and defense need access to a base that rules should state that both need to allow the other opportunity to assume a position on the base-----any base. It’s the only thing in the game that requires both teams to share and at times this needs to happen simultaneously. I believe a defensive player needs to assume a position that still displays an area of the base directly in line to the offensive player. If she does not do this, any collision that may occur would be at the fault of the defense and an official call should rule in the runner’s favor. If the defensive player does leave an opening for a direct approach to a base and a collision occurs, the offense would be at fault and a resulting call would favor the defense. The only factor that others may argue is one of judgment by the umpire. A judgment call cannot be argued or protested, just like balls and strikes. I believe this rule would eliminate most collisions and be very popular. Wonder why the powers to be would not agree? Perhaps you don’t. Let me hear your view on the subject and any changes you would make.
If the catcher or any other fielder has the ball before the runner gets to the base... why would they not be allowed to block the base. Blocking the base WITH the ball is part of the game... just like sliding into a base is for a runner.
