Umps - Blown calls that have made you laugh, cry, scratch your head, or pop a gasket!

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USSSA State tourney in Maumee same sorry umps both games. First game our girl at 2nd no out ground ball to SS runner ran before SS threw to first mistake but she beat the throw and the tag, evan parents on other team said she was safe. Check with plate ump he says I didn't see it. He told our parents between innings he screwed up by not watching the play. Next game elimination game former field ump now at home calls our batter out with two strikes only thing we can figure was our previous batter had got hbp on strike one count and einstein forgot to change his clicker. We were not the home team but our scorer had the correct count. The best one is they have bases loaded one out fly ball to center field ball is caught , thrown to the catcher on the fly runner runs into our catcher but somehow our catcher missed the tag. Thank you umps we ended up going home early.

 

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ASA tournament, we have runners on first and second, field ump is close to third base. Batter hits a hard grounder to third. Fielder makes a horrible throw toward first and first baseman, seeing that the ball wasn't going to get to her, takes 2 full steps toward third to catch the ball at her knee and intercept the runner at third. Field umpire didn't see it and points at plate umpire. Plate umpire signals our batter/runner out.

I argue that since she didn't see it either, the runner has to be safe. Plate umpire comes up the line and explains, "I did see it, Coach, your runner is out." Of course, I had to comment, "You couldn't have seen it, Blue; if you had, you would know she was safe!" Missing plays happens, it's part of the game and many umps are willing to admit it. I just wish they would ALL admit it when it happens. UGH.

 

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Hard shot to first base which ricochets off the first baseman's leg and goes into foul territory. The fielder retrives the ball and steps on the orange bag before the runner reaches the base (out right, nope).

Should have been an out right there. Rules state that if the fielder must complete the play from foul ground, then fielder may use the orange base. The reason for this is that if you require the fielder to cross over to the white base you are putting her on a direct collision course with the runner.

In fact the runner stopped and went back towards home plate (out right, nope).

Ummm...nope.

A batter-runner is out if she retreats back toward home ONLY if the retreat is part of an effort to avoid a tag. That means that there has to be a defensive player, with possession of the ball, actually attempting to touch her. Otherwise, there is no penalty.

Chaos ensues and the runner changes directions again and runs past first base and misses it. Fielder who is still on the right side, touches the orange base again (out right, nope).

Ummm, nope, again.

When a runner passes base without touching it, by rule she is assumed to have touched it.

When the missed base is first base, this is treated as an appeal play. The fielder with the ball needs to make an unmistakable appeal by either tagging the runner, before she returns to the base, or tagging the base and verbally telling the umpire what she is appealing.

Just touching the base alone is not a valid appeal. The reason: On a play at first base you are going to have a fielder touching the base anyhow. The fielder needs to acknowledge that she knows the base was missed and that the miss is being appealed, rather than just being tagged as part of the usual play at first base.

You're 1 for 3 on rule interpretation so far...so I'll beat on the umpires instead...

In the mean time the umpire has taken a very nice atheltic position and is staring at the base and makes no call and does not move. The runner finally steps on the base and the umpire signals safe.!

Bad mechanics by the umpire.

When the runner misses first base, prior to the base being tagged, the correct mechanic is to signal safe right away, just as you would on any other play where the runner beat the tag. That's because the runner IS safe (any passed base is assumed to have been touched until it is appealed).

The umpire should signal safe when the runner passes the base before the tag, then move out of the way and wait to see what happens. He shouldn't be doing anything that might tip off the defense that the base was missed. Teams are supposed to recognize appeal situations on their own, without help, intended or not, by the umpires. Signalling nothing and intently staring at the base is practically screaming, "The base was missed- make an appeal!".

In the chaos, (three umpire system at this stage of the game), the home plate umpire abstained, the 3B umpire was overheard telling the 1B umpire that the play was incorrect and he told her to 'back off..., it is my call' (that's a quote). Then after the protest, the committee upheld and said no imminent collision, fielder must use white bag.

If I'm the first base umpire, it's going to get ugly if the third base umpire tries telling me that a play at first base is "his call"....

But, seriously, how can three umpires on the field and a protest committee not know this one simple rule- a fielder making the play at first base from foul ground may use the colored bag. Everything else that came after that is immaterial and moot- the runner reversing direction, the runner passing the base, the fielder touching the base, the runner coming back to the bag- because this runner should have already been out!

 

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ASA, double-elimination tournament. Our first game in the loser's bracket. We are down 1 run after 4 innings and time is running out quickly. We "re-enter" our 9-hole batter but forget to report it. She takes one ball and the opposing coach calls time and informs the plate ump that we have the wrong batter at the plate. I turn to the field ump and say, "Oops, forgot to re-enter her; we'll take our warning." Before she can respond, I see the plate ump signal that our batter is out. WHOA. In we go and are told, "Once the wrong batter takes one pitch, she is automatically out."

I?m no rules expert but I've read the book and don't remember seeing that rule anywhere. We make the argument for it being a warning and the plate ump asks the field ump. She agrees with him and he states, "I have a book in my truck but I'm not going to go get it. Since we both agree then the batter is out." We had a book right there but decided that since time was running out we needed to get back to playing and took our lump.

I continued to talk with the field ump and said, "Blue, that just doesn't make sense. Besides, as a coach you would wait to see the outcome of the at bat before you would even raise the question of "wrong batter" anyway." She had an epiphany and said, "OMG, you are right. That is the wrong call. I am soooo sorry. If you end up losing this game I am gonna feel really bad." I'm glad she admitted her mistake but... that didn't set it straight.

Our next batter hit a HR to tie the game and we scored the winning run in the bottom of the last inning. Whew.

Assuming this was a legal re-entry, it was an unreported sub. You're probably thinking of the HS Fed rule where it's a warning on the first offense, regardless of when it's discovered.

ASA 4.6.C only calls the unreported sub out if the other team protests it after the turn at bat is complete and before: the next pitch -and- defense or umpires have left field of play. You can fix it any time before that. BTW, any runners on base at the time have to return to their last base occupied prior to the batted ball, so it can still be worthwhile bringing it up when the batter is retired. Looks like the runners don't return if they advance on their own (i.e. SB, PB, WP) or are forced by a walk or hit by pitch.

 

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Here is a call caught in a photo this past weekend. This is a force out at 3rd base. Ump 10 feet away called out, coach appealed and home plate ump called out. This was not a bang bang play and everyone on both side and just people hanging out was amazed by the call. My wife happened to be taking some action shots and caught this one. Even though her photography skills stink ! LOL Clearly the girl is safe on 3rd and both umps made the wrong call.

 

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We had a pitcher crow hopping as she pitched. And the umpire said he didn't call it the day before so he can't call it this day.......umm
An illegal pitch is an illegal pitch. And the strike zone at our girls ankles was hard enough to hit without her jumping off the mound. But ohwell. We learned that we get thrown out if we don't steal home from third but they can stop even when our pitcher had the ball. And was ready. He did not like our team. It was so bad it became funny. And that is all you can do is laugh because we teach our girls the umps are always right....... As my daughter says yesterday its a ball tomorrow it's a ball but today it's a strike do swing and pray u hit it. Lol.

 

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We were warming up beyond the outfield fence getting ready for the next game.

A young lady smacked a home run that cleared the fence by 25' hit the ground and bounced over a second fence. She was initially awarded a HR but after a conference the guys in blue changed it to a ground-rule double because the field ump saw it bounce over a fence......

The fans were not happy but the coach went to them and told them to settle down in no uncertain terms, which they did, a class act all around.

 

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A young lady smacked a home run that cleared the fence by 25' hit the ground and bounced over a second fence. She was initially awarded a HR but after a conference the guys in blue changed it to a ground-rule double because the field ump saw it bounce over a fence.......

This same call happened at my son's HS baseball game and at one of my dd's games this season. Over 34 years of playing or watching the game .... never saw this occur until this season.

 

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Two outs, runners on every base, Batter hits a Grand Slam. Field ump was in position between short and third, and plate ump calls second base runner out for leaving early?? Who is watching the pitch?? No grand slam!!!! try explaining that one to the player who blasted it.

 

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Second base is one base where the plate umpire has a good look at the runner leaving early, especially if she leaves really early. You don't have to worry about tracking the pitch until it's released. Before that, second base is right in your line of sight.

What do you tell the poor kid who hit the homer? Just tell her that it's too bad her teammate caused the ball to become dead by committing a rule violation. This isn't a call you make based on the outcome of the batter's at-bat. If you see it (and you really need to be 100% certain you saw it) then you have to call it.

 

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I'm new to this sport so I'm not sure of the rules here but this scenario had a few fans and coaches red this year:

10u
Last inning
Two outs Winning run up to bat.


Batter steps on plate while pitcher has ball on the rubber. Ump calls time and raises his mask and warns batter if she does it again she is out. While the ump is pulling his mask down and motioning to the pitcher the batter steps up on the plate again. Ump just warns her again.


This Batter is walked, the fourth ball was caught cleanly by catcher and promptly thrown back to pitcher. The batter rounds first by about five feet and does a little side to side jute move, pauses and then goes back to first. Pitcher makes no attempt at a throw. No look back call


Now a base runner this batter steals second, while on second she is leading off second base by a foot when pitch is thrown. Coach points it out to ump. Next pitch base runner is again off base by a foot when pitch is thrown. Again no call.


The girl ends up scoring the winning run.


Like I said I'm new to the fast pitch world so I'm not sure if stepping on home plate is an automatic out.


The rounding of first on walk I have seen, but not that much "5Ft"and I felt the jute move and pause was clearly a look back violation.


The lead off on second was an out.

 

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Leading off base is definitely an out. The runner must maintain contact with the base until the pitcher releases the ball on her pitch.

It sounds like there was a Look Back Rule violation when the runner rounded first. She can legally round the bag, stop once, then immediately either advance or retreat without stopping or reversing direction a second time. There isn't any limit on how far the runner can round the bag, so the "five feet" is irrelevant. She could round it by one foot, or run all the way to within an inch of second base and the same rule would apply. "Juking" back and forth while the Look Back is in effect is an out.

Stepping on the plate is an out ONLY if the batter steps on it while contacting a pitch with the bat. If she's standing on it before the pitch, then the umpire should call time and instruct the batter to properly position herself within the batter's box. He should not allow a pitch to be thrown until the batter complies.

You have to keep in mind that often the youngest age groups are assigned the newest, least experienced umpires. I can't believe that an experienced umpire would let this stuff slide or be confused about these basic rules.

 

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World Series in Columbus this past weekend, we had 2 runners on base, batter hits a shot that 3-4 bounces to the fence, now mind you these are the moveable, knock-over-able, fences at Berliner. Other teams center fielder runs up to the fence, throws her hands up in the air to signal the ball had gone under the fence, then proceeds to bend over and pick it up with obviously no problem. Our runner sees this and never stops after she rounded 2nd, bad relay and she scores. Umpires get together and rule she has to go back to second due to the ball going under the fence. Really, if it was under the fence why did she have no problems at all picking it up and throwing it back in?

 

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Re: Umps - Blown calls that have made you laugh, cry, scratch your head, or pop a gaske

The only way that this was the right call is if the umpires were 100% sure that the ball really did go through the fence. If they aren't sure, then they just made a guess. You never want to guess at a call.

The first thing to remember is that a fielder throwing up her hands means nothing with respect to the playing rules. It doesn't kill the ball or automatically mean it went out of play. All it's supposed to signal is that one of the umpires needs to come take a closer look to see that the ball has become unplayable. Until the umpire signals the ball dead, all action on the field can continue.

I've had this happen to me a few times, where the ball was near a fence but the fielder reached down and picked it up, then had her or the coach claim that the ball was actually out of play. If it was...then you should have left it there and not touched it before the umpire could confirm it was out of play!

As an umpire, the right thing to do here is to leave the ball live until you can confirm it left the field. If the fielder grabs it before you can confirm it left the field, then you play on as if it never did leave the field.

 

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DD's just eliminated from the TCS Summer Nationals in SC ...... I know two Hawks teams still going strong in the Gold bracket ... I am not sure how the Ohio Glory or other teams are doing .... best of luck to our fellow Ohio teams.

This past Thursday, during our 2nd pool game, we had an umpire crew who would NOT give a safe signal ... close or no brainer calls .... no call made.

This became confusing when our team had an infield grounder hit to SS .... ball thrown to 2nd TAG WAS OBVIOUSLY MADE, the girl on 2nd starts walking toward dugout (3rd base line) ..... runners had been on 1st and 2nd at time of hit ... the girl on 3rd draws throw causing my dd who hit the ball to go to move up to second only to figure out that the umpire did not call the girl sliding into 2nd out......... we score 2 runs .... my dd gets caught in run down then being called out at 2nd when she was obvioulsy safe ........... the whole mess started as a result of the umpire in the field not making any type of signal. Safe or Out ... make the call or signal!

Same tournament, different umps ....... ump calls ball 3 on batter who tries to pull back swing where she obviously turned her wrists ..... couch requested the call be appealed to base ump ... plate ump refuses to give the appeal "coach, there is not an appeal, she did not swing" ...... he then walks out to the field ump after 20 second of bending his ear ..... the base ump calls it a strike ........ on the next pitch, the ump does not reset his clicker giving the batter 1st base after ball 3......... again, after 2 minutes of discussion, both teams confirm 3 balls 2 strikes .... girl returns to the box to be walked on the next pitch !!!!! .......... Scratching your head then popping a gasket lead to the umps making the right call but very frustrating.

 

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Ok ... another year I have to return from the Youngstown area and ask "Why do we even play in NSA tournaments?".
With exception to the 60 minute Semi-Final rule (Weather related but games were caught up, no threat of weather, and a field with lights available) ....... the tournament was very well run and competition was good.

I'm not going to take shots at physical ability but I do have to say that some guys have no business umping a game if they are unable to, at least attempt, to walk and/or run to get into position to make a call. All of the guys behind the plate seemed to be consistant with their balls and strike calls and that is about it. Some of the worst base umpiring I have ever seen.

I had criticized the NSA several years ago only to find the same umpire wearing an ASA costume the following week. Is there a difference in training or requirements to be an ASA, USSSA, NSA officials?

Good luck to everyone this season! Stay Safe and Have Fun!

George Ward