What is the correct call!

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Member

• Jun 11, 2009

• #1

Girl hits a shot over 2nd base, rounds 2nd and heads to 3rd, throw comes in from the SS and 3rd misses the catch and the ball takes a hop and hits the 3rd base coach who has moved over near the fence to get out of the way. Runner was 1/3 of the way down the baseline when this happened. Left fielder picks up the ball and throws to home but not in time. Blue walks over to the coach and asks if the ball hit him, he said yes. What is the correct call!

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #2

It is a judgment call; if the umpire feels that the coach intentionally interfered you have an out, otherwise play on. Sounds like, however, that the coach did what he/she could to move out of the way.

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #3

Correct. He tried to get out of the way. The ump called runner needed to return to third. That run would have put us up one run. Now its tied. We go to the next and final inning, they score and win.

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #4

Its the same as if it would hit an ump. Girl scores.

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #5

As long as the the contact was not intentional, the base coach is considered part of the field.

Len

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #6

Blue made a mistake

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #7

What is the effect, if any of the coach leaving the box? Does the coach have an obligation to stay in the box while trying to get out of the way?

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #8

Base coaches may leave the box and go wherever they need to go to avoid interfering with a fielder or a thrown or batted ball.

Interference with a thrown or batted ball must be deemed intentional. If the coach is accidentally hit, the ball remains live and in play. Standing still in the box, without making any real effort to avoid the ball, can be judged as intentionally interfering!

Interference with a fielder does not require intent. The coach has the obligation to vacate any area needed by the fielder to make the play. A coach could try to get out of a fielder's way, but still accidentally interfere.

Penalization for interference with a fielder, a thrown or batted ball is a dead ball, the runner closest to home is out and other runners return to their last base.

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #9

Thanks Bretman and all the others that responded. Again the coach did his best to get out of the way but was still hit. From your comment's as well as the others, it seems as if the wrong call was made which could have cost us the game. The ump was good and was fair to both sides and I didn't want to cause a big sink since this was a rec game and really didn't have much bearing on our season. (although we were unbeaten at the time) I have never has this blue make a bad call before and I know they were well versed with the rules and I couldn't remember where in the NSA book this might have been and I didn't think blue would let me delay until I could come up with the sec. I thought it was best just to let the girls play the game and win it out right!

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #10

We had a similar thing happen in one of our games Sunday. The call went our way, but I'm not sure it was the right one. Runner on second when an opponent hit a smash up the middle right at the umprie who jumped in the air to avoid contact with the ball. The ball hit the blue's foot and was redirected away from all of our girls. Each of their girls moved up another base, the one on second scoring. The blues conferred and moved the girls back to where they were judged to have been at the time of the contact. Christmas came a little early for us.

 

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• Jun 11, 2009

• #11

Yep, sounds like you got that one gift wrapped!

But not to worry- the softball gods are sure to even things out during the course of the season. When that next call goes against your team, you're just going to have to smile and bear it!

If the ball hit the umpire AFTER passing the fielders (which should be the case if the umpire was properly positioned) it should have been a live ball- play on.

If it hits the umpire BEFORE passing the fielders, the ball is dead. Batter is placed on first base, any other runners advance ONLY if forced by the base award to the batter.

 

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• Jun 12, 2009

• #12

Bretman:

When we conduct "Softball 101" discussions with the bench during the game, Ted often refers to the Softball Gods. The Gods' most consistent punishment seems to come when routine foul balls are not turned into outs (the punishment being on one of the next pitches the batter comes up with an extra base hit) or when routine plays for the third out are not made (the punishment being one and usually more of the subsequent hitters come up big).

 

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• Jun 12, 2009

• #13

"The Gods' most consistent punishment seems to come when routine foul balls are not turned into outs (the punishment being on one of the next pitches the batter comes up with an extra base hit) or when routine plays for the third out are not made (the punishment being one and usually more of the subsequent hitters come up big)."

The softball Gods punish us the same way!