runner at second. line drive right center field but closer to CF. CF turns to chase and retrieves ball (solid single). runner leaves 2b and collides (not bumps) into SS. I am 3b coach and see collision, send runner home on solid single taking a chance on the (protection to any base she should have achieved etc).
I mentioned this in an earlier post. It is in the best interest of a base coach to
"coach the play" and not try to
"coach the call".
Would you have sent this runner even if she hadn't been obstructed? Maybe so. But if you gamble on being awarded an advanced base, just because you think you can read the umpire's mind and assume that will be the awarded base...sometimes it can backfire.
Play at home as it was was a bang play. ball and runner arrived almost simultaneously. called out. i asked for obstruction help. base ump says i give her 3b because she only gets the next base. I asked if the bang play did not indicate she would have easily reached home. he said didn;t matter, she only gets the next base because that is where the obstruction toiok place. had his answer been his judgement she gets 3b I would have no argument, but since he said she is only protected to the next base where the obstruction would have occured, i protest to home ump. he says it is a judgement call, no protest. i said im not protesting the call, i am protesting the misapplication of the rule. home ump says no protest, sit down or i throw you out.
In this case, I would say that you had a valid protest. The rule is NOT "you only get the next base" as this umpire stated. By making such a comment, he has taken it out of the context of "judgment" and made it a "rule misapplication" issue.
Plate umpire should have accepted your protest, regardless. Let the protest committee or TD decide if it is a judgment or rule issue.
Just because an umpire utters the phrase "it's a judgment call" doesn't necessarily make it so. This is like ringing up a batter on two strikes, then saying you can't protest because "in my judgment the batter was out"!
I think that you handled this correctly. Unfortunately, the umpires did not.
i subsequently visited the rules comittee and several chief umpires and all agreed with me. als saw Texas vs Angels game, same thing and this year in the ncaa womens world series, same exact play and it was explained. so how do you get your satisfaction when this takes place. I asked the rules comittee to correct it and he said no can do. he said what should i do game over. i told him to replay or my girls were cheated. any thoughts.
While it's generally true that there isn't anything they could do after the game is over, if they agree that you had a valid complaint I think they should have handled this as an official protest. You DID protest and you DID do it in a timely manner- before the next pitch. It's not your fault that the plate umpire refused to accept your valid protest.
In an extreme case like this, I would have refused to continue playing until someone would have accepted my valid protest in the first place. You had every right to file the protest and should have been allowed to.
