question for the men in blue

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Was at a touranment this weekend.dd was up to to bat she had 2 strike on her she was slaping fouled it off ump calls her out.And say that a slap,drag and bunt is all the same.Was just wondering if thats the right call.Then had a girl hit the ball out to left feild she runs to 1st base the 1st baseman was standing on top of the bag are runner trips over her.The field ump sticks his arm out for interference on the 1st baseman sent runner to 2nd the plate ump calls timeout and talks to field ump and over truns his call and say to our coach the interference happen after the out are player was on the ground be the ball got to 1st base.Whats the right call

 

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I'll take a shot at the answer.

First, slap, drag and bunt are not the same thing. A slap is a swing at a pitch. If it is fouled off, it is a strike. If it is attempted with two strikes and fouled off, the batter remains at bat. A drag is a type of bunt. If it is attempted with two strikes and fouled off, the batter is out. It is in the judgement of the umpire whether it is a slap or bunt attempt.

Second, if in the umpire's judgement, the runner would not have made it to second base on the batted ball, then there is no obstruction.

How'd I do bretman???

 

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was the first baseman standing on the bag with the ball before the runner got there?

 

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Right, Bucket. A slap is a swing and a bunt is a, well...bunt. They're two different things. Not sure why an umpire would tell you they're the same thing, because they're not.

On the second one...frankly, you kind of lost me on the description of the play. The obstruction (not interference) happened "after the out"? What out? Was this a caught fly ball?

 

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No it was'nt a caught fly ball it was a ground ball that got past 3rd base.1st baseman was standing on top of the bag are runner was triped by her will running threw the bag,field ump put his arm out for obstruction tells the runner to take 2nd.Then the plate ump talks with the field ump and over truns the field umps call.witch made the out.When are coach ask why he did that it was told to them that the obstruction happen after the out.Im not sure how he thought she was out befor the obstruction occured because the 1st baseman never had the ball till after the fact.hopeful i explained it a lil better.

 

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Sometimes these plays are hard to describe- and even harder to say if the right ruling was made without seeing it.

If the first baseman DID NOT have the ball when the runner tripped, then this could be obstruction.

Even if it was obstruction, the base umpire shouldn't have just went ahead and awarded the runner second base. The play is still live and you don't award any bases until the play is over or the obstructed runner is tagged out.

Did the runner actually get tagged with the ball after she was tripped?

The penalty for obstruction isn't an automatic base award, either. The runner only gets the base should would have reached had she not been obstructed. With the ball (apparently) being thrown to first while the runner was still near the bag, she might only be awarded first base.

 

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No she was never taged out at anytime.

 

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Then she never should have been called out!

It really sounds like these umpires were confused on several points.

 

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Not sure if this was the same situation, but a girl was called out on a 3rd strike bunt attempt. This was a correct call, she tried to bunt the ball. However, she and her coach claimed she was slapping. The ump then replied, call it what you want, bunt, slap, drag, she is out. I guess his way of saying it was my call and you can call it what you want,,,,,my opinion he made the right call,,,,,there was no follow through of the swing, she just laid the bat out over the plate.

 

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Try this one........girl is bunting the ball, makes contact ball stays right in front of home plate, hits her bat for a second time when she drops it to run. What is the call? Per our plate umpire- bat is part of the playing field it is not a dead ball. This is a real first for me, maybe I really need to read the Rulebooke prior to each and every tournament come next year....LOL

 

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Not sure if this was the same situation, but a girl was called out on a 3rd strike bunt attempt. This was a correct call, she tried to bunt the ball. However, she and her coach claimed she was slapping. The ump then replied, call it what you want, bunt, slap, drag, she is out. I guess his way of saying it was my call and you can call it what you want,,,,,my opinion he made the right call,,,,,there was no follow through of the swing, she just laid the bat out over the plate.

If it was fair, she wouldn't be out, only if it went foul with 2 strikes already on batter.

 

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Try this one........girl is bunting the ball, makes contact ball stays right in front of home plate, hits her bat for a second time when she drops it to run. What is the call? Per our plate umpire- bat is part of the playing field it is not a dead ball. This is a real first for me, maybe I really need to read the Rulebooke prior to each and every tournament come next year....LOL

If the bat hits the ball a second time while bat is in motion (prior to bat coming to a stop) the runner is out for interference. If the bat is laying on the ground and not moving and the ball rolls into the bat, it's a live ball, play on if the bat is in fair territory, a foul ball it bat is in foul territory.