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I live in an area that is dotted by small rural towns. Each town has 1 or 2 teams at each age level. These teams form 12 - 16 team leagues who have a regular season and a post-season tournament. The tournament is hosted by a different town each year.
I went to the finals of the 5th/6th grade tournament the other night between Town A and Town B. Town A was the host team. The home plate umpire was an 18 year old who plays for Town A's high school softball team.
Now for the situation. Town A is winning 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th, Town B is coming to bat. Town B loads the bases with one out when the batter hits a ball that bounces once in fair territory, hits first base, then continues down the right field line. Three runs score, tying the game, the batter ends up on third base. When the tying run is four steps from home, I notice the plate ump throwing both hands into the air, but the play continues until the ball is "dead". I assume that there is an out of play situation. But, when the dust clears, the plate ump yells, "that's a foul ball". As you can imagine, one side of the crowd begins yelling that the ball hit the base. Team B's coach comes out of the dugout and asks for clarification. The ump says, loud enough for the crowd to hear, that yes, the ball hit first base but it was the "foul side" of the base.
As you can imagine, the crowd went nuts. You could actually see the point when the ump realized that she was wrong, the color went right from her face. She went over to the TD, who has been sitting in Town A's dugout on and off throughout the game. She huddled up with Town A's coaches and the TD, then announced that the call stands and the runners should return to their bases. Team A won the game 8-5.
My question, what would you do if you were the tournament director? Since the ump's call did not disrupt the play, I'd like to think that I would have let the three runs score and given the hitter second or third base, depending on where I thought she was when the umpire threw her hands up. But that's easy to say when you're sitting outside of the fence.
I went to the finals of the 5th/6th grade tournament the other night between Town A and Town B. Town A was the host team. The home plate umpire was an 18 year old who plays for Town A's high school softball team.
Now for the situation. Town A is winning 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th, Town B is coming to bat. Town B loads the bases with one out when the batter hits a ball that bounces once in fair territory, hits first base, then continues down the right field line. Three runs score, tying the game, the batter ends up on third base. When the tying run is four steps from home, I notice the plate ump throwing both hands into the air, but the play continues until the ball is "dead". I assume that there is an out of play situation. But, when the dust clears, the plate ump yells, "that's a foul ball". As you can imagine, one side of the crowd begins yelling that the ball hit the base. Team B's coach comes out of the dugout and asks for clarification. The ump says, loud enough for the crowd to hear, that yes, the ball hit first base but it was the "foul side" of the base.
As you can imagine, the crowd went nuts. You could actually see the point when the ump realized that she was wrong, the color went right from her face. She went over to the TD, who has been sitting in Town A's dugout on and off throughout the game. She huddled up with Town A's coaches and the TD, then announced that the call stands and the runners should return to their bases. Team A won the game 8-5.
My question, what would you do if you were the tournament director? Since the ump's call did not disrupt the play, I'd like to think that I would have let the three runs score and given the hitter second or third base, depending on where I thought she was when the umpire threw her hands up. But that's easy to say when you're sitting outside of the fence.
