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The Umpire Corner

Coaches interference?

Rule question? Get it answered here.

by mlavmd » Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:35 pm

I am a pretty mild mannered coach but nearly got tossed from a game last week as I could not have disagreed more with an umpire's call and I was wondering if it makes sense to anyone:
I had runners at 2nd and 3rd and I was the 3B coach. My batter hit a ball deep into the RCF gap, easily scoring the 2 runners. The ball is thrown in to 3B. My runner who is standing on 3B sees the ball dribble past the girl playing 3B and takes a few steps off the base toward home with no intention of going home. The girl who is playing 3B brushes my shoulder in the coaches box as I tried to avoid her but she was coming right at me and I could not fully get out of her way. However the play was over, the runners had scored long ago and my batter/runner is safely back at 3B. Umpires were ready to continue play but opposing coach calls time out and talks to umpires. Home plate umpire says he saw nothing. Somehow the base umpire although he was not going to call anything now calls interference on me and takes a run off the board, gives me an out, and moves my batter/runner back to 2B. Maybe I just don't understand the rules but this really made no sense to me. Of course we ended up losing this Semi-final game by one run!. I would love some opinions on this ruling!
Thanks
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by as the world turns » Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:51 pm

Field umpire was drunk....no other explaination
“Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.” John Wayne
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by Comp » Tue Jul 07, 2015 2:24 pm

Without seeing the play I have no idea on the interference call. It may have been, it may not have been. The coaches box gives the coach no protection at all, it is simply where the coach is restricted to prior to the release of the pitch. It is the coaches responsibility to not interfere with a play.

As for the result of the interference call, it sounds like both runs had long since crossed the plate and the batter/runner was already at 3rd at the time of the call. If so, you cannot have an out on one of the runners who scored prior to the interference. The only other runner on base than can be called out is the one standing on 3rd. If it were in fact interference, both runs should have scored and the runner on 3rd would be out.
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by UmpSteve » Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:52 pm

Comp wrote:Without seeing the play I have no idea on the interference call. It may have been, it may not have been. The coaches box gives the coach no protection at all, it is simply where the coach is restricted to prior to the release of the pitch. It is the coaches responsibility to not interfere with a play.

As for the result of the interference call, it sounds like both runs had long since crossed the plate and the batter/runner was already at 3rd at the time of the call. If so, you cannot have an out on one of the runners who scored prior to the interference. The only other runner on base than can be called out is the one standing on 3rd. If it were in fact interference, both runs should have scored and the runner on 3rd would be out.


Except,

IF the umpire ruled the actual act of interference occurred(as opposed to when it was called) BEFORE the second runner scored, and before the final runner you are calling batter-runner (that designation ends at first base in most rule sets) reached third,

THEN the ruling the OP cited would be correct.

We have one side; there are usually three in most instances (Team A version, Team B version, and what actually happened).
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by PDad » Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:22 pm

UmpSteve wrote:... the final runner you are calling batter-runner (that designation ends at first base in most rule sets)...

What would be the correct designation to distinguish them from R1 and R2?
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by jonriv » Thu Jul 09, 2015 6:12 am

The girl who is playing 3B brushes my shoulder in the coaches box as I tried to avoid her but she was coming right at me and I could not fully get out of her way.


Coach you gotta get out of the way!
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by UmpSteve » Thu Jul 09, 2015 9:40 am

PDad wrote:
UmpSteve wrote:... the final runner you are calling batter-runner (that designation ends at first base in most rule sets)...

What would be the correct designation to distinguish them from R1 and R2?


The irony of the accepted softball nomenclature is overwhelming. The person that starts as the batter in a case play keeps the "B" designation throughout the play, only referred to as the batter-runner between home and first.

To be completely correct, it is also necessary to know how many outs there are, as the current batter is named based on both runners and outs. With R1 (most advanced runner) on 3rd, and R2 on 2nd, and with no outs, the batter is B3; with one out the batter is B4, and with two outs the batter is B5.

There is a complete "Case Book Format" explanation in front of the NFHS Softball Case Book. I didn't make this sh!t up.
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by Smokie364 » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:13 am

was this a TCS tournament? Before the next pitch is thrown you pull out your $100 bill and protest.

That's what you should have done!
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by PDad » Thu Jul 09, 2015 6:04 pm

UmpSteve wrote:
PDad wrote:
UmpSteve wrote:... the final runner you are calling batter-runner (that designation ends at first base in most rule sets)...

What would be the correct designation to distinguish them from R1 and R2?


The irony of the accepted softball nomenclature is overwhelming. The person that starts as the batter in a case play keeps the "B" designation throughout the play, only referred to as the batter-runner between home and first.

To be completely correct, it is also necessary to know how many outs there are, as the current batter is named based on both runners and outs. With R1 (most advanced runner) on 3rd, and R2 on 2nd, and with no outs, the batter is B3; with one out the batter is B4, and with two outs the batter is B5.

There is a complete "Case Book Format" explanation in front of the NFHS Softball Case Book. I didn't make this sh!t up.

Thanks. It actually makes sense to me the case book player identifiers don't change within a discussion as their status changes, The way I see it, those identifiers (e.g. B4, F1, R1) are like proper nouns, in lieu of player names, based on the player's initial position/status. The other references are common nouns based on their current status - defined by the playing rules along with how/when they change.
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by MTR » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:37 am

[quote="UmpSteve"]

THEN the ruling the OP cited would be correct.
[quote]

I agree, but that wasn't the case. The OP clearly states that the runner safely reached 3B prior to the action the umpire perceived as INT. An umpire cannot send runner's back from a base they legally attained prior to the INT. If there was INT, the runner closest to home would be ruled out.

If R2 hadn't touched the plate at the time of the INT that runner would be ruled out, but the runner who reached 3B would remain there. If R2 had scored prior to the INT, the runner on 3rd would be ruled out. But under no circumstance would this play conclude with a runner being assigned to 2B.
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