Oops.......

Know the call on the field........

http://espn.go.com/espnw/culture/the-buzz/article/15433088/softball-team-loses-championship-walk-premature-celebration

My daughter was at the game doing some scouting. Said her opinion was it was an out at 2nd, but you still got to be sure of the call before you stop playing.

Comp said:

My daughter was at the game doing some scouting. Said her opinion was it was an out at 2nd, but you still got to be sure of the call before you stop playing.

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I agree with your daughter. It appears the runner was out at 2nd, and I couldn't agree more about making sure of the call before you stop playing. That's exactly the reason I made the post.

I don't see this as a case of a player violating a cardinal rule of softball. Players make calculated assumptions on umpire calls all the time. Fielders probably leave the field most innings without confirming umpire calls. They believe some to be obvious.

The mistake here was that the fielder miscalculated the risk of her assumption. So did the baserunner, who left the base and sat dejected in the dirt, thinking the game was over. Teenagers are not well known for their skill at assessing risks. It happens. Honest mistake, IMO.

CoogansBluff said:

I don't see this as a case of a player violating a cardinal rule of softball. Players make calculated assumptions on umpire calls all the time. Fielders probably leave the field most innings without confirming umpire calls. They believe some to be obvious.

The mistake here was that the fielder miscalculated the risk of her assumption. So did the baserunner, who left the base and sat dejected in the dirt, thinking the game was over. Teenagers are not well known for their skill at assessing risks. It happens. Honest mistake, IMO.

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I believe it is a violation of a cardinal rule. The umpires make the calls on the field, not the players. Players should ALWAYS make sure of the call. The first girl to celebrate was the 2B, and her back was to the runner coming in to second base and she is facing the umpire responsible for making the call.

Lenski said:

I believe it is a violation of a cardinal rule. The umpires make the calls on the field, not the players. Players should ALWAYS make sure of the call.

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Lenski said:

The first girl to celebrate was the 2B, and her back was to the runner coming in to second base and she is facing the umpire responsible for making the call.

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Splitting your comments in half, you can see the distinction I'm making. You first say ‘always make sure,’ but by describing this particular situation in your second comment, I’m hearing, ‘OK, I know you’re not literally ALWAYS going to confirm with the umpire, like if you just caught a fly ball, but there was no excuse to assume in this situation.’

Maybe splitting hairs, but I just wonder if how we define the problem affects how we treat it.

Is this a player who failed to understand a basic principle of the game? Someone who doesn’t get why you don’t unnecessarily make the first out at 3B?

Or is this a player who made a poor assessment of the situation? Someone who calculated that there was no chance whatsoever she’d get thrown out at 3B, but did?

I suspect this fielder needs more help with making better decisions than knowing and following rules.

Of course, you might then say that following rules here would've been a good decision.

CoogansBluff said:

Splitting your comments in half, you can see the distinction I'm making. You first say ‘always make sure,’ but by describing this particular situation in your second comment, I’m hearing, ‘OK, I know you’re not literally ALWAYS going to confirm with the umpire, like if you just caught a fly ball, but there was no excuse to assume in this situation.’

Maybe splitting hairs, but I just wonder if how we define the problem affects how we treat it.

Is this a player who failed to understand a basic principle of the game? Someone who doesn’t get why you don’t unnecessarily make the first out at 3B?

Or is this a player who made a poor assessment of the situation? Someone who calculated that there was no chance whatsoever she’d get thrown out at 3B, but did?

I suspect this fielder needs more help with making better decisions than knowing and following rules.

Of course, you might then say that following rules here would've been a good decision.

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No, I was saying that the 2B was looking right in the direction of the umpire. Make sure of the call.....on every play. Even the routine plays.......

"Girls, you keep playing. I'll tell you when you to stop."

The CF saw it was an out and charge towards the diamond but then fell into peer pressure to celebrate. The left fielder was aware, but why didn't she communicate? She ran her route to 3rd then home and didn't make an attempt to alert anyone of what was going on. It definitely was an out though!

The second critical error was the player picking up the ball in the circle and throwing it home...to nobody.

If she holds onto the ball and runs with it at the runner headed home, she might have stopped the tying run, and would have certainly prevented the winning run.