DD played in an 18-team, 12U ASA tournament in upstate NY this weekend.
She comes in to pitch in the 4th inning, in a tight 4-4 game.
After a few batters, opposing 1st base coach calls time, and has conference with the home plate umpire. When play resumes, the HP umpire starts calling IP's. The reason: he says when pitcher takes the plate, hands must be separated AND ball must not be "concealed" in glove and must be visible in pitching hand. He clearly had his own interpretation on what it means to "present" the ball...
Of course, we all know that this is not the correct rule, and after repeated coach and fan (i was polite, but did almost get tossed...) protest; the ump wouldn't budge. So, I spoke to tournament director, and he advised that our coach needs to request the "head umpire" to come and rule. So that's what our coach did, and the HP ump refused.
Meanwhile my DD is out there, tears lightly streaming down her cheeks, so our coach goes out and explains what the "new parameters" are for this game, and DD adapts her routine to comply, and pretty much proceeds to pitch wonderfully, shutting down the opposing team and we logged a 5-4 win. (Luckily, the IP calls only advanced runner 1 or 2 times, but never cost us a run...)
Next round (semi-final game) we get the same ump. BUT, between games the tournament director goes to bat for us an shows the HP ump the correct rule in the ASA book, with head umpire present. My DD starts next game, and guess what? No more IP calls...
That semi went to 2 tiebraker innings before we lost 5-6. DD pitched all 9. Very proud of her...
After games I congratulated her (with a wink) on logging not only her 1st IP ever, but 4 IP calls in a single game. <G> (the first IP call was actually legitimate, because the Ump stuck out his fist mid-pitch, and my DD stopped her delivery. She had no idea what the Ump was doing, and thought he was halting her...)
She comes in to pitch in the 4th inning, in a tight 4-4 game.
After a few batters, opposing 1st base coach calls time, and has conference with the home plate umpire. When play resumes, the HP umpire starts calling IP's. The reason: he says when pitcher takes the plate, hands must be separated AND ball must not be "concealed" in glove and must be visible in pitching hand. He clearly had his own interpretation on what it means to "present" the ball...
Of course, we all know that this is not the correct rule, and after repeated coach and fan (i was polite, but did almost get tossed...) protest; the ump wouldn't budge. So, I spoke to tournament director, and he advised that our coach needs to request the "head umpire" to come and rule. So that's what our coach did, and the HP ump refused.
Meanwhile my DD is out there, tears lightly streaming down her cheeks, so our coach goes out and explains what the "new parameters" are for this game, and DD adapts her routine to comply, and pretty much proceeds to pitch wonderfully, shutting down the opposing team and we logged a 5-4 win. (Luckily, the IP calls only advanced runner 1 or 2 times, but never cost us a run...)
Next round (semi-final game) we get the same ump. BUT, between games the tournament director goes to bat for us an shows the HP ump the correct rule in the ASA book, with head umpire present. My DD starts next game, and guess what? No more IP calls...
That semi went to 2 tiebraker innings before we lost 5-6. DD pitched all 9. Very proud of her...
After games I congratulated her (with a wink) on logging not only her 1st IP ever, but 4 IP calls in a single game. <G> (the first IP call was actually legitimate, because the Ump stuck out his fist mid-pitch, and my DD stopped her delivery. She had no idea what the Ump was doing, and thought he was halting her...)
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