Bases loaded, nobody out, girl pops the ball straight up between the pitcher and the catcher. Umpire immediately yells "infield fly!"
Here's the problem... it was a 10U game, no infield fly rule. Coaches had specifically talked about it with the umpire before the game started, but I get it -- he umps at multiple levels, each one with its own rules. He probably has done 1,000 high school games this month and in the heat of the moment forgot it was 10U... it happens.
So now everyone is yelling, ball drops untouched of course, right between the pitcher and catcher, and rolls. Third base coach tells runner on 3rd "get back!" because he heard "infield fly".
Meanwhile the coach on defense is screaming "Get the ball! Step on the plate!" Catcher eventually picks it up in foul territory and steps on home plate. Umpire says the runner on 3rd is forced out.
But now the coach on offense asks -- no one touched the ball until it was in foul territory, shouldn't it be a foul ball? Ump said no, because when he called "infield fly", the fielder didn't make the attempt to catch the ball. If she had made an attempt to catch it, even if she dropped it, it would have been in fair territory, as the ball clearly landed in fair territory and then rolled foul. However, couldn't the team at bat argue that, the same way the umpire prevented the fielder from making a play by yelling infield fly, he also prevented the runner on 3rd from making an attempt to run home?
I was just a dad watching while waiting for my own game to start so I don't have a horse in the race but I thought it was an unusual situation.
Can the ump just say "do over" when something like this happens?
Here's the problem... it was a 10U game, no infield fly rule. Coaches had specifically talked about it with the umpire before the game started, but I get it -- he umps at multiple levels, each one with its own rules. He probably has done 1,000 high school games this month and in the heat of the moment forgot it was 10U... it happens.
So now everyone is yelling, ball drops untouched of course, right between the pitcher and catcher, and rolls. Third base coach tells runner on 3rd "get back!" because he heard "infield fly".
Meanwhile the coach on defense is screaming "Get the ball! Step on the plate!" Catcher eventually picks it up in foul territory and steps on home plate. Umpire says the runner on 3rd is forced out.
But now the coach on offense asks -- no one touched the ball until it was in foul territory, shouldn't it be a foul ball? Ump said no, because when he called "infield fly", the fielder didn't make the attempt to catch the ball. If she had made an attempt to catch it, even if she dropped it, it would have been in fair territory, as the ball clearly landed in fair territory and then rolled foul. However, couldn't the team at bat argue that, the same way the umpire prevented the fielder from making a play by yelling infield fly, he also prevented the runner on 3rd from making an attempt to run home?
I was just a dad watching while waiting for my own game to start so I don't have a horse in the race but I thought it was an unusual situation.
Can the ump just say "do over" when something like this happens?