Player Ejection

[Rooster98]

Should there be a slide rule at home? Just asking for positives/negatives

 

[SoCalASABlue]

I would like see you running full speed with someone coming up the line at you, make that 3' move left or right. The burden to avoid collision is on both players. She can't come up the line and block it without the ball. Have you ever ejected a defensive player because of collision? Yet, catchers BLOCK the plate givin runner no access to slide. Collisions will always happen unless defenders are taught to NOT block base or plate. Call both sides of it or stop calling it.

I guess it depends on whether (you think) your players are smart enough to make adjustments as necessary when running the bases. Would you teach a runner to run into a tag or try to get around it?

Umpires that don't enforce the obstruction rule properly is not justification for the potential injury of BOTH players in an avoidable collision. But then again, some coaches are OK with thug ball whether on offense or defense.

 

[Easton33]

And that is why there is an obstruction rule.

And how many obstruction calls have you witnessed at the plate? How many kids have you seen ejected because obstruction caused collision?

 

[Easton33]

My point is perfectly proven by your post SoCal, you are putting the responsibility of the collision solely on the runner. It is not about the smarts of the runner but more their reaction time while running full speed. Your post indicate you will eject runner all the time for collision. We always teach our girls to avoid tag, ALWAYS but that does not mean a defender will not get into their baseline and cause an unavoidable collision. You need to see both sides of it. My dd is a catcher and twice this weekend she had girls try and run her over, twice the weekend before too. Umps did not eject anyone, and they shouldn't have either. You would have ejected those girls and would not have been fair. Do not call it thug ball or imply i coachbthat way.. Sometimes collisions happen and it is part of the game. No one should be ejected and there are times it is malicious and someone should.

 

[Jackel2168]

The issue is not with the collision, which may or may not be malicious, but there is no mandatory slide rule in USSSA. If the catcher did not have possession of the ball she should not have been blocking the plate. Depending on when the throw came in I can see why it would be hard to slide. Also, if she did not lower her shoulder to initiate contact I do find it slightly difficult to call it malicious. Where the issue does arise is the ejection. The umpire allowed you to put a player in their spot (a legal substitute) and had no objections then. The umpire called an automatic out when the substitute came up to bat. It is impossible to protest a ruling until that comes up. You cannot protest an ejection (right or wrong) but when the umpire stated that the replacement player is an out, that is wrong and that has to be when the protest is filled. The UIC should have been contacted immediately and the protest should have been made and the umpire should have been corrected.

 

[Comp]

And how many obstruction calls have you witnessed at the plate? How many kids have you seen ejected because obstruction caused collision?

I have seen all kinds of obstruction calls at the plate, and I have made all kinds of obstruction calls at the plate. As stated, an umpires improper applicaton, or I should say non application of the obstruction rule is no excuse for taking out a player. Obstruction is obstruction no matter where it happens on the field.

As for player ejections, I cant say I have seen an ejection at the plate because I havent seen a player purposely plow the catcher. I have ejected a player for plowing a 1st baseman, and obstruction had nothing to do with the call.

 

[Comp]

My point is perfectly proven by your post SoCal, you are putting the responsibility of the collision solely on the runner. It is not about the smarts of the runner but more their reaction time while running full speed. Your post indicate you will eject runner all the time for collision. We always teach our girls to avoid tag, ALWAYS but that does not mean a defender will not get into their baseline and cause an unavoidable collision. You need to see both sides of it. My dd is a catcher and twice this weekend she had girls try and run her over, twice the weekend before too. Umps did not eject anyone, and they shouldn't have either. You would have ejected those girls and would not have been fair. Do not call it thug ball or imply i coachbthat way.. Sometimes collisions happen and it is part of the game. No one should be ejected and there are times it is malicious and someone should.

There is a big difference between a collision that cannot be avoided and one where a runner prepares themselves for the impact and runs over a catcher.

And if I ever saw a catcher who I felt purposely went into the path of the runner to take them out, you can bet they would be gone just as fast as a runner who took out the catcher.