- May 29, 2015
- 3,794
- 113
This past weekend ... the tournament I worked did not send out rules to the umpires ahead of time. We were told 65 minutes drop dead In pool play ... and we were told 65 minutes finish the batter. Games can end in a tie.
Eh, it won’t matter so we’ll be nice and finish the batter. 3 games Friday night and we were fine,
First game Saturday ... 2-2 tie game (in part on an early obstruction call that took away the third out of the inning and gave the runner home) ...
3-2 count on the batter (nobody on base) when time expires. Now ”drop dead” or “finish the batter” matters ... I tell nobody to move and I summon the UIC. UIC says “finish the batter”.
Offensive coach says “So it’s a tie unless she hits a walk-off homerun?”
I say yes.
Defensive coach says “Intentional walk, put her on.”
I say “Sorry, its USA sanctioning and you have to throw the pitches.” They should have just thrown the ball over the backstop ... instead ...
Pitcher throws ball four ... and we are off to the races ... Runner rounds first and heads to second. Catcher throws the ball to the shortstop who just stands in between second and third, waiting.
The runner feints, the fielder starts to chase, both retreat ... We spend the next five minutes playing cat and mouse like this, at times literally standing still and just staring at each other. The runner would get back to the base and the fielder would start to throw to the pitcher and the runner would start to advance ...
The crowd is laughing, my partner and I are shrugging ... the Runner manages to get to third and round it ... defense throws the ball to to the catcher ... and here we go again ... until the runner gets greedy and tries to go too far out of her base path in an attempt to get around the catcher making the tag ...
As we are walking off, a parent asks ”When is the last time you saw that, Blue?”
”Never.”
Eh, it won’t matter so we’ll be nice and finish the batter. 3 games Friday night and we were fine,
First game Saturday ... 2-2 tie game (in part on an early obstruction call that took away the third out of the inning and gave the runner home) ...
3-2 count on the batter (nobody on base) when time expires. Now ”drop dead” or “finish the batter” matters ... I tell nobody to move and I summon the UIC. UIC says “finish the batter”.
Offensive coach says “So it’s a tie unless she hits a walk-off homerun?”
I say yes.
Defensive coach says “Intentional walk, put her on.”
I say “Sorry, its USA sanctioning and you have to throw the pitches.” They should have just thrown the ball over the backstop ... instead ...
Pitcher throws ball four ... and we are off to the races ... Runner rounds first and heads to second. Catcher throws the ball to the shortstop who just stands in between second and third, waiting.
The runner feints, the fielder starts to chase, both retreat ... We spend the next five minutes playing cat and mouse like this, at times literally standing still and just staring at each other. The runner would get back to the base and the fielder would start to throw to the pitcher and the runner would start to advance ...
The crowd is laughing, my partner and I are shrugging ... the Runner manages to get to third and round it ... defense throws the ball to to the catcher ... and here we go again ... until the runner gets greedy and tries to go too far out of her base path in an attempt to get around the catcher making the tag ...
As we are walking off, a parent asks ”When is the last time you saw that, Blue?”
”Never.”
