Team Wins State Championship on Walk-Off Obstruction Call; Oregon City Throws No-Hitter But Loses

[rozhak]

 

[The Man In Blue]

Was just coming to post this! Good to see softball getting some CCS love lately!

Strange observations from a strange umpire ...

• Only a 3-man crew on a state championship game?
• They are wearing no state association logos?
• Great rotation ... notice the first base umpire makes the out call at home!

PS -- absolutely the correct call. The only thing I would add is that U1 should have killed the play, not called the out. I am assuming he did not know about the obstruction call though. The PU who made the call was turned to where U1 couldn't see the arm. I would advise PU to make that call bigger and louder, and turn to the plate so U1 has a better chance of knowing it.

 

[ORBlue]

Was just coming to post this! Good to see softball getting some CCS love lately!

Strange observations from a strange umpire ...

• Only a 3-man crew on a state championship game?
• They are wearing no state association logos?
• Great rotation ... notice the first base umpire makes the out call at home!

PS -- absolutely the correct call. The only thing I would add is that U1 should have killed the play, not called the out. I am assuming he did not know about the obstruction call though. The PU who made the call was turned to where U1 couldn't see the arm. I would advise PU to make that call bigger and louder, and turn to the plate so U1 has a better chance of knowing it.

Oregon has only used the 3-person crew for many, many years for HS state playoff games....I have done multiple state finals and that is what is done. I have never seen a 4-person crew in any Oregon HS softball game at any playoff level.

I live in Oregon City and heard all about this one. I'm not sure which Umpire Associations were assigned to this specific game, but all finals have multiple Association representatives on the final game crew. As long as everyone follows the approved umpire procedures...we are good. I have only had one issue from a crew member that failed to convert to a 2-person crew when I went out on a deep fly ball. But, we got through that one with the right call.

The State Patch is on the left chest location. It is on the umpires.

 

[eddieq]

I had seen that the other day in one of the FB groups and saw that close call posted it. Agreed, correct call and correct award, IMO. Nice work by the crew. And for sure, great rotation. Everyone was in the correct spot when they needed to be there.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Thank you @ORBlue ... I went back and did catch the logo. I just didn't see it before. I'm used to looking on the hat and left sleeve.

And now that I think about it, Illinois only uses 3-person crews also. (I won't chase post-season assignments, so I didn't think about it.)

 

[Lemond]

TMIB, I know to look for the DDB signal, but not sure I have ever heard a verbal call at the time of the obstruction, only after the ball was dead. What is the verbal call, simply “obstruction”? Is it similar for interference? Again, I’ve seen the signal, but never heard a verbal there at the time of the int, either.

 

[The Man In Blue]

There should be a verbal call of "Obstruction!" that goes with it. I will admit that I was very guilty for a long time of NOT giving the verbal call with it. Unfortunately, having started with calling lots of youth ball, I found that yelling anything tended to make the players think the play was over or would alter the play that was happening. I developed a bad habit.

Having done a lot more baseball the last few years, I have gotten much better about verbalizing "Obstruction!" (Mainly because baseball doesn't have a prescribed signal, it's just a point and call.)

I would say it isn't uncommon to not hear the verbal for one of three reasons:

• There wasn't a verbal call
• The umpire is not loud enough
• People just don't listen for it anyway

Interference is an immediate dead ball, so you typically will get that call big and loud to kill the play. The signal is just hands up like a time out.

 

[Gtrips07]

There should be a verbal call of "Obstruction!" that goes with it. I will admit that I was very guilty for a long time of NOT giving the verbal call with it. Unfortunately, having started with calling lots of youth ball, I found that yelling anything tended to make the players think the play was over or would alter the play that was happening. I developed a bad habit.

Having done a lot more baseball the last few years, I have gotten much better about verbalizing "Obstruction!" (Mainly because baseball doesn't have a prescribed signal, it's just a point and call.)

I would say it isn't uncommon to not hear the verbal for one of three reasons:

• There wasn't a verbal call
• The umpire is not loud enough
• People just don't listen for it anyway

Interference is an immediate dead ball, so you typically will get that call big and loud to kill the play. The signal is just hands up like a time out.

I like that in baseball, you point to the obstruction and say, "That's obstruction!"

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[The Man In Blue]

I like that in baseball, you point to the obstruction and say, "That's obstruction!"

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

I prefer the signal because it stands out more. I will say one thing baseball has wrong is the automatic one base award. A runner obstructed diving back into a base is awarded a base they weren't headed to.

 

[Lemond]

Thanks, TMIB. That makes sense. When they do call it, much like Infield Fly verbals, the crowd is typically too loud to hear the base coaches, let alone the umpires.