umpire awards ball to punish catcher

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Sep 15, 2016
40
8
had a all-star game this weekend were the plate umpire awarded a ball to the batter because my catcher didn't catch a ball that the umpire admitted was a strike. but because it hit him he awarded a ball to the batter. I respectfully called time and asked him about it. he again admitted that it was a strike but because the 12 yr old catcher didn't catch it, he was calling it a ball. I told him he cant do that and he proceeded to get heated with me and told me to go back to my dugout.
no mind you, I have all the respect in the world for umpires as I am my rec leagues UIC. I never raised my voice to him and I made sure I approached him and asked my questions respectfully. other than contact the tournament director(which we did), what else could I have done?
p.s. the rest of the game was not fun as he was obviously mad at me and it showed in his calls and strike zone..
 
Oct 13, 2017
63
8
A local tourney ump told my catcher, you catch the pitches and the zone gets bigger, i get hit with a pitch and it gets tighter.
 
Sep 15, 2016
40
8
wasn't arguing whether or not it was a ball or strike. he admitted it was a strike but awarded a ball because it hit him. this is 12u rec all-stars...
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
What the heck is Rec All Stars? And it was Rec Ball, why even argue with an umpire in Rec Ball?

All-Stars is the best players from the rec league in each age division. They play All-Star teams from other rec leagues after the conclusion of the regular rec season. Under USA softball, there are local, district, state, and national tournaments (may be true in other alphabets, too). Being that it's All-Stars, we can assume it was probably a tournament. In my area, teams are playing their District Championship tournaments, trying to qualify for States.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
What the heck is Rec All Stars? And it was Rec Ball, why even argue with an umpire in Rec Ball?
In some areas depending on what's available Rec All Stars is pretty decent level, we took our All Stars to a couple travel ball touneys to warm up and finished top half in A/B tourneys pretty much held our own.
 
Feb 26, 2018
328
28
Oh, I didn't know it was THAT big of a thing. Our rec league just has their own all star game against themselves and that's the end of the season lol
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Back to the question at hand ...

As was mentioned, arguing balls and strikes is a fool’s errand. Nonetheless ...

This is a hotly debated topic amongst umpires ... or I just get hot debating it because it drives me up a proverbial wall.

There is a school of thought that is actually taught in clinics, camps, and umpire schools that the catcher should “handle” the pitch in order to get a strike call. That school teaches that you, the umpire, look bad if you call a strike that bounces, eludes the cacher, etc.

Personally, I do NOT agree with this at all. A strike is clearly defined ... it may not always be clearly seen, but it is clearly defined ... and the catcher’s actions have NOTHING to do with that. Whether those actions are mishandling, missing, or even trying to sell a pitch by moving the glove after the catch ... NONE of that should make any difference.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,475
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top