Who calls time out on an obvious injury?

[grmerrill]

Watching a 14u tournament final game. The sun is setting behind home plate. Bases loaded. The batter hits an incredible popup, the ball is coming down nearly vertical, maybe 20 feet from the 200 foot fence. The right fielder seems to angle slightly to the side to keep the sun out of her eyes.

My wife and I aren't sure exactly how things unfolded, but I commented to my wife when it happened that I saw the ball bounce off of her head and rebound what must have been 10+ feet in the air. My wife says out loud that she heard the impact. The runners advance one base and stop even though it took a time for the center fielder to grab the ball and throw it in. My wife saw more than one ump throw their hands in the air and call time. The coaches head out from the third base dugout to check on her.

The outfielder dropped to her knee but quickly stood and was walking it off before the coaches got there and took her off the field.

Too much happened too quickly for me to figure out if it was the offensive coach that showed some class and held up his runners and then the umps called time or if the umps called time so the coach held up his runners.

So question for the powers that be. How do you, by the rules, handle an obvious injury?

If it matters, the team at bat was down by 4 when it happened.

 

[SoAZDad]

Live ball, offense runs like hell until Blue shouts otherwise. At end of play, everybody respects potentially injured player. The kids on the field may not have known details until after play was over.

 

[riseball]

Strictly speaking an injury should not affect play. As SoAZDad said until blue calls time it is run rabbit run. The reality is that I have often especially in HS or TB I have seen an umpire immediately stop play if an injury appears serious.

 

[Comp]

As stated, if it appears to be a serious injury time should be called immediately, otherwise it is play on. If time is called because of an injury, the umpires should place all runners where they judge they would have reached if play had continued.

 

[coach james]

When my dd got hit in her knee cap while pitching, it was obviously a serious injury. We all thought her knee cap had to be shattered, the sound of the impact was soooo loud! After hitting her, the ball bounced back to the backstop and rolled to a stop on the 1st base side dugout. The batter ran all the way around the corner to 3rd because the infield all crashed in on dd to check on her despite the fact it was still a live ball. The opposing coach could have easily sent the runnner home but didnt. As bad as it sounds, it's a live play until blue calls time.
As we all know all too well in fastpitch, it's a live ball until the pitcher has control of the ball in the circle. But what happens when it's the pitcher who's injured and is in no position to take the ball? We then are forced to rely on blue to make a judgment call...

 

[quincy]

If a player goes down and does not get back up I stop all the runners. A couple years ago DD went down with blood coming out her nose, like you I am not sure who stopped the play but it was stopped as soon as they saw the blood.

 

[JAD]

When my team is on defense we play until the umpire calls time. You cannot make assumptions and most offenses will be running hard. If my OF are playing correctly there should be a backup close by. Umpires will usually let them play, and the only exception I have seen was a pitcher taking a line drive off the forehead. Umpire immediately called time everyone took a knee.

 

[MTR]

When my dd got hit in her knee cap while pitching, it was obviously a serious injury. We all thought her knee cap had to be shattered, the sound of the impact was soooo loud! After hitting her, the ball bounced back to the backstop and rolled to a stop on the 1st base side dugout. The batter ran all the way around the corner to 3rd because the infield all crashed in on dd to check on her despite the fact it was still a live ball. The opposing coach could have easily sent the runnner home but didnt. As bad as it sounds, it's a live play until blue calls time.
As we all know all too well in fastpitch, it's a live ball until the pitcher has control of the ball in the circle. But what happens when it's the pitcher who's injured and is in no position to take the ball? We then are forced to rely on blue to make a judgment call...

The "serious" injury is the part I don't care for about this rule. The rule was meant to protect a player injured in a manner where immediate attention may be a life saver. Many umpires will stop play of there is blood visible or a head injury.

The part I don't like is that some believe any time something happens the umpire should immediately stop play. As we all know, a shriek from a player usually gets everyone's attention especially the parent. However, many players shriek at just about anything from a twisted ankle to a cracked fingernail. I have observed a player cry out in pain and the umpire stop play only to have the player pop up and go to the next base. See, part of the problem is that this rule can only aid the offense. The defense loses the ability to retire runners as the rule only addresses placing runners, not declaring outs even if it was imminent. Because of that, I've always directed the umpires to not immediately react to a shriek or cry, but to get eyes on that player and if necessary, kill the play. And in spite of what many think, any umpire can stop the play, doesn't need to be the PU

 

[TMoney]

Play continues until the umpire calls time out. It's not disrespectful, it's just the game. The umpires will determine where the runners belong once the injured player has been attended to.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Two years ago at PONY Nationals, in an elimination game, one of my players hit a line shot back at the pitcher that hit her square in the chest. I thought she was going to be severely injured so I stopped my base runners immediately. Luckily she was wearing an EvoShield and was not hurt. After the game, the pitcher's parents came up to me to thank me for stopping the play and not continuing to run. I thought about it afterwards, and thought that there surely can't be coaches out there that would have continued to run until the ball was under control or Blue called time.