allboutsoftball wrote:MTR my name doesn't say I know everything about softball.I love to watch the game and be involved in it no matter what age group it is and maybe someday I may take the time to umpire.It is a tough job but we have alot of crews that make alot of bad calls or bad interpretations of rules.The bad part is on most of these the other umpire or UIC always tells us later when are asking questions that he made a mistake and they talked about it or something along those lines.There were board members from the park we were playing at and alot of coaches there that saw this play and all of them saw interference.The fact that he had no interest in talking it over and getting the call right was the bigger problem.
I'm not saying the call was right or wrong. Maybe it was INT, I don't know, didn't see the play and this isn't a call an umpire "guesses". And, yes, maybe they could have gotten together, but some umpires are not going to do that without a specific portion of the play being questioned (i.e. pulled foot on force out, etc.) There is always the question of what is this umpire going to discuss? INT is a immediate dead ball, so if the umpire didn't call it at the time of the play, what is going to change his mind? If the other umpires definitely saw INT and did not call it, what are they going to say? INT is not a specifically assigned call to any one umpire, if you see it, you call it. What are they going to say? If they say, "yeah, it was INT" then why shouldn't the other coach be screaming about that umpire not making the call?
Don't know what was said to the umpire on the field, but if it was an interpretation issue, then a protest was in order.
I have never heard anyone coach a player to stop and not make contact when they are interfered with or obstructed.I don't see how an umpire is going to eject a player for trying to complete the play or get to to the base that they originally set out to do before someone got in their way.
If a player can avoid contact, but does not and in the umpire's judgment intentionally contacted the other player, they CAN ignore the obvious call and, if they deem the act unsportsmanlike, can eject the player. Been there, done that.
I believe it was in one of the NCAA regionals last year where there was a ground ball toward F4. Instead of moving up to field the batted ball, she moved sideways into the advancing runner who was attempting to go around the fielder. The umpire refused to call the INT even with the contact. Why? Because once the fielder changed her initiative from fielding the ball to making contact with the runner, the runner wasn't interfering. Same as a runner who intentionally moves to make contact with a fielder. When that happens, the runner is not attempting to advance to the base, so she is not being OBS.
BTW, do you want to know who/what turns some umpires weak in enforcement of some rules? Know those folks, coaches and fans alike, that whine, "let the kids play" when a tough call is made or rule enforced? There you go. Some people (umpires) are GAGAs and take it upon themselves to bend the prescribed rules on their own to satisfy those around them. That's nice, right up until the time the GAGA is satisfying the other team because they scream louder or act friendlier at other times. People tend to forget that there are two teams on the field and both have paid to play under a certain set of rules on a level playing field. When the GAGAs are in charge, that field isn't always as level as it should be.
