How to address this situation

[WildRoseCoach]

Here is the scenario 1 umpire

R1 at 1st, no outs. BR hits a grounder to SS, who overthrows 1st (no fence just a line for out of play). Umpire awards R1 home, BR 3rd.

I call time and go out to talk to him. He tells me that in his judgement if there was a fence there then R1 would have made it 2nd, so the 2 base award was given from there. I told him that is incorrect, the runners should be on 2nd & 3rd according to the rules. He tells me well if it happens like that for us he will be consistent and make the same call. He refused to call the UIC for this, and kept saying that in his judgement the base awards were correct. Believe it or not I didn't even get loud, once he said "judgement" I asked for the UIC and he said it wasn't necessary. I just turned around and went back to my bucket.

What, as a coach can I do on this?

[NM FP Ump]

Coach,

You got the rule right, two bases from the time of the throw on a ball thrown into dead ball territory. "Dead ball territory" is usually gone over in the pregame conference. I suggest, next time you have the same, or similar, field conditions, you ask the umpires at the pregame conference.

[WildRoseCoach]

Thanks, I understand the rule. The Dead Ball Line was addressed during the conference. My question is how do I handle this situation? The umpire was set in the wrong interpertation of the rule and wouldn't budge. I even talked to him between innings about it very calmly and when he stated that if the same thing happened to us he would be consistent and call it the same way.

At this point in the game we were leading by a significant margin so protesting didn't really matter.

[MTR]

Thanks, I understand the rule. The Dead Ball Line was addressed during the conference. My question is how do I handle this situation? The umpire was set in the wrong interpertation of the rule and wouldn't budge. I even talked to him between innings about it very calmly and when he stated that if the same thing happened to us he would be consistent and call it the same way.

At this point in the game we were leading by a significant margin so protesting didn't really matter.

You protest anyway. If you were not willing to protest what apparently you knew was incorrect, you shouldn't have asked for the UIC. If you protest the game, the UIC would have to be called.

[Cannonball]

What, as a coach can I do on this?

Coach, you coach your team. We had a situation with runners on 1st and 2nd and a ball hit to our 3b playing in for the bunt. She threw the ball to the SS covering 3rd who then threw the ball to 1st. The ump yells, "Safe no tag." It was a force out. I walked out of the dugout and the ump yell for me to get into the dugout. I said to him it was a force out. He stares at me. I ask if we can ask the Plate Umpire. He says if I say another word he will throw me out of the game. I stay in my dugout - that runner scores on a past ball. I say "what a shame." We are in the 3rd base dugout. I never raised my voice during this entire incident. The Umpire comes running from his position to throw me out of the game. I couldn't do my team any good after that. The Plate Umpire found me in the parking lot after the game and so, he and I went to the TD and had the Umpire removed from the tournament. I've coached for several decades and have never been thrown out of any game. I coach 3 sports at the HS level. I guess there is a first for everything. I was very embarassed to get thrown out in front of the girls since we've always stressed sportsmanship. Again, stay in the game and coach you players.

[Sam]

Cannonball,

You should have protested upon hearing the "no tag" explanation. He had the rule wrong. You would have lodged the protest with the HU and gotten his ear at that point in time. My bet is that he would have consulted with his partner, corrected the situation and your record for not being thrown out would still be intact.

[Cannonball]

Sam,

You are right but at that specific time, I knew if I said "we want to protest," I'd been thrown out then. I really didn't see the ejection coming for saying, "What a shame." Heck, I didn't even say it loud. While getting thrown out, I felt better knowing that the plate umpire was equally appalled at what happened. In our area now, that is a standard "joke" every night from area umps since I'm very well known in our community. Sam, as you know, building a reputation with the men in blue can be very beneficial to helping develop your team. I value the guys in our area since most are eager to make suggestions for most players and teams and we have a real sense of community. I'm glad that wasn't destroyed by a guy they brought in from a community 100 miles away.