- Oct 1, 2011
- 36
- 0
Semifinals of our tournament last weekend. I had a runner on 2, she's got wheels. I have my batter bunt, she lays it down well. It falls dead in front of the plate and spins. I watched 3rd field the ball, pull up, and throw to 1st so I focused on wheels who had already rounded 3rd and I tell her to go home. As I'm watching her cross the plate and telling her she is up I hear the ball hit the fence. I turn to 1st and my batter had ran through the bag hard then turned to go to 2 because I have coached them to turn their head to the right and look at the fence as they are closing in on 1st and she saw that there was a bad throw. It's quicker if they see it themselves than if they stop running and wait for the 1st base coach to tell them to go.
I don't remember seeing a fielder at 1st but it all happens so fast there very well could have been someone there. I watch her run to 2 and tell her she's up and nice bunt. Home plate umpire calls time and talks with base ump. I can't tell what the problem is but they are in disagreement about something. After a lengthy chat the umpire calls my batter out for obstruction because she ran through the white bag and not the orange one. We were winning pretty big and we started the bottom of the inning with about 4 minutes left to play so I thought to myself that I should just let it go. I got back to my spot at 3rd and I thought about it. My player needs to know what she did wrong. Hell, I need to know what she did wrong. I called time and asked blue if there was even a fielder there to obstruct, he said there was. Of course from out of the dugout that is right beside me I hear someone say "he's just trying to run out the clock on us..." I turned and shot the guy a look. Why do people say things like that? The fact of the matter is we gave up 3 or 4 hits over the 2 games that we had with them last weekend and we aren't even that good of a team. We dominated every aspect of both games and they acted like I was cheating for asking a question. People....
My assistant was coaching 1st, after the game he said there was no fielder there, he said the closest defensive player was the right fielder who had moved in to back up 1. My batter said that there was a fielder there, but she was standing on the orange bag. Again, everyone saw the same thing happen, they saw it how they saw it and to them that's the way it is. I honestly have no idea what really happened.
I guess I have 2 questions:
1. If there is no one there to make a play at 1st, and therefore no one to obstruct, can obstruction be called on my batter if she doesn't use the orange bag?
2. If there is a fielder there and she is set up on the orange bag can my batter use the white one or does she have to lower her shoulder and run through the defensive player risking an injury to herself and more than likely seriously injuring the girl trying to make the play on her?
Like anything else the 6 or so people I have asked gave me about 18 different answers. The umpires who worked the game didn't even agree on it. Can anyone here straighten me out on this?
I don't remember seeing a fielder at 1st but it all happens so fast there very well could have been someone there. I watch her run to 2 and tell her she's up and nice bunt. Home plate umpire calls time and talks with base ump. I can't tell what the problem is but they are in disagreement about something. After a lengthy chat the umpire calls my batter out for obstruction because she ran through the white bag and not the orange one. We were winning pretty big and we started the bottom of the inning with about 4 minutes left to play so I thought to myself that I should just let it go. I got back to my spot at 3rd and I thought about it. My player needs to know what she did wrong. Hell, I need to know what she did wrong. I called time and asked blue if there was even a fielder there to obstruct, he said there was. Of course from out of the dugout that is right beside me I hear someone say "he's just trying to run out the clock on us..." I turned and shot the guy a look. Why do people say things like that? The fact of the matter is we gave up 3 or 4 hits over the 2 games that we had with them last weekend and we aren't even that good of a team. We dominated every aspect of both games and they acted like I was cheating for asking a question. People....
My assistant was coaching 1st, after the game he said there was no fielder there, he said the closest defensive player was the right fielder who had moved in to back up 1. My batter said that there was a fielder there, but she was standing on the orange bag. Again, everyone saw the same thing happen, they saw it how they saw it and to them that's the way it is. I honestly have no idea what really happened.
I guess I have 2 questions:
1. If there is no one there to make a play at 1st, and therefore no one to obstruct, can obstruction be called on my batter if she doesn't use the orange bag?
2. If there is a fielder there and she is set up on the orange bag can my batter use the white one or does she have to lower her shoulder and run through the defensive player risking an injury to herself and more than likely seriously injuring the girl trying to make the play on her?
Like anything else the 6 or so people I have asked gave me about 18 different answers. The umpires who worked the game didn't even agree on it. Can anyone here straighten me out on this?