This game was chippy from the first pitch. The offensive coach started getting on the umpires to call illegal pitch. Even brought out a camera to take pictures of the pitcher while in the 3rd base coachs box. Home plate umpire told him to put away, no warning. The offensive team switched balls to use older dead balls. Umpire never really enforced using the new balls. Illegal substitutions, umpire pointed outI have seen a few people mention that the runner ends up on home plate, but I may be seeing it differently (again, with the benefit of slow motion). The runner does NOT do anything to make sure she ends up on home plate. The impact pushes her there.
I am in some level of agreeance that I don't see the slide in and of itself being an illegal slide by NFHS rule. However, that does NOT automatically mean it is a legal play (just a legal slide).
I think I said earlier (if not, I should amend my statement) that I could see this NOT being called as excessive in real time. A huge part that we are missing is what else has been going on in this game. If this was a one-off occurrence, I can see this NOT being called. If the game had been chippy and little (or not so little) things had been going on constantly, it is a no-brainer.
This is where I have an issue. There was NO intent to reach the base safely. Granted, the NFHS Softball rules do not require this, but it is something an umpire MUST take into account in these cases. The slide may have been within the guidelines of the slide rules, but that does NOT automatically mean it is OK.
Working a day of 9u baseball on turf this past weekend ... runner steals third and slides. He is not used to sliding on turf and his legs go up as his weight goes past the fulcrum of his butt. His lead foot hits F5 on the thigh. Should I have called him out for this? On dirt, he would have more resistance which would have prevented this. There was no intent and it didn't affect the play, so I'm not calling this and we are moving on. Nobody says a word.
Here is one of those statements that gets me in trouble (that does not mean it is wrong): Just because it is legal in one place does not mean it is legal. Just because it is illegal in one place does not mean it is illegal. You have to try to take the play in the entire context. Maybe it is quantum umpiring?
Did a little research, and take this with a grain of salt, Maxpreps has this HS team ranked in the top 25 nationally, so it is likely that most of these girls have been playing high level travel ball for a while. Also, for those interested, Runner's team won the game (CIF Semi-final).
Bad slide? Maybe. "Playing Hard?" Definitely. Intent to injure? No way to tell. The way she grabbed the bat and bolted for the dugout tells me she didn't expect that particular outcome and wanted to be as far as possible from the fallout, I didn't see that as an indicator of intent. We know she was out, but she was running hard at the plate, and without a clear out sign from the ump, had to assume the catcher's foot was off the plate so she had to get there. When catcher records out, does she have right to assume runner ceases to exist, and therefore can put her feet anywhere to make the throw?
When I first watched, I was appalled at the outcome, and the seeming indifference to the catcher's situation. Reading this thread, and rewatching the video, I believe this was a softball play with unfortunate consequences, and a confluence of the actions of all three parties (runner. catcher, umpire).
The thing that impressed me most in that video was how 1B kept her head, made sure that the pitcher got back to the circle with the ball, kept home covered and called time-out, that was impressive leadership.