Oh yah, I get by with a little help from my friends. I get by with a little help from my friends.
Hello fastpitch fans:
A look at the All Conference teams now posted on this website will show you that I really do get by with a little help from my friends. Some of them I have never even met (that I know of) but if they enjoy this game anywhere near as much as I do and they sent me a list of all conference teams since last night, they surely are my fastpitch friends.
One list sender actually told me that she checks the website daily for any news or bulletins that I may have posted or written. She actually told me that she enjoys my stories. That just could be the first person to ever really enjoy my stories.
I'm kidding of course, but I'm also sure there are those out there who really don't enjoy my stories. Oh well, it's just the way it is sometimes. Those people probably don't check out the site very often if ever and nobody is forced to read this stuff.
After thinking about her e-mail today I started thinking about things and thinking that perhaps I should have made more written notes throughout my life within this sport. Alas, if stories are to be written in the upcoming issues of the bulletins they will have to come from the back pages of my memory bank and not from hand-written paper notes.
So, I sat back this afternoon and began reminiscing and sorting out stories that would be interesting and informative or educational at the same time. Perhaps, I thought, I could incorporate a few rules and stories of games and plays where they were either not enforced or enforced incorrectly. That way, perhaps, more people would gain a better understanding of the rules and their intent.
Or perhaps people would enjoy reading about situations that take place or have taken place.
So for tonight's true story I will take you back to a game in 2002 and it involves Rule 2, Section 1, Article 13. In the 2014 NFHS Rules Book it appears on Page 16.
The team I was coaching had to win both sides of a twinbill to secure a conference championship. We were playing a very tough conference foe and had squeaked out a close victory in the first game of the afternoon.
In the bottom of the sixth inning of game two, with one out ,we were leading by one run when the other team loaded the bases. The batter hit a soft, floating flair into short left-center. It was headed for the grass in between our fleet-footed shortstop and our even more fleet-footed centerfielder. The ball, like most "dying quails" just seemed to keep losing velocity and it appeared that they were going to knot the game and probably take the lead.
Our centerfielder just didn't give up and as she had practiced so many times in her three years on the varsity, she made one valiant last effort to catch that dying ball headed for the green grass in front of her.
She went airborne on a headlong, all out dive. The runners certainly figured that it was a looping liner good for a two-run single as they were off and running early.
The centerfielder reached as far as she could and somehow, some way, that ball died in her glove. The runner from second had taken off in an attempt to score the go-ahead run and of course the girl at third had taken off as well, making it easily to home.
After making an amazing catch, our centerfielder scrambled to her feet and seeing that the runner at second had headed for third and was now slamming on the brakes in an attempt to get back to second, trotted toward second and made an underhand toss to our second sacker for the third out.
Our players were amazed that Laura had made the catch and that we had gotten out of the inning with only one run being scored. They figured the game was knotted up.
Hold your horses.
About the time that our second sacker caught that little underhand toss for the third out, I started shouting at her (the second sacker) to run over to third and touch the base because I knew that the runner there had not tagged.
When our second sacker arrived at third base and touched the brick there, the umpires looked at me and signaled that she was safe at home and that the appeal was not allowed because she scored before the ball got to second base for the third out.
The other team's coach was adamant that his kid's run should count. So were the umpires.
I was adamant in just the opposite way and started telling them that the rules book provides a rule just for this situation. Both umpires were excellent umpires who had officiated many, many softball games. They were and still are respected officials. However, neither of them had ever encountered the situation that was now presented to them. To compound matters, neither of them had their rules book with them.
I always have my copy of the current rules book with me. There have been occasions where umpires actually refused to look at the rules book after a given play but in this case, knowing that I read that rule book constantly, they agreed to let me show them the rule.
They read it. The other coach read it.
We won the game by one run as neither team scored in the seventh and we went on to win the conference title that season.
Rule 2, Section 1, Article 13 covers appeal plays and states:
Fourth-out Appeal. An appeal may be made after the third out as long as it is made properly. (i.e. one out with runners on first and third. The batter hits a fly ball that is caught. Each runner leaves her base before the caught fly is touched. An appeal is made at first base for the third out. The defensive team then makes an appeal at third base before the infielders leave the field. The runner on third would then be declared out also, and the run would not count."
So there is tonight's situation and rule that covers it. Remember it, log it into your memory bank whether you be a coach, player, umpire or fan. One never knows when they can become an important part of a game even as a fan. This would be just one example where a fan or game observer could be instrumental in determining the outcome of a game.
Know the Rules and study them constantly. If you are a coach, know them better than the umpires do and have the rules book with you. We learned earlier in June in this state, that even umpires who are viewed as ones who know the book inside and out can forget the rules that seldom get used. If you are an umpire you ought to know them as well as or better than the coaches who know them well. If you are a fan, know them as well or better than the coaches and the umpires for your favorite team may encounter a deal where you could help determine the outcome by knowing them. There's nothing wrong with people behind the fences knowing the rules and helping make sure the game gets played by all of them.
That's it for tonight.
It's always a fastpitch day!
Keep it Rising!
Bob
