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| Dennis (Hosanna)
June 12, 2009
11:47:02 AM
Entry #: 3185433
| Most teams don't call "Time" after plays are over, and most of the time, this poses no problem. But sometimes it does. . .especially when people confuse fastball rules with slo-pitch.
In fastball, the ball is never "dead" simply because the play is over. Instead, once the pitcher has the ball in the 8' circle, something called the "look-back rule" (LBR) is in effect. The LBR basically requires that all runners have a moment in which they must decide to either immediately advance or retreat if they are off base, and if they violate this, they are out.
In slo-pitch, however, the ball is "dead" after the play is complete. There is no 8' circle, and it doesn't matter whether the pitcher has the ball.
To paraphrase from memory, the ball is "dead" once the defense holds the ball in the infield and in the judgement of the umpire the play has concluded.
The way I typically apply this is that once the defense has the ball in the infield, I give the fielders and any runners a moment to decide whether or not to continue the play. If neither side decides to do that, I call "time". That may seem simply, but the gray area is in how much time should one give. The answer. . .it depends.
If a runner is on or close to their base, and the defense (with the ball in the infield) makes no attempt to throw to a base, a second or two will do. If the fielder makes a motion to throw to the pitcher with no runners advancing, then that is a clear indication that the play is over.
If, however, a runner is signficantly off base, then a longer moment is required. As an umpire, I would want to see that the runner is not actually trying to advance (i.e. is probably trying to draw a throw) and that the fielder is aware of the runner but electing not to throw. A few seconds and body language should be enough to tell me whether the play is over.
I'm hoping this difference between fastball and slo-pitch is easy to grasp. But sometimes things happen. For example:
We had a play with multiple runners on base. The batter hit a bases-clearing triple to the outfield. The ball was thrown to home in an attempt on the runner that started at 1B. The throw drew the catcher off the plate, so the runner was safe. Seeing the catcher with the ball, the batter stopped at 3B. The catcher then threw to the pitcher, who missed the ball. As the ball rolled to F4, the runner ran home.
The question, then, is should the run be allowed? In my opinion, the play was over (dead ball) as soon as the catcher motioned to throw back to the pitcher. Note that the runner was at or very near 3B and thus was not attempting to advance. The catcher likewise was not attempting to play on the runner (throwing to the pitcher makes this obvious). Therefore, the requirements for ending the play were met, and "time" should be called.
As it happened, the runner was game and went back to 3B (and was scored by the next batter). But the situation could be avoided through "preventive" umpiring by calling "time" on this play.
Even in our tournament with carded umpires, I've seen this missed. I recall one play where I was F3 with a runner at 2B. The next batter hit a ground ball to F5 whose throw to me was late. The runner from 2B advanced to 3B and rounded by a good 15 feet in an attempt to get me to throw there (thus giving the runner at 1B a chance to advance). I held the ball at 1B and watched the runner at 3B as I waited for the "time" call. And waited. And waited some more. Finally I asked the umpire whether he was going to call "time", and he answered that the play wasn't over yet. I responded by saying, "Well, then we're at an impasse."
This situation was resolved when the runner at 3B finally decided to run home, and we got him out there. But in my judgement, the play should have been killed by the umpire before that because nothing was happening for some time. The runners weren't advancing (though one was off base). And we were electing not to play on the one that was off base. "Time", dead ball, let's get the next batter up.
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