Play ball!

So last night I played softball for my church's softball team. It's not a real serious endeavor which works out great for me since I'm not a very serious athletic participant. I wanted to relay a couple funny situations that happened last night, well, two really. They both relate to the use of volunteer umpires to officiate these games.

The first one happened when one of the female players on the other team (it's a co-ed league) hit a slow tapper to short. The shortstop threw the ball to first and the first baseman missed the ball and it rolled back into the fence, but stayed in play. At this point the home umpire informed the girl that she could have 2nd base because it was a past ball for the first baseman. Our team exploded about how she could have 2nd if the ball had gone out of play but not just because the 1st baseman didn't catch the ball. If she wanted 2nd she had to run for it, etc. Anyway, the 2nd umpire overruled the home plate umpire and sent her back to 1st. Has anyone ever seen a home plate ump overruled by the 2nd ump? I don't think I have.

The 2nd incident was even more humorous. Some guy on the other team hit a slow dribbler to short and the shortstop took it and fired the ball over to first, but the throw was wide (this is a pattern but these were the only two examples of bad throws from short) and when the ball sailed it hit the runner. Now, I hope I'm remembering my rules correctly, but if a base runner is hit by a ball and they are in the base path there are no repercussions. It's just a dead ball. But if they are not in the base path and they are hit they are out. Of course, I've only seen this happen when someone is behind them throwing the ball past them to the base. However, last night the ball was coming from short to first and hit the runner as he was chugging up the base path. So, what does the ump do? Well, the most logical thing. He awards the runner an extra base for being hit by the ball. Oh yes, the mysterious "Hit by a ball and awarded an extra base rule" came into play. It's not like he messed up the runner/base path rule and somehow misapplied it he just made up his own rule completely. It's like a Calvin and Hobbes moment.

I also thought I should brag a little about a play I made (hey, it's my blog I can brag if I want to). So I'm playing center (yes, I was playing center. That should tell you something about how competitive the league is. I was also playing right because we were short handed) and as is my normal routine when a girl comes up I scoot all the way into the infield, but still on the grass so I'm technically in the outfield. Anyway, this girl hits a rocket (for a girl) and it goes to short but he can't close on it and it pops up from his glove into the air. Well I'm close enough to this guy that I can tell he's chewing some sour apple big league chew (I also know this because I gave him some) so when the ball pops up in the air I'm there to dive for it and catch it. At this point I notice the guy on first just running to second with no regard for the ball being in the air, so I toss it over to first to complete the double play. By the time the runner from first figured out what happened I was already past the first base line going into the dugout. It was pretty darn funny. The umps didn't even know what happened until we told them what happened. I got my first scrapped up leg from the dive so it's good to get that out of the way.

It should be an interesting season of softball.

FGLB