Tag up

[Umpire in Chief]

Had a situation Sunday which caused a little grief for my partner & I. Situation 1 out R3 I'm in the C position. Batter hits a trouble ball down the right field line. F9 is running in and makes a diving catch for an out in foul territory. R3 tags up.

Here's the problem I see R3 standing on the bag as the fielder is coming in. The instant I see the fielder make contact I snap my head over to 3rd and look at the runner. He's now +/- 5' from the bag. While looking at the runner I hear my partner say "That's a catch!" There was no play made at the plate.

I start my trot for the A position and the defense appeals.

I call the runner out for leaving early. I now have a very upset HC who was standing in the 3rd base box. He saw me looking at the fielder and have to snap my head back towards 3rd to judge, and he told me so.

Obviously I had no way to line up the catch and the tag. But in the millisecond it took me to look at the fielder when he made contact, to the runner I judged not even an olympic class sprinter would have made it 5ish feet (about 1-2 strides) in that tiny fraction of a second.

I must also admit, that while heading back to A I'm thinking, 'I think he may have left early' to myself. When the defense appeals that helped confirm my initial thought. Of course, I'd never say that to a coach.

I've always known that this situation was one of the hardest for the plate guy (when there's a play at the plate) but I never realized this can be a tough one for the base guy too.

Could I have kicked it? Yeah, could have. But I'm pretty confident.

Is ther a better mechanic or positioning I could have used to change my pretty confident to an absolutely positive?

[Bigdog]

Hey all,

PU should take all tag ups at 3rd base. Plus base coach won't be watching what PU does, just what BU does.

Bigdog:cool: