Fixed, but not really

[umpire_scott]

Had a bad situation occur during the semi-final of a 16U tournament today.  We are running 3-man and I'm U2.  R1 so I'm in "A", and there is 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter.  There is a swinging strike 3 and D3K.  BR breaks for first and R1 breaks for second.  Catcher comes out and airmails first base, throwing the ball all the way into the RF corner.  Both runners are off and running.  As R1 scores and BR comes into third safely I realize the PU is loudly exclaiming "run scores, batter is out as first base was occupied".  The BR now leaves third base and starts to walk to his dugout on the 1BL.  I quickly correct PU and tell him that there are 2 outs so the ball was live and the runner advancement is allowed.  He realizes that he screwed up.  In the meantime the defensive team starts to go and tag the BR.  I thought my partner used good judgement at this point and loudly called time, and sent the BR back to third base.  He then stated that he had 1 out not 2.  So we got together and checked both scorebooks and determided that there were indeed 2 outs.  So PU says that the play stands, R1 scores, BR is at third.  The DC explodes yelling at the PU that his team reacted to the PU saying BR is out and stopped playing (I do not believe this to be the case, nor do I think it had anything to do with the runners advancing as they did because of how far into RF the ball went).  After almost having to eject the DC my partner changed his mind and said that he was putting R1 and second, and BR at first.  DC applauds stating that is the right thing to do.  The opposing coaches have no issue with that decision either so we move on.

 

By the time the RF retrieved the ball R1 was already almost to third base and BR was about to round second.  In my opinion had my partner not said a word, R1 would have scored and BR would have been safe at third base.

 

How would you have handled this?

[treydawgmt]

First off, I would have not changed my mind more than once.  When I noticed there was an issue, I would have gotten all 3 umpires together.  I would have talked about it briefly.  Gone something like this I imagine:

 

"We had 2 outs, right, so this should have been live and BR allowed to attempt an advance.  I think R1 would have scored, BR would have been at 3rd, do you all agree?"  My partners should be a yes/no.  IF a no, quickly decided where they think.  If no agreement, UIC and/or HPU would have to ultimately decided.  Go tell both coaches.  Allow a short amount of complaining/arguing from the "losing" coach in this situation, and play on.

 

Changing and then changing again is never a good idea.

[blue23ll]

The first thing I would be doing is verifying the number of outs with the crew prior to each batter. If the PU flashes 1 out, and everyone else has 2, then you can all get on the same page. In this situation, I would be inclined NOT to kill the play and let it continue on, when its over then get the crew together to figure out the proper number of outs. If there was an error, it's easier to put runners back than it is to try to place players where we think they should be after the fact.

[GreyhoundAggie]

This is definitely where not signalling each other bit you in the buttocks.

 

Definitely should have indicated there were two outs and the timing play was on before the batter.

 

I agree with the others. Stick with your first call. A manager talked him into changing the call.

 

If he gets tossed because the PU screwed up, so be it. But you then penalize the offensive team when you change your mind on this one.