Lost Ball on Pop Up - Screwed the Pooch

[MPLSMatt]

Working 1 man - 14U AAA (it's standard here - I know, that's crazy) - FED.   Close games, very good baseball.   R3, 1 out.   Batter swings - I think the ball went up but I lose it for a second (actually thought it might be fouled back).  F1 settles under it and catches a soft fly.   Before I can signal catch, F1 quickly turns and throws to 1st to throw out the runner who's still busting up the line - I signal out (probably unclear as to whether for a catch or the BR being put out at 1st).  Runner from 3b (who never tagged), breaks for home on the pitchers throw 1b and beats F3s relay home as the throw is off line.  I'm thinking "crap, did that get chopped to the pitcher and I missed the bounce?"  Suddenly the defensive dugout (all acting sort of puzzled) starts saying "he caught that, right" and "I thought it was a catch" - not at me, but to each other.  Honestly, I'm not 100% sure what happened but my initial thought was a catch.   Anyway, pitcher steps off and throws to 3b for an appeal (they never verbally appealed).  I bang R3 and get ready to take my licks.  Fans, and maybe one AC (I didn't look over to find out) started in about how I was letting the other team call the game for me and if it was a catch, why did I wait until they told me so, etc...  

OHC comes up to me (we are now between innings) and says "you got the call right, but it killed us that you didn't signal."   I said, "I'll own that one, coach - I should've sold that it was a catch - but it all happened very quickly, and I had to make sure of each play before signalling anything."  He was actually very good about it but still wasn't happy with the non-call.    The truth is, I honestly wasn't sure what the call was and was trying to use the old "let the players tell you what happened" and got burned by it.  

The way I see it I had the following options (other than not losing the ball - which isn't helpful):

1) Sell the out call as soon as the pitcher grabs the ball.  I think that this is a bad option because if it did chop, and everyone in the park knows it AND the pitcher is throwing to first, I've screwed the offensive team and look like a fool. 

2) React exactly as I did.  Let it play out with no emphatic signal and then grant the appeal.  

3) Play the ball as a chopper (since both teams did).  Dig my heals in and say "coach, I saw it chop and clearly your team did too otherwise why is throwing to 1st?"   

4) I don't believe that there is a legal way to put F3 back because of an umpire error, is there?  Even in FED. 

Also, if anyone has tips for not losing the ball right off the bat, I'd love to hear them.  

Thanks!

[scrounge]

Do your best, don't guess/make stuff up, and keep on chugging. I think you did fine given the circumstances.

If they don't like it, they can hire a 2nd umpire and/or shut the f#$% up.

[smckin]

Ive always been told if I lost the ball off the bat I was never "really" tracking it from the Pitchers hand. I had an issue with losing the ball off the bat, I really started paying attention to tracking the ball completely and it really seems to have helped.  I think you handled it well...

[ElkOil]

In one-man (shoot, in ANY crew) you're limited to the best you can do.  I got burned once on a rapid-fire play on a two-man crew because I didn't signal a catch right away, but these things happen.  In your case, you didn't screw anything up and you didn't get burned because you got the call right.  Perhaps your execution could be more refined or more emphatic, but you certainly did "screw the pooch."  Even if you got the call wrong, you only have one angle to refer to on all calls -- your own.  You can only call what you can see, so if you didn't see it, saying so and telling the coach you did the best with what you had at the time is the only thing anyone can ask of you.

There is virtue to letting the players tell you what happened.  Last weekend, I'm BU in B. R1.  On a low liner to F6, I turn and saw what I still swear was a caught ball, but just as I raise my hand to bang the out, I hear their coach yell, "Turn two!"  Without hesitation, F6 throws to 2B.  I let it all play out and as it happened, BR beat the throw to 1B.  I called him safe.  Nobody said a thing.  I figured I got it right despite my best efforts.

Edited June 24, 2015 by ElkOil

[JaxRolo]

Everyone loses the ball from time to time. Nothing you can do but watch players reactions.

F1 didn't help situation by throwing to F3 for no reason.

Edited June 24, 2015 by JaxRolo
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[noumpere]

Everyone odes the ball from time to time.

​That must be why they call it "poetic justice" when the bad call is nullified by a later play.

[MPLSMatt]

Thanks guys.  It's just a lonely feeling when you are standing there trying to piece together what the hell just happened, knowing that you are going to have to do some serious explaining to get out of it one way or the other. 

 

 

[ElkOil]

Thanks guys.  It's just a lonely feeling when you are standing there trying to piece together what the hell just happened, knowing that you are going to have to do some serious explaining to get out of it one way or the other. 

 

 

​You ain't kidding...

We all know your pain, brother.

[lawump]

At umpire school you are told not to signal or say anything on an obvious catch (ball caught above the waist with no juggling, etc.).  Although you lost the ball, clearly the offensive team knew that this was a routine catch (as you stated in the OP, "F1 settles under it and catches a soft fly" and the OTHC admitted it was a catch.)

There was no need for you to signal a catch on this play (even if you had not lost the ball off the bat and were immediately 100% certain that it was a fly you still would not signal "catch").  The offense's R3 screwed the pooch on this one in getting faked out by F1, then they tried to blame it on you not signaling a catch.  Please.  Do they want you to say, "Foul," and put your hands up on foul balls hit sharply back to the backstop, too?  Geez.

Worry more about what YOU did (or didn't do) to see the ball off the bat, but do not worry anymore about this team or how you not seeing it off the bat affected them.  You not signaling had no bearing on this play at all.  They are 100% responsible for their runner being called out on appeal. 

[RingEmUp]

 

If they don't like it, they can hire a 2nd umpire and/or shut the f#$% up.

I actually said something like this to a coach minus the profanity.

 

Do I watch the catch, the lead runner tag up or the trail runner tag up, especially if its R3,R1 and fly ball to F8?

 

So, good job handling the situation IMO.​

[KenBAZ]

Last week as HPU I had a ball fouled back. F2 reached his hand back for a replacement ball and I started to drop one in when F1 yelled. The ball was still in front of the screen. F2 ran over got underneath it and then dropped it. We just laughed about it because we'd both read it as a foul back out of play and didn't even turn to see it. Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

[Majordave]

One-man. They get what they pay for. Don't sweat it. Not fair to you unless you're being paid a double game fee. I doubt that is the case. 

[Rich Ives]

Last week as HPU I had a ball fouled back. F2 reached his hand back for a replacement ball and I started to drop one in when F1 yelled. The ball was still in front of the screen. F2 ran over got underneath it and then dropped it. We just laughed about it because we'd both read it as a foul back out of play and didn't even turn to see it. Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

​Popups behind the plate curve back toward the plate. F2 runs laps for assuming. Don't know about you.

[KenBAZ]

Well, I ended up apologizing to F2 and explaining that I read him if I lose a ball. He thought it was his fault for assuming the ball was out of play and that he had time to adjust and should have held it. Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

[umpstu]

Ive always been told if I lost the ball off the bat I was never "really" tracking it from the Pitchers hand. I had an issue with losing the ball off the bat, I really started paying attention to tracking the ball completely and it really seems to have helped.  I think you handled it well...

​I track the ball very well and sometimes lose the ball off the bat.  And if I do lose it I guarantee the catcher lost it as well.  It happens.

[smckin]

umpstu... Youre right