Missed it / Choked / Froze / Screwed it up

[stl_ump]

This is kind of a confessional here so be nice... please?

OBR - 10u Travel ball - I'm on the plate

Ball hit to F6.  R2 off on contact and runs right in front of F6 as he is going for the ball causing him to stop (there may even have been some contact)  I see it, but for whatever reason just lock up and don't call it (I'm really hoping my partner will but he doesn't see it)

Coaches obviously want INT called and go to my partner who says he didn't see it.  Coach comes to me I make up some lame story about watching R3 come home and BR go to 1st and that I didn't see it either.

Fortunately for us the coaches were pretty good about it and after some initial grumbling they let it go.  (losing 14-0 may have had something to do with it)

Now that I have confessed, I'm wondering if I could have called it after the play was over and my brain got put back in gear?  Or is it call it when it happens or forever hold your whatever.

[LMSANS]

When you got together with your partner, it was the perfect opportunity.  Come out of the discussion, make the correct call and then your lame story is for why did you make the correct call.

[Mizzou2016]

Call it when you see it - don't be anxious to call it though. On interference, if F6 stopped and there was no play happening you can slow down and process that it was actually interference.

If F6 were to make a great throw and still get the BR at first it would look bad, but you could still call it. Make no signal on the play at first, then turn around and point "I have interference on number 5, runner's out, batter stays at first"

You might still get a complaint wanting a DP from the defense though, especially in a 10U league where coaches aren't as knowledgeable.

Edit - thought you were on bases. Don't take the call from your partner if it's right in front of him - get together after the play and make the right call.

Edited July 17, 2015 by StevenCraze

[maven]

I'd be curious to hear what your partner saw: the hindrance happened right in front of him on a batted ball. Was he winding his watch and didn't see anything, or did he see the action and judge that there was no hindrance?

If the former, I'd tell him to watch the fracking ball, then call the INT and deal with coaches. If he thought it was not INT, we'd have to hash it out: the guy who gets the call/no-call gets to explain it to coaches.

Don't beat yourself up over this no-call. Ruling correctly on INT and OBS requires time and experience. We have to train up our brains to recognize illegal patterns of play, and so many different things can happen, it takes time. Until they can upload experience directly into our brains à la The Matrix, we have to do it the old-fashioned way, and practice.

[stl_ump]

Thanks all for the advice.

By the time my partner had turned around the INT was over.

When I saw it my arms, ever so slightly, started to move up to kill the play, but as I said, I "locked up" and just let it go. 

So if my partner doesn't call it and I see it but haven't called it, I can after the fact so to speak, call INT?

Thanks again for your input.

[ElkOil]

Here's some awesome advice I learned from @maven.  If you saw something and didn't call it initially, but want to change your mind, get together with your partner to make it look like you're conferencing about it.  It's the perfect cover, as @LMSANS mentioned.  When you finish your conference, make the correct call. You guys look awesome for getting together and getting it right.  I've done it a couple of time.  Works like a champ.

Oh, don't beat yourself up over kicking it.  We've all done it and it won't be your last one.  It certainly didn't affect the outcome of the game, at least.

[noumpere]

So if my partner doesn't call it and I see it but haven't called it, I can after the fact so to speak, call INT?

Yes, because it becomes an immediate dead ball and thus doesn't change the pattern of play.  (You can always put the runners back; it's a lot harder to figure out how to move them forward.)

[stl_ump]

Here's some awesome advice I learned from @maven.  If you saw something and didn't call it initially, but want to change your mind, get together with your partner to make it look like you're conferencing about it.  It's the perfect cover, as @LMSANS mentioned.  When you finish your conference, make the correct call. You guys look awesome for getting together and getting it right.  I've done it a couple of time.  Works like a champ.

Oh, don't beat yourself up over kicking it.  We've all done it and it won't be your last one.  It certainly didn't affect the outcome of the game, at least.

Nice!

That goes in my mental notebook for the next time ... which I'm sure will be sooner rather than later. 

Edited July 17, 2015 by stl_ump

[DVA7130]

A lot of the blame goes on your partner for being to lazy to stay on the ball. In the field if you judge no interference you need to immediately give "that's nothing!" and a safe sign, that will more often than not convince the coaches you're confident.

[maven]

A lot of the blame goes on your partner for being to lazy to stay on the ball. In the field if you judge no interference you need to immediately give "that's nothing!" and a safe sign, that will more often than not convince the coaches you're confident.

Exactly. Better umpiring in 2 easy steps:

1. Make a call (including a no-call), and
2. Communicate it clearly and confidently.

[ricka56]

A lot of the blame goes on your partner for being to lazy to stay on the ball. In the field if you judge no interference you need to immediately give "that's nothing!" and a safe sign, that will more often than not convince the coaches you're confident.

If you have a partner that uses the "that's nothing" mechanic, that would be ideal. But in my experience, that mechanic is seldom used (other than myself, I can't ever recall a partner using it). So as PU, I have to guess whether BU had nothing, but didn't verbalize it or just didn't see it. When a play like this is right in front of your partner, it is hard to believe that he didn't see anything (though that is what the BU in the OP "claimed").

I think if you definitely have interference and your partner has his thumb up his arse, call it immediately. If later your partner says that he had nothing, that'd be a good time to teach him the "that's nothing" mechanic. And if he wants to play the blame game, that is all on him.

[stl_ump]

A lot of the blame goes on your partner for being to lazy to stay on the ball. In the field if you judge no interference you need to immediately give "that's nothing!" and a safe sign, that will more often than not convince the coaches you're confident.

I need to be clear about this.  Unless he was doing it wrong, he stayed with the ball the entire time. But when he turned to follow the ball to F6 the INT had already occurred and R2 was past F6.  It wasn't a blistering hot shot that got there in a instant.  It was kind of lazy ground ball that F6 started to come in on and that's when the trouble began.

Edited July 17, 2015 by stl_ump