Home of Senior Softball-USA and Senior Softball World Championships
| June 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Batter in Batters Box 1st we all know who the real DD is.. but good comeback FF.. yes 7.6 I is citing a specific situation.. and in the original scenario the batter had his back to the catcher so he had no idea where he was or was going.. again this is all umpire judgment that when the CATCHER ran into the batter did he think the batter INTENTIONALLY interfered.. |
| June 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Batter in Batters Box FF.. I'm not as good as Donna but I'm definitely better than DD.. lol.. below is the rule stating intent BATTER IS OUT rule 7.6 I .. The batter shall not hinder the catcher from catching or throwing the ball by stepping out of the batter's box, or INTENTIONALLY hinder the catcher while standing within the batter's box. EFFECT: The ball is dead, the batter is out and each runner must return to the last base that, in the umpire’s judgment, was touched at the time of the interference |
| June 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Runner hit by line drive while standing on 1st base michael p.. hopefully your thoughts and knowledge have been updated and you see the rule that PP and Bruce M and my explanation were correct.. 1 other thing a base is a sanctuary for a runner unless they are forced to advance |
| June 4, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Runner hit by line drive while standing on 1st base if the nearest fielder was behind the runner the call should have been dead ball batter awarded 1st base and all runners forced advance 1 base.. this rarely happens but if nearest fielder was in front of runner it would be a live ball play on |
| June 1, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Batter in Batters Box the batters box is similar to a runner standing on a base.. they are entitled to stay in/on both .. it would be 100% umpire judgment whether the batter INTENTIONALLY hindered the catcher from making the catch.. with john028's scenario the batter had his back to the catcher so it sounds like he had no idea where the catcher was going so per scenario no INT call |
| May 19, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Equalizers HMMMMM... counting the votes to seven.. I'm sure DD is not involved in that part :) |
| April 21, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Infield fly rule john, I'm sorry I didn't realize you were on the SSUSA National Rules Committee and had a part in writing the IF and Intentionally Dropped Fly Ball rule or that you have all that knowledge of how the rule was written and how it should be interpreted and Donna shame on you for being elected again as the Chair Person of the SSUSA Rules Committee and "overstepping your role" and voicing your opinion to try to explain to John the rule |
| April 18, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Base Runner gary, this is going to be the judgment of the umpire as to whether the runner actually impeded the defensive player from making a throw.. you stated that the runner stopped 2/3 feet away from the MI so no contact was made and the runner was where he belonged in the base path.. with your scenario I would have the runner out at 2b and tell the defensive player the runner did not interfere/impede him from making a throw around or over the runner.. I have also many times seen the defensive player throw straight at the runner making them duck out of the way |
| April 17, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Infield fly rule john, I still don't agree with you especially now that I have proof in writing .. if DD agrees with you, your ANALYSIS has to be wrong.. |
| April 16, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Infield fly rule DD, I should have explained that if the defense ended up making a double play I would then call IF which in SSUSA you are allowed to do after the play is over to protect the runners as Tim stated above.. but if no outs were made after the ball landed on the ground and it spun away from the fielder I would allow the batter and all runers that advanced to stay and tell the defense to make an effort to catch the ball .. all fielders have different mobility abilities so how does a umpire judge what ordinary effort is if he never moves/attempts to catch a fly ball unless the ball is hit directly over his head.. |
| April 15, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Infield fly rule John028.. if a fielder makes no attempt to make the catch how is an umpire suppose to judge their effort.. If it was on my field and no fielder made an attempt I wouldn't make an IF call |
| April 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Avoiding collision at the scoring line Randall.. as Tim explained this would be up to the judgment of the umpire.. but yes I would allow a runner to enter the batters box area if in my judgment it was done to avoid a collision with a defensive player |
| Feb. 10, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Runner hit by fly ball SSUSA does not use pitching screens so they have no rule.. it would depend on the wording of your pitching screen rule that your Div. uses as to whether or not the pitcher is considered a defensive player.. if the pop fly could not be caught with reasonable effort then the umpire was correct in not making the IF call.. since the runner who was hit by the pop fly was standing on the bag the result of the play should have been a dead ball .. batter awarded 1st base and all runners forced to advance move up 1 base .. also I would not consider the pitcher a defensive player in this scenario so I would not consider that the ball had passed the closest fielder therefore a live ball |
| Feb. 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Umpires reversed call stick8.. OP says a defensive player.. (as I get back in the box to resume my at bat a defensive player yells out that I should be out and points to the 2nd base Ump to rule.) |
| Feb. 6, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Umpires reversed call even after talking to his partner the HP umpire should have manned up and told the defense that "HE" made an error and told the batter he had a foul to give and that the batter was not out on the foul ball.. |
| Jan. 25, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Umpire question DD.. that is no way to talk about DM or NA :) |
| Jan. 19, 2025 B.J. | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Found Lost Watch Larry.. it's lucky that you found it and not DD.. he would have sold it on e-bay by now.. lol good luck |
| Jan. 16, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batting or fielding team leaves their gate open by accident Dbrown5.. in a pre-game meeting with both mgrs. I go over what is REQUIRED by both teams and that is 1 of the issues mentioned.. I would never reward the offense extra bases when they are the ones who left their gate open and just the opposite for the defense.. |
| Jan. 15, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Clarification for pop-up caught by catcher rule I admit this is confusing.. one more thing I would consider is moving this from 1.29 FOUL TIP because it is actually not a foul tip .. also re-write F from 1.28 FOUL BALL .. and make F a ball that is hit and goes back over the batters head a foul ball and if caught is an out and a live ball |
| Jan. 15, 2025 B.J. | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Clarification for pop-up caught by catcher rule Donna.. I was just going by what was posted from the national rules committee meeting... and at the end of the below it says the ball is dead .. which I was wondering about and was going to e-mail you and ask 1.5 • FOUL TIP & §7.4 C. • STRIKE CALLED BY UMPIRE – TECHNICAL CORRECTION – Proposal to modify the wording of these sections to make them easier to understand. Suggest adding sentences to foul tip definition to say: “A foul tip cannot be caught for an out. Note: Other balls (including one that goes over the batter’s head) can be caught for an out.” And also change 7.4.C by removing the phrase “the final strike” from the EFFECT sentence, which then would read: “The ball is dead. |
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