USSSA A first?

[jerryashburn]

In our senior softball league our third base coach was coming up to bat. A player was asked to take his place. For whatever reason, the player was confused and thought he was going in as a runner and went to third base instead of the coaching box. The umpire called him out. Is there a rule that covers this situation?

 

[EAJuggalo]

No, unless the umpire thought it was a tactic to delay the game or done intentionally. Correct call would have been to remove the runner from the base before allowing the ball into play.

 

[jerryashburn]

Thanks for the reply.

If my team had provided the home plate umpire, that is exactly what we would have done. Unfortunately, our league only uses paid umpires in tournaments so often the home team umpire is a deciding factor in close games and that was the case.

 

[joncon]

freakin old guys

 

[RustyShakleford]

When did he call him out? As soon as he stepped on the base? After the pitch was thrown? After the ball was hit and put into play?

 

[jerryashburn]

Play had stopped

Third base coach was going to the on deck circle when he asked another player to take his place. Play had stopped for about a minute. Pitcher had the ball. Batter was in the batter's box. No pitch was thrown but umpire ruled that he had not called time out (no called time out is normal for us old guys as when the pitcher receives the ball we consider the ball dead as we cannot steal but there is no official rule that time out is automatic). How is the out scored?

 

[ureout]

In our senior softball league our third base coach was coming up to bat. A player was asked to take his place. For whatever reason, the player was confused and thought he was going in as a runner and went to third base instead of the coaching box. The umpire called him out. Is there a rule that covers this situation?

it should not have been scored as an out... in senior ball I assume you are playing with a strike mat... so time out does not have to be called... basically every dead ball situation is a stoppage of play until the next pitch.... score it as a senior moment runner should have been told to get off the base and that he was a coach not a runner....

 

[BretMan]

You can't call an out against a player who isn't even really in the game!

There's no rule anywhere that would make this player a legitimate runner, with the right to occupy a base, advance, or score. The flip side of that is that since he's not a legitimate runner, he can't legitimately be called out.

Just tell him to get off the base, then play on without penalty.

 

[joncon]

I stayed on 2B one time after a fielder's choice put me out.

No one said anything and I "scored" on the next play. I only realized it when I looked at a discrepancy in the scorebook at the end of the inning.

I felt stupid but I realized that 20 other people didn't notice it.