NSA Travesty of the Game call for 10 run rule.

[storminyoung]

Had a new one called on us tonight. Score was 15-6 bottom of the 5th, runner on 3rd, with one out. Guy at bat hits a blooper to shallow LF-LCF, guy on third never moves (slowest guy on our team). Ball falls in for a single, everybody is safe. Ump got pissed and told my guy on 3rd he would have made it, awarded him home and us the win by run-rule. When we asked what rule that was from, he told us it fell under the "Travesty of the Game" rule. When I asked what the heck he was talking about, he just walked off the field. I dont normally argue with blue over anything, but, this was something that just didn't sit right with me. I felt he robbed BOTH team's of a chance to play the game out. Is there any rule that says we HAVE to try to 10 run a team to win? I was at a loss tonight.

 

[Sully]

Technically, he could have made you forfeit the game. Usually this happens when the runner on third would win the game and there's no one on first or second so his teammates start yelling "Bob! Don't run, I want to hit."

Maybe the umpire jumped the gun and judged he could have easily made it when it was too shallow for him to run. Usually the umpires know the difference between a shallow hit ball and a slow runner, and intentionally not moving at all to sneak in a few at bats. Most runners will sneak a few steps and try to draw a throw to see if maybe the outfielder throws it away.


Section 4. FORFEITED GAMES.
A forfeited game shall be declared by the umpire in favor of the team not at fault in the following cases:

E. If a team employs tactics noticeably designed to delay or to hasten the game.

 

[Sully]

Sorry, that was ASA above. I missed the NSA. The NSA rulebook says:

d) The umpire shall forfeit a game in favor of a team not at fault in the following cases:

4) If a team uses tactics to delay or to hasten the game.


Weird.

 

[kaerey]

So as an Ump, if the home team is down by a few runs, with two outs and about a minute left on the clock, and they step on the plate when hitting to force the third out and the additional inning, would you call that hastening the game?

 

[storminyoung]

Technically, he could have made you forfeit the game. Usually this happens when the runner on third would win the game and there's no one on first or second so his teammates start yelling "Bob! Don't run, I want to hit."

If that would have been the case, I would have completely understood his call. We dont do things like that when we play, myself and 2 other guys work 3rd shift, so the quicker we get done - the better! It was just one of those calls that had me scratching my head. I even tried looking up "Travesty of the Game" in the rule book and the only mention I saw was about running the bases backwards and making a mockery or travesty of the game.

 

[Sully]

Yeah I did the same thing.

I knew there was a rule for screwing off and trying to drag a game out. I've seen it done before, but I would have to be pretty sure before I would have a winning team forfeit a game in the fifth inning.

Kaerey, technically they could call it for that, but in all the years of playing I don't think I've seen it called even though I've seen it done several times over the years. I think the difference is one is considered good strategy and the other is usually considered bad sportsmanship.

I've played with some young guys who even suggested we miss balls on purpose to get under the run rule limit so we could hit again. Of course, there is no way in hell I'm doing that. I've seen way too many softball games that were one run from being a run rule only to see the team that was down come back and win. How stupid would you feel if it was because you intentionally let them? Hell no!

 

[Pete D]

Late/last game of the night?

 

[USA All the wAy]

So as an Ump, if the home team is down by a few runs, with two outs and about a minute left on the clock, and they step on the plate when hitting to force the third out and the additional inning, would you call that hastening the game?

Absolutely if in the umpires judgment it was done to hasten the game.

Never seen it called though, ever!

 

[storminyoung]

Late game, but not the last. 8p game and the ump had one more after us at 9p. I think that was mostly his reasoning too, he looked like he was ready to go when we started.

 

[pob14]

Rule of thumb: Anyone who says they're making a call based on "travesty of the game" doesn't know what he's talking about.

The word "travesty" appears exactly once in the NSA rulebook, in the same context that it appears in almost all stick-and-ball rulebooks:

A baserunner may not run the bases in reverse order, either to confuse the fielders, or to make a travesty of the game.

I recall reading that the rule dates to the 1920s in baseball, when runners would go back and forth stealing second and then re-stealing first, trying to cause a throwing error.

Not to say the rules above might not apply (although it's a stretch to me), but "travesty" has nothing to do with it.

 

[Illegal pitcher]

Sorry, that was ASA above. I missed the NSA. The NSA rulebook says:

d) The umpire shall forfeit a game in favor of a team not at fault in the following cases:

4) If a team uses tactics to delay or to hasten the game.

Staying at 3rd base is not delaying the game one bit. Delaying the game would be the pitcher taking a long time in between pitches, taking a long time to step into the batter's box, etc.

 

[Sully]

normally true, but if they are one run away from winning and stay through extra batters they are most certainly delaying the game. if he does game is over. the only reason not to score if it's s clean base hit is to delay the game.

 

[Illegal pitcher]

normally true, but if they are one run away from winning and stay through extra batters they are most certainly delaying the game.

As I said, not scoring from 3rd on a hit is not delaying the game. You may want to consult a dictionary to learn the difference between "delay" and "prolong."

the only reason not to score if it's s clean base hit is to delay the game.

Lots of players have not scored from 3rd on clean base hits, even when the mercy rule isn't a factor.

 

[Sully]

Yeah well, I went to Ohio Public Schools. I read delay and was thinking delaying the end of the game. That's not exactly what it says. I'm a little slow sometimes.

There is a provision that covers unsportsmanlike acts, but this would probably be pushing that, especially as described.

 

[2TransAms]

I've seen it called once, but our runner was only awarded a base. Fat slow guy grounds to third, 3B takes what should have been an easy throw and lobs a big old rainbow to first. Runner was out but ump called him safe via "travesty of the game". I don't know if that's how it's supposed to work...that's just what happened.

 

[baseman]

This ump needs to be reported to his boss as this is a "travesty" of his job. He can't give an arbitrary run so he can go home earlier.

 

[BigSam]

Douchy players trying to work around run rules are part of softball. We get paid the same for a short game as a full game... no reason to be making calls like that. That's simply bad umpiring.

 

[BL18ok]

Nsa also has the rule that it is ok to drop a fly on purpose. This happend this weekend to us at NSA. Want too mad because the dbag on my team that hit it didnt run it out. Runner on 1st 1 out hit a fly to ss. He let it hit his glove and brought it to the ground, then stepped on 2nd an threw to 1st. Guy should have been running, but still a retarted rule. This also happend. The other team had 10 guys, guy gets ran for arguing a call. So the next time through the order they have to take an out. Umpire says that we can not walk the guy to get to the out, reguardless if its intentional or unintentional. If the guy walks the out is not given. So they get a guy kicked out and we are punished becasue they screwed up. Never heard this before. Before I here the butt hurt comments neither play affected the game.

 

[BigSam]

The other team had 10 guys, guy gets ran for arguing a call. So the next time through the order they have to take an out.

ASA rules say the game is over at this point. Can't play with less than you started with due to an ejection. I don't know NSA rules, so I'm not sure if that is a terrible league rule or a terrible NSA rule. Either way though...

Umpire says that we can not walk the guy to get to the out, reguardless if its intentional or unintentional.

That's just silly. What if your pitcher can't throw strikes? You can't intentionally walk a batter to get to the free out, but that doesn't mean the missing guy isn't an out if the batter before walks at all. What is the ump supposed to do if the pitcher is throwing balls? Throw for him?

 

[BretMan]

The NSA rule is that with two outs you may NOT walk a batter, intentionally or unintentionally, to get to the vacant spot/automatic out. If you walk that batter, the missing spot is skipped and the automatic out is waived.

 

[BL18ok]

The NSA rule is that with two outs you may NOT walk a batter, intentionally or unintentionally, to get to the vacant spot/automatic out. If you walk that batter, the missing spot is skipped and the automatic out is waived.

Yeah they did it with 1 and 2 outs. Either way just seems dumb. The other team is punished becasue they lost a guy.

 

[sjury]

The other team had 10 guys, guy gets ran for arguing a call. So the next time through the order they have to take an out.

ASA rules say the game is over at this point. Can't play with less than you started with due to an ejection. I don't know NSA rules, so I'm not sure if that is a terrible league rule or a terrible NSA rule. Either way though...
That's just silly. What if your pitcher can't throw strikes? You can't intentionally walk a batter to get to the free out, but that doesn't mean the missing guy isn't an out if the batter before walks at all. What is the ump supposed to do if the pitcher is throwing balls? Throw for him?

League rules > Book Rules... our league you get ejected in a game you miss the rest of that game plus the next, and if the team has no subs, then it is an out the next time through the order, but you can walk 8 guys to get to that out if you want.