Toronto Arts League Self Pitch Co Ed Softball - TAL

12 Posts

Hi there,

Had the odd dispute tonight and I must say, I was quite disappointed. It has been made clear on several occasions, that captains and only captains are to discuss disputes. On the various disputes tonight, I had as many as four members of the opposition arguing calls with me. AT NO POINT did the captain try to gain control or have a discussion with me about the proposed objection. What is with this?

Captains are supposed to be able to have the utmost knowledge of the rules and be the two to discuss any and all disputes. I do not appreciate having to go over the rules with each and every player every time there is a dispute. Opera has any and all disputes go through me and me alone, it would be appreciated if other teams tried to use but one voice as well.

Also, a little clarification - if the lead runner is passed by the following runner (AT ANY POINT) - is he not out?? Thought that was baseball 101.. no?

10 Posts

Yes, if ANY runner is passed by a runner behind him, the runner being passed is OUT.

12 Posts

Thats what I thought. We ran into this last week and we could not come upon an agreement.

22 Posts

Yes we did come to an agreement ... we agreed the play was ground rule double due to interference from dogs in the outfield.

I know it wasn't a perfect call, but since we didn't have a rule book and we did the best we could given the situation.

Since the play was interfered with the the play would be "dead", and was the play dead before or after the "passed runner" infraction took place? Anyway, I looked up the rule, and in normal situations you are correct, one of the runners is out (the one doing the passing as I recall.)

In regards to captains and discussing disputes, yes, that should be the case ... but, if you want to act in a "captain capacity" then you should declare that you want to discuss the dispute in your captains capacity with the other captain ... not every player on every team knows that the person disputing a play on the side lines is the captain. Once you make that declaration then all other "participants" should then back off and let the captains discuss the play and gather details from the umpires.

12 Posts

The agreement that you're talking about, was not what I am referring to. My objection was nothing to do with the dog playing an interference role with the play - it was with the lead runner being passed by the following runner. The offending player passed the lead runner half way between 1st and 2nd, before the ball had even reached the ground (as the lead runner had been holding to see if the ball would be caught).

It was when we had made the incorrect conclusion - on Bob's suggestion that the following runner must pass the lead runner and reach the next base to be declared out - that we had the discussion about interference. The intereference call should never have come into play, as that runner should have been called out for passing the lead in the first place.

Anyway, I digress.

While not everyone on each team knows who the captain is - the captain knows very well who he/she is and how things are supposed to proceed. Not reeling in your players because they don't know who the opposing team's captain is, is hardly an excuse.

22 Posts

I wasn't aware there were any players that needed "reeling in" ... you were shouting across the field at me while I was over at third ... Gord is the captian, and I, not being the captain was not "arguing" with you ... I was shrugging my shoulders at you.

If someone else is arguing with you after you claim captain status and ask to discuss the play with the other captain, then the other captain will do whatever "reeling in" that is required and if not, then you have something to complain about.

Until you make notification that you are acting in your captains capacity and want to discuss the situation with the other captain, then all you are is "a player" shouting on the side lines, and you should actually be "reeling in" your self.

If you don't want arguments on the side lines, then don't act like you are looking for one ... calmly call time out, ask to talk to the other captain ... then there is little chance that anyone but the other captain will "argue" with you, and if they do then the other captain should tell that player to go sit down.