Ice Weasels: Summer '12 Season, Game #7

Date: August 20, 2012
Start: 6:30pm
End: 7:25pm
Where: Krieg 11
Opponents: Lonestars

We were the visiting team.

Outcome: LOSS
Final score: 9-4

Notes: A very close, hard-fought game. The Weasels struggled offensively for much of the game, and had their first real rally crippled due to a bad call by the umpires. In the top of the 5th inning with one out, the Weasels had Matt on second base, Zook on first base, and Zara at bat. She hit a line drive into shallow left field. Matt drew a throw at third base, but it was badly off target and rolled along the fence. Matt headed home and scored easily. Meanwhile, Zook went halfway to third, thought better of it, and retreated to second. Zara did not see this and continued on to second base herself. They only realized their predicament when they met at second base, both touching the bag. The ball was still being thrown around by the Lonestars, and Zook was able to scamper to third base without either of them coming close to being tagged by the ball. However, after time was called, the umpires called Zook out, stating that two runners could not occupy the same base. This is a bad call. Rule 8, Section 3E states:
Two runners may not occupy the same base simultaneously. EFFECT: The runner who first legally occupied the base is entitled to that base, unless forced to advance. The other runner may be put out by being tagged with the ball.

The key phrase is may be put out by being tagged with the ball. Nobody is automatically out in this situation. The rule is simply stating that two runners cannot be SAFE on the same base. There's nothing wrong with both of them touching it at the same time -- it's just that only one of them is safe on the base.

At no point during the play was the ball even near the runners, and at no point did a trailing runner pass a runner ahead of them. Mitch made sure to get the umpire to repeat this multiple times, so that it was clear that they agreed on the facts of what happened, and only disagreed on the rules. Once this was clear, Mitch informed the umpire that the Weasels would be playing the game under protest. The bad call badly hurt the Weasels first rally of the game -- rather than runners on second and third with one out, they had a runner on second base with two outs. Had the Weasels gone on to win the game anyway, then the protest would have been void. But as it happened, the Weasels ended up losing, so Mitch submitted his written protest to the league the next day..

In order for this type of protest to be ruled valid, only two things need to be demonstrated:

• The umpires did misinterpret the rules (i.e. it was actually the wrong call)
• The bad call adversely affected the team's chances to win

The league consulted with the umpires and agreed that both of these things were true. However, after a lot of drama, they nevertheless ruled the protest as invalid. At the time of the protest, the umpire did not inform the manager of the Lonestars about the Weasels decision to protest. The rules state that the umpire is supposed to do this. Because of this, the league ruled against the protest, even though they did agree that the umpires blew the call and that the blown call hurt the Weasels chances of winning. This is ridiculously ironic. The original problem came because the umpires did not know the rules. When the umpires misapply the rules, there is only one recourse -- a protest. However, because this umpire ALSO didn't know the protest rules, the protest was ruled invalid.

Regardless, since that is how the league chose to rule, then the original outcome of this game stands. We will never know if a level playing field would have changed the outcome.

The defensive play of the game by the Weasels was made in the bottom of the 2nd inning with 1 out and a runner on first base. The batter hit a ground ball to Becky at second base. She tagged the runner coming from first base for the first out, and threw to Azzy at first base to complete the double play. The offensive leader for the Weasels was Mitch (2 for 2, both singles). Great thanks to Mitch and Zook for keeping score.

Batting lineup:

1: Tim R, RCF
2: Amanda, 1B, DH, 1B, 1B, 1B, 1B*
3: Matt, LCF, LCF, LCF, 3B, 3B, LCF*
4: Carrie Z, RF, RF, DH, LCF, LCF, RF*
5: Neil, P
6: Zara, 3B, 3B, 3B, 2B, DH, 3B*
7: Chris E, SS
8: Becky, 2B, 2B, 2B, DH, 2B, 2B*
9: Shawn W, LF
10: Azzy, DH, 1B, RF, RF, RF, DH*
11: Mitch, DH
12: Lacey, C

Abbreviations

Back to the main softball page