overthrow at third

Question
Small town Girls Fastpitch softball Game.  Runners on second and first.  The batter hits. The fielder throws to third base and it is an overthrow and goes past the third baseman and into the grass to the side of third base past the imaginary backstop line.  When does the ump call a dead ball.  The third baseman chased the ball... threw to the second and overthrew her and then they again threw to third base and overthrew it.  Should have the ball been dead on the first overthrow and only one base allowed on the overthrow?  My daughter is an ump for our towns softball games and she was unsure on how to call this.  Unfortunately it is very unofficial and she doesn't get any training. She was unsure when to call the ball dead and when to let the play continue.

Answer
Hi Debbie,

Thank you for your question.  Wow, your daughter is my heroine!  It takes a lot of courage to umpire, even in a small town, without any training.  I hope that the local spectators and coaches go easy on her while she's cutting her teeth.  She can can build a lot of self-confidence, for starters, by learning fast pitch softball's rules inside and out.  Please make sure asap that she gets a Rules Book of the governing body of your local league, whether it be ASA, Little League, or whatever.  As we speak, there are 3,386 softball questions and answers that she could study on this web site.  The information reaped from studying them will seriously grow her rules knowledge base.  Then start keeping your eyes and ears peeled for local umpire training clinics, seminars, and the like, and she'll be on her way!

The instant that the overthrown ball went into dead ball territory, beyond the imaginary line of the backstop extended, the ball should have been ruled dead.  The two throws after that should never have occurred and probably just added chaos and confusion to the play.  The overthrow award in this case is two bases, based on the position of the runners at the moment the ball left the throwing fielder's hand, NOT WHEN THE BALL WENT OUT OF PLAY!  It's a difficult skill for a new umpire, and for a veteran umpire, too, to take in at a glance the exact position of the runners when a throw leaves a fielder's hand, but now she knows already that it is an important skill that she needs to master.

Probably, in her play, when the fielder threw the ball to 3B, the batter-runner was between home and 1B, the runner who was on 1B was between 1B and 2B, and the runner who was on 2B was between 2B and 3B.  So, the batter-runner should have been awarded 2B, the runner who was on 1B should have been awarded 3B, and the runner who was on 2B should have been awarded home.

Scott Kelly