Official Tag/Out

Question
Hi Mark,
I am volunteering as an umpire in a coed softball league. I am not certified. I guess you could say it's on the job training. My questions is this. In a game this past Saturday. Runners, 1st & 2nd, 1out. Ground ball F5. He attempts to tag R1, coming from 2nd. However, he took the ball out of the glove to his throwing hand, and tagged R1 with the empty glove. No touch was made with the ball in glove, or hand. F5 then threw to 2nd trying for DP. I did not call the out on R1 since there was no tag with the ball. Oddly enough, R1 did not look for a call and just trotted towards the dugout, never touching 3rd. I recorded the out, due to R1 leaving the field of play. I did not communicate this however, with the teams (my 1st mistake I believe). As previously mentioned, I have not been certified for umping, so I am sure I handled this incorrectly, but would like to use it to learn, moving forward. Please let me know how that should have been handled. PS> The offense did not appeal, thank goodness!!

Thank you, appreciate your time.
Joe

Answer
Hi Joe,

empty glove, no tag, no out.  Umpire signals "NO TAG" on the play.  Once R1 leaves the field of play they are out regardless of what you did or didn't do.

You got lucky to have no problems.  If you want to be an umpire and you sound like you do, start attending clinics, reading the rule book and associating w/ experienced umpires at games and watch what they do.

mark

Mark