Umpire mistakenly calls a catch

Question
I play Men's D slowpitch.  The situation was a runner on first, nobody out.  The batter hits a sinking line drive to the first baseman, who dives and initially appears to make the catch, but drops the ball when his glove hits the ground.  He gets up, tags the runner and then steps on first base for an apparent double play.  The umpire ruled that he initially made an out call, thinking the catch had been made.  Defense argues that the runner was tagged and should be out either way.  He states that the call confused the runner, so he called the batter out and put the runner back on first base.  He further stated that the only reason the batter was out was because he stopped running to first.

Is this correct, or should the double play have stood?  Is it a situation where the game can be protested?  Three runs ended up scoring in that inning (partly because of a botched double play attempt on the next pitch, which involved that runner) and the game was lost by the defending team by one run.

Thanks for your assistance!

Answer
Hi Scot,

This is a difficult situation (for everyone).  One of the hardest calls an umpire has is a sharp low line drive to the infield w/ runners on.  The call (out, trap or no catch) has to be made very quickly and sometimes "stuff" happens in these situations, especially when you have the play you describe (believe me the umpire really wants that catch to be made).

Without seeing what exactly what happened but having seen similar situations over the years these are just SOME ways to handle it, none of them perfect.

If the umpire called an out and then immediately called "no catch, no catch" I would probably just let it play out (and take the heat from the offense).

If I called the out and didn't correct it as above and R1 is standing on 1st base and is tagged, I would feel I put the runner in jeopardy and protect that runner which it seems the umpire did in this situation (and take the heat from the defense).

There are other scenarios and if in my opinion I add up everything that happened during the play and I feel I put the runner in jeopardy I'm going to protect that runner.  In no case however am I going to penalize the defense and have runners on 1st and 2nd.

Like I said there is no perfect solution here and somebody is going to be unhappy.

This is not a protestable situation.

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