Suspended Game

Question
I'm a former ASA softball umpire and now doing some umpiring for Park & Rec men's league loosely using ASA rules.  I had a situation in a "finals" game where night was falling quickly and we started the inning and the visiting team had a big inning, and it got dark, so in between the top and bottom half of the inning I suggested that we suspend the game and pick it up in the bottom of the inning the next day.  The home team screamed that it was unfair to have them play the field in the dark but not the other team.  What is the right call in this situation?  Does it have to revert to the previous inning?  Can we just pick up the game from where it was stopped?

Answer
Hi Dino,

Under ASA

If you have completed 5 or more innings you have a regulation game and the winner would be the team in the lead at the end of the last fully COMPLETED inning or the home team if the visitors were behind after batting 5 times (4 1/2 innings).

If you continue the game you of course resume at the exact spot it was stopped.  We have no rule that permits a do-over of the 1/2 inning.

I don't what to tell you about the dark, the homeplate umpire is responsible for the playability of the field.  I assume you felt it was playable.

If it was raining lightly in the top of the inning and you suspended play at the bottom because of heavy rain, do you wait to have it lightly rain before playing again?

How about wind blowing in strongly from the outfield and you call the game on darkness, do you have to wait for it to be very windly again before playing the bottom of the inning?

Mark