Umpires ruling

Question
Hey Mark,
I was catcher in the middle of a high school softball game. The batter had 2 strikes on her, and there were 2 outs. The ball was pitched, she swung and missed, and I dropped the ball. The plate umpire called batter out, and so I rolled the ball to the pitchers mound. The batter/runner proceeded to run to first. The pitcher picked up the ball as the runner got to first. Even though the girl should have been safe, the umpire called her out, thus making me think that the inning was over. The umpire agreed with me when I told him he called her out, and he called the girl out and the inning over. Was this the right call or should he have gone with what would have been fair. There really is no "fair" in a situation like this, because either way both teams feel cheated. I am an umpire now, I'm a high school junior, and I would like to know what would have been the correct way to handle the situation.

Kasandra


Answer
Hi Kasandra,

This is a mess and you're right there is no good solution.

As an umpire in this situation you should call strike 3 and then wait to make sure the catcher has control of the ball and then call batter out.  This prevents the problem.

I just had a very similar question and under protest a regional ASA UIC ruled that the b-r is awarded 1st base and we play the inning on.

Mark