Softball
Make Your Move
When it comes to adjudicating plays at the plate in softball, the one-size-fits-all philosophy no longer works. Every play is dynamic and no two...
Strike First With Slow-Pitch Pitchers
One topic that garners a lot of discussion among baseball umpires is whether or not you should describe pitches for pitchers. That discussion also depends a great deal...
Going Out in Style?
More than half of the time while working the bases in fast pitch, you’ll be setting up in position A down the right-field foul...
Getting the Ruling Right Isn’t a Travesty
One of the “catch-all” rules in softball refers to “making a travesty of the game.” That was put in place to take care of those players who try...
4 Habits Softball Umpires Must Have
If you took a poll of coaches and players and asked them to name the skills and habits that are important for an umpire...
Thinking Outside the Box
The NCAA Softball Rules Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel recently approved a significant amount of rule changes for the upcoming 2022 and...
An Inside Job
O
ne of the toughest jobs for a softball umpire is ruling on inside pitches. There is a lot happening at once and there are...
A Quarrelling Quandary
"B
lue, where was that?”
If you have not heard this question at least a hundred times, you’re probably still in your first year as an...
Keep it Between Us
Some unseen things that go on before, during and after a softball game would really surprise the casual or even rabid fan.
First is the...
Check This Out
The NFHS Softball Rules Committee approved a handful of rules changes for the 2017-18 school year, but two in particular — allowing intentional walks...
Four Tips for One-Umpire Mechanics
It’s not news that budgets for athletic programs, especially in recreation and intramural leagues, have had to be tightened. Often the first items trimmed...
Slot Machine
The most important job in a game, and often the most difficult, is calling an accurate strike zone. In order to be accurate, you...
Five Steps Toward Being Truly Great
Let’s assume you are a good umpire, even an exceptional umpire. You do well on association exams and know your mechanics. Nevertheless, do you...
Handling Tough Situations on Difficult Pitches
One of the toughest jobs for a softball umpire is ruling on inside pitches. There is a lot happening at once and there are a lot of moving...
Dead or Live?
Imagine that you’re working the plate in a two-umpire system. There’s a runner on second with one out. The batter hits a towering fly...
In ‘Crews’ Control
T
here is nothing more beautiful in softball umpiring than watching a crew work together to cover the diamond. When it is a well-oiled machine,...
Unsolicited Advice
From the very first camp that any official attends, what phrase is always uttered by clinicians and coordinators? “Get the call right!”
In 2018, that...
Old Acts, New Rulings
The NCAA has again adjusted its obstruction rule, reduced the illegal pitch penalty, adopted three experimental speed-up rules from last fall and brought back...
Bean There, Seen That
When it comes to hit batters, softball umpires don’t have to make the exact same decisions as their baseball counterparts. Beanball wars in softball...
Be Careful Using Other Sports to Explain Softball Rules
No-calls are common to officiating in all sports. Sometimes it’s advantageous to use examples from other sports to explain softball rules and plays. Unfortunately,...
Watch The Hands, Please
"Ariddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
While Winston Churchill certainly wasn’t describing the actions in a softball game when he made this famous...
Your Toughest call?
What do you call when a runner jumps over an infield grounder as a fielder goes for the ball? Usually that play occurs when...
Know When to Use the ‘Sell’
As novice or veteran umpires, we all look forward to the exciting catch, tag or play at the plate that has us standing in...
Game-Time Decisions
By Rick Woelfel
Watching an NCAA Division I crew at work is akin to attending an umpiring seminar. I was afforded that opportunity in late...
