Softball
50 Percent Better in 45 Minutes
Do you want to be a 50 percent better umpire in 45 minutes? It’s all right here and my unique techniques are easy to...
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...
Infield Fly Factors
An infield fly situation includes many variables for umpires to take into consideration. The wind or sun affects the calling of the infield fly....
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...
Step-By-Step Focus
The pause, read and react technique has been used for many years. Some associations call that process, wait, interpret, choose. Others coin it, read,...
Timed Properly, Appeal Plays Result in an Out
Why should umpires like appeal plays? Because we can get an out if appealed properly. An appeal play is a play or rule violation...
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...
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...
Collision Decision
Collisions on the basepaths are not a routine occurrence in fast-pitch softball, so it is important for umpires to prepare for scenarios that can...
Bunt, Slap and Checked-Swing Quandaries
The photo above provides an interesting conundrum for umpires. While it is just a snapshot, it leads to some intriguing questions and forces us to get into the...
Talk the Talk
F
or umpires, one of the most important skills is game management. And perhaps the most important skill when it comes to being a good...
No Fun Or No Fair?
By Paul Jacoby
There have been many attempts at “gamesmanship” in the history of baseball and softball. The best or most bizarre situation I’ve encountered...
Flex Your Mental Muscles
"Coach, do you have any changes?” Be honest. How many of you dread asking this question during the pregame conference? We know the most...
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...
8 Points for Pre-Pitch Planning
With each batter and before every pitch, umpires must do some pre-pitch planning. Where do I go on a hit to the outfield? A hit to...
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...
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...
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,...
6 Tips to Improve Your Plate Performance
Everyone wants to be known as a good plate umpire. When coaches think about preferred and non-preferred lists of umpires for postseason playoffs, they...
Real Appeal
In a televised NCAA game last May, a player was so excited about hitting an out-of-the-park home run that she jumped over home plate...
Injured Player? Stop Right There
At times a game needs to be stopped because of an injury. When an injury occurs during a live ball as shown in the...
Keep Watch on Baserunners Abandoning Their Base
Webster’s defines abandonment as “to leave or forsake completely; to give up possession or control of or to give up, discontinue or withdraw from.”...
What’s Your Angle?
Although most umpires would prefer working in crews of three or four, the two-umpire system, if used properly, actually provides for good coverage in...
When the Pitcher has Possession and Control in the Circle
In a game I worked last season, there were runners on second and third when the batter hit a little humpback liner over the...