Softball
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...
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...
Safe or Out, There Is No Tie
Fans, players and coaches are often heard yelling from the stands, “Tie goes to the runner!” However, no rule in baseball or softball has that phrase. A few...
Fear of Abandonment
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.”...
Like a Boss
A
fellow brother in blue, who passed away much too soon, had a mantra he used both in life and on the field. That mantra...
Step On the Field and Handle Your Business Like a Boss
A
fellow brother in blue, who passed away much too soon, had a mantra he used both in life and on the field. That mantra...
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...
Infield Flies not on the fly
One of the more difficult situations in softball are those involving the infield fly rule. While all the codes agree on when the rule...
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...
Softball Crew Chief Responsibilities and How to Prepare
If you are reading this and you are not a crew chief but have that as one of your goals, congratulations. You are taking...
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...
In the ‘Try Right Zone’
The plate umpire in fast-pitch softball faces the demanding task of making split-second rulings hundreds of times each game, regardless of the competition level....
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...
A Mathematical Dive Into the Strike Zone
The softball strike zone has not changed for a long time; it is still the zone explicitly described in the rules for each softball code. There are slight...
Equipment Commitment
The NFHS Softball Rules Committee made two significant changes to player equipment, involving the wearing of head coverings and beads, and approved six other...
No Hedge on the Wedge
As today’s players become quicker, faster and stronger, and as rules adapt, so must umpire mechanics. The wedge mechanic allows the umpire to be...
Advanced Softball Mechanics
Today’s players are quicker, faster, stronger, smarter, more athletic and better coached. Ask yourself: are our mechanics keeping pace with the rapid development of...
When Two Umpires Converge on the Same Base
Many of us who have been umpiring for a number of years have seen the situation in which one umpire is dutifully making his...
Conference Calls
Conferences occur in every game. It is extremely important for umpires to understand the rule differences between the codes to know what is and...
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...
Location Notation
While watching MLB’s World Series last fall, I heard the plate umpire, who was wearing a microphone, call, “Ball, outside” after a pitch was...
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...
