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It's a "humpback liner" that falls in for a single!

Hello Again everyone

My inbox was filled with all kinds of messages today. Many, many of them were those undeliverable messages because people's e-mail addresses have changed since last June. I spent a couple of hours last night and a couple more today cleaning all those (every one of them) off the various lists I have here. I also spent a mess of time removing the addresses of people who e-mailed to me and told me to remove their addresses because they are no longer coaching. If you are getting this bulletin and you don't want to get them just e-mail to me and be sure to include the bulletin so just hit reply and type your message. That way I'll know which list to look on to erase you from the game. I think I have taken care of all those requests.



I also spent about 20 minutes adding a bunch of new people to the lists. I enjoy adding people to our roster and getting them in The Fastpitch Chronicle starting lineup.



Don't forget to get your dues paid to the WFSCA organization. They need to be taken care of by April 15th or you don't qualify as a member for post-season awards for your players or yourself. If you win the state title and aren't a member, the WFSCA won't pay for your state championship ring and what a shame that would be eh? Check out the WFSCA website at www.wfsca.org for more information on membership issues. Those folks will be glad to help you out.



At the rules meeting last night in Portage we learned all about the new rule for obstruction and interference. It's still a judgement call though so you better watch closely to see whether or not there is a delayed dead ball signal hanging off the end of the umpire's shoulder. A situation was mentioned by our Fastpitch Chronicle rule interpreter John Peterson. The question came up the night before. Here it is and then I'll give you my thoughts on it. Ball is hit to first sacker who boots the play but the ball lands up in foul territory inside the running shoot but within a step and reach. The batter-runner then collides with the fielder. I think the runner is out for interference even though she is inside the shoot because that running shoot rule pertains to a play being made from behind her and not in front of her. She isn't interfering with the play because the ball beat her to the place where it now lies. Dave Schwanke had it right I think when he said, "interference is interference!"



John will be letting us know what he finds out from rule interpreters higher up than he is.



OK - Here is that question again from last year. Rule on this one! Batter hits a line drive that hits the third sacker in the head while she is in fair territory and so is the ball. The ball is hit so hard that it sails over the sideline fence along the third baseline. A couple of my umpire friends in the high school ranks keep telling me it's a ground rule double but a major league umpire says otherwise. I got the question from the major league umpire while we were both attending the ISC Men's World Fastpitch Championship. So what is your call?



Here is another one for new coaches and scorekeepers to ponder and old ones too. Bottom of the seventh with the score tied. Runner at third base. Batter hits a ball in the gap and off the fence. How do you score that at bat for the batter? (This one actually happened to our Poynette team in the WIAA State Championship game in 1998 vs Greendale).



Here's another scoring review for you - Name the plate appearances that do not qualify as an "at bat."



Another one - batter swings and hits the catcher's mitt -- A) also hits the ball and it advances all runners and the batter one base safely B) no contact with the ball is made. Score the two situations.



Last one for tonight - runner at third and a liner hits the shortstop's glove and pops higher into the air where the second sacker then catches it before it hits the ground. The runner at third heads home after her break off the bag on first touching.



OK - one more - Your game is at home and when it's over you fail to report the score to the newspapers, the TV stations, the radio stations and to Bob at the Fastpitch Chronicle website. Who suffers from that error?



Answer to that last question? Your players, the opposing players, every fan that reads the paper, listens to the radio, watches the TV set and reads the Fastpitch Chronicle game reports. Hardly a football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling match etc. fail to get reported during those respective seasons, but softball coaches are notorious for using the "I don't have enough time" excuse for not reporting scores. The bottom line folks is -- our sport suffers when a coach or a team rep fails to report scores. The biggest loser is fastpitch softball.



Softball coaches are also notorious for not sending in pre-season surveys to their daily and weekly papers and for not doing umpire evaluations at the end of the year. Our group of coaches had one of the worst , if not the worst percentage of returns from any sport in the WIAA after last season. That's not a good thing! Complete the process.



I also urge you to join the WFSCA. The organization is working for the coaches and for the game. It's an organization aimed at coaches!



That's plenty for tonight! Thanks to all of you who sent the complimentary e-mails about the bulletins. If you have crazy plays or scoring questions just e-mail them to me and I'll get the answers from the experts.



Have a great day and as always -----

Keep it Rising!

Bob