Older son is pitcher, off to college...I appreciated all the help back then.
Next son is currently a HS catcher and my areas of confusion have expanded!
This past weekend there was a tie game, bases loaded, no outs situation. Little chopper hit to pitcher, my son (14 year old catcher) sets up on home to make the force out, turns to throw to first base for the second out, but gets wiped out by the sliding baserunner. My son had already made the out at home and stepped towards the mound to throw to first. The slide was high and about a foot in front of home plate and, fortunately, caught my son in the catcher's knee-savers or he would have had metal spikes in the backs of his calves! My son was NOT standing on home plate. When our coach questioned the interference (not to mention the dirty play) the umpire said that since my son was in the field of play, and a slide to home can be anywhere within an arm's reach of home plate (when sliding to avoid a tag, which I don't feel was the case since he went straight into the catcher) that it was a legal slide. Hmmmm.....
I remember a college point of emphasis that doesn't allow a catcher to set up in the basepath, blocking home plate, unless he receives the ball. This protects the sliding baserunner. Is there a similar rule protecting catchers from a dangerous slide when his back is turned? I'm thinking this was a judgement call by the ump...who used poor judgement. Hopefully it will never happen again.
Thank goodness for those knee-savers! I never thought of them as body armor before!
Last question...Should parents just chalk this up as an isolated incident, or should incidents like these be reported? I feel the coach should be the one to voice concerns to the tournament, but does it really do any good? Are you reporting the umpire or a team that uses dirty tactics? The opposing coach LOUDLY praised his baserunner for "breaking up the play" as my son slowly rose to his feet and made sure all his body parts were still functioning! Thank goodness he was OK. His neck was sore that night, probably from the impact and from bouncing off the ground when his feet were knocked out from under him. How will I ever get used to a son who's a catcher? Don't tell me that in real baseball you bean the next batter. I don't want to believe that youth baseball could ever come to that. Besides....the bases were loaded in a tie game!
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