MGoSoftball

May 19th, 2013 at 6:11 PM ^

next to the dugout.  Coach was pissed as she should have been.  The umpire followed Hutch back to the dugout.  They were about 5 feet from me.

Coach was arguing for an interference call.  The first base ump CLEARLY signaled interference on the runner.  The home plate ump came running out and called a conference.  The call was reversed.

There are two problems with this. 1) this call was NOT the home plate ump's call.  It was clearly the first base ump's call.  He called interference.  2) The home plate ump said that Ashley did not have a "reasonable" attempt at the ball.  So worst case we have a "collision" with no call either way.  But to call obstruction on Ashley, the umpire had to interpret that Ashley's action was to imped the runner.  

Rule 2.00 Interference: A runner makes contact with a fielder attempting to field a batted ball, except the batter with the catcher in the immediate vicinity of home plate immediately after the ball was batted;

Now NCAA does not have a "no contact" rule like high school and summer ball does.  All runners are required to attempt to avoid collisions; if a runner fails to do so, he is guilty of malicious contact, which is one kind of offensive interference

Normally this would have been a "No call" which allows the play to continue.  In this case the runner was forced out and the batter-runner was safe at first.

 
 

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 6:55 PM ^

I think you are right that the interference call depends on whether Lane had a shot at the ball (see the NCAA softball rule book, rule 11.20; that section you quoted is not from the NCAA rules).  The umpire had to determine if Lane had a chance at the ball.  I would need to see a replay, but it's arguable that she had no chance to get there.  Rule 1.81 states that obstruction can be intentional or unintentional, so I assume that this is what was called:  unintentional obstruction by Lane.

The first base umpire signalled a delayed dead ball, which would mean obstruction.  If it had been interference, the correct call would have been an immediate dead ball.  The plate umpire did not overrule the base umpires, but supported the call.  The third base umpire had made the same signal.

The plate umpire's actions in the discussion after the incident were indefensible.  Hutchins had completed her dispute, was walking back to the dugout, and the umpire followed her all of the way to the dugout while shouting at the back of her head.  He was clearly attempting to prolong the confrontation, or perhaps even to escalate it. 

MGoSoftball

May 19th, 2013 at 7:25 PM ^

was the second call he made.  The first was interference then he quickly changed to delayed dead ball AFTER the second base umpire called delayed dead ball.  The second base umpire did not have position to see Ashley in relationship with the ball or the runner as the Ashley obscured her vision of the play.

 

The home plate ump then confirmed what both base umpires called.  Hutch was arguing the original call with the first base umpire.  Then the home plate umpire injected herself without being invited.

Bad call either way.  If the first base ump CLEARLY called delayed dead ball and then the other 2 umpires confirmed the call, then you can say "umpires judgement".  

Hutch was spitting angry.  The home plate umpire was just as angry.  I rarely see other umpires lose their cool with a coach.  Overall I thought this umpire did a decent job but not good enough for Regional Play.

I have umpired many a high school game and I will admit I made more than my fair share of mistakes.  I do not claim to be an NCAA quality umpire but I would have called this a "collision" or no-call as the runner did not leave her feet and just side stepped Ashley.

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 7:44 PM ^

I was behind the first base dugout looking straight down the base line from first to second, so I couldn't tell whether the call was right or wrong; I have no idea whether it was playable.  I had basically the same angle as that second base umpire you mentioned, but I was looking at it from the other side.

Yes, the plate umpire did a good job overall (balls & strikes seemed pretty reasonable from where I sat, and she did a good job to hustle down to third base to get right on top of the call when the Cal cleanup hitter tried to stretch a double into a triple).  I don't like seeing an umpire get angry, though--it's just not part of the job description.  No matter what Hutchins said to her before, the ump has to walk away from the dispute as long as Hutchins is also walking away.

MGoSoftball

May 19th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^

been sitting very close then.  I was originally in Sec 1 row 7.  Then I moved down to the dugout area.

Emily Hepker is out of the hospital and was in the dugout with the team.  It was such a treat to see her smile and get a hug from all the girls.

samdrussBLUE

May 19th, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^

We look pretty good heading into this super regional. If Wagner can be available for solid work that would make me feel better, though.

icegoalie1

May 19th, 2013 at 6:00 PM ^

Dominate pitching walks the walk this time of year. Right now we are clicking in that department and the bats are doing their job. Gets really tough to score runs in OKC so we have to have the pitching to hold us in.

DISCUSS Man

May 19th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^

Regional Champions!

The good thing is that Michigan will play the Super Regional in Ann Arbor. Where Michigan has not lost once this season. Not ONCE.

gwkrlghl

May 19th, 2013 at 4:22 PM ^

I really like how softball's tournament is set up. Would be interesting to see if it could work for college hockey too. I'm so tired of the one-and-done plinko that is the tournament. A double elimination format at each regional would be interesting to try

JustGoBlue

May 19th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

in theory, and one and done is a horrible idea in hockey, but that could be anywhere from 3-5 games in a weekend.  I feel like that isn't very feasible for most sports besides baseball and softball when you can play a couple times in a day and not be dead. 

Now if you wanted a best-of-3 at higher seeds for the first two rounds and then maybe try to figure out something interesting for the Frozen Four, or leave it, I'm with you.  I'd actually even be OK with 4 straight best-of-3 series, whether the semis and/or finals end up at "neutral" sites or not.  But I don't think the circuitous baseball/shoftballl double-elimination translates well to the ice.

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^

A 4-team double elimination tournament regional requires a team to play up to 5 games (Cal would have played 5 games if they had won their first game today).  You can play 5 games in 3 days in softball (they do 5 games in 4 days in baseball), but 5 games in 5 or 6 days is way too much for hockey. 

3 games in 3 days gives you terrible hockey, I don't want to imagine what a 5th game in 5 or 6 days would look like.  That's too much time commitment you are asking of the teams and the fans.

It's a good idea, but just not workable.  I would be all for a best-of-3 series for the first two rounds, though (like they did back in the late 1980's).

JamieH

May 19th, 2013 at 6:24 PM ^

What are you talking about?  The NCAA used to have best of 3 series in the NCAA tournament that was played Fri-Sat-Sun all at one site and it was awesome.  It didn't give "terrible hockey".  It was great.  These are young kids.  They can play 3 hockey games in 3-days no problem as long as you aren't doing it all year.  The only way it could get bad is if multiple games went to multiple OTs or something, then I could see fatigue really setting in. 

Michigan played Cornell in a best of 3 series in the early 90's that was the birth of most of the mob chants that the student section  uses today, thanks to the Cornell fans that made the trip.  It was an awesome 3-game series that Michigan won 2-1 and I don't think anyone involved would say it was "terrible hockey". 

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 6:44 PM ^

I was there.  I stand by my statement:  Sunday's Michigan-Cornell game was not good hockey compared to Friday's game or Saturday's game.  The Sunday game was much slower.  I suppose if you saw the game and thought otherwise I can't argue:  in the end, I guess it's a matter of taste. 

If you recall, Michigan started its backup goalie (Gordon) on Sunday, because Shields was not 100 percent after playing 2 straight days.  Cornell rested their starter for about 10 minutes in the second period in each of the 3 games.  I don't want to see a playoff game decided by backup goalies, or by whose starter is less exhausted.

It was fun for the fans (playoff hockey is certainly fun for fans, especially if you are stealing cheers from the other team), but the quality of the hockey was not there on Sunday.

 

JamieH

May 20th, 2013 at 12:36 AM ^

I WAS there and that ISN'T how I remember it.

I don't think Shields was benched because he was tired.  He was benched because he was a true freshman and he wasn't playing well.  Cornell put in 5 on Friday and another 4 on Saturday.   I don't remember how many of those were on Shields, but I suspect most of them were.    Gordon actually had a tiny bit better save percentage that year than Shields did and had the only shutout of the year for a Michigan goalie.  He had played quite a bit during the year, so playing him wasn't some crazy thing.  This wasn't legend Steve Shields he was replacing, this was true freshman Steve Shields who wasn't a superstar yet.

As to the whole "tired" thing, Michigan blew the doors off of Cornell that day, so I don't think Michigan suffered from being tired at all.  Maybe Cornell was tired, that is certainly possible.  But Michigan looked completely fine. 

There is certainly some validity to a goalie getting tired playing an afternoon game right after a night game. I can see that.  But the current system is garbage. Single-elimination hockey sucks.  You might as well flip a coin.  I'll take the minor imperfections of some players being a little tired if there happens to be a game 3 on Sunday over the guaranteed suckage of single-elimination hockey anyday.  And I bet if you asked the players, they would to.

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 7:08 PM ^

12 of the 16 regionals are complete.  The super-regional matchups:

(#16 Texas A&M or Baylor) at #1 Oklahoma

UL Lafayette at #8 Michigan

#12 Kentucky vs (#5 Arizona State or Georgia)

(#13 South Alabama or Florida State) at #4 Texas

#14 Nebraska at #3 Oregon

#11 Washington at #6 Missouri

#10 Alabama at #7 Tennessee

(UCLA or UAB) at #2 Florida

2 of the super-regionals are Thursday-Friday, 3 are Friday-Saturday and 3 are Saturday-Sunday.  The NCAA will assign each super-regional to a date/time after consulting with ESPN.  Every super-regional game from every site will be on an ESPN network (either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU).  No more online streaming.

The super-regional format is a simple best-of-3:  game 1 on the first day, game 2 & (if necessary) game 3 back-to-back on the second day.

justingoblue

May 19th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^

that they were interested in winning the regional. The difference in their batters between game one v. UAB and the first five innings of the IPFW game and the last two in addition to their last two games is completely absurd. They had scored five runs and given up six in their first 13 innings. They've scored 31 and given up four in the last 16 they've played.

Alton

May 19th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^

I think it's just a filler right now; this is traditionally released late Sunday night or Monday morning.  Other than that, there's nothing on either the Michigan website, the ULL website or the NCAA website listing times or dates for the games.

VCavman24

May 19th, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^

Okay, thanks.  I was thinking it was a filler since the NCAA Website had nothing about it and MGoBlue had nothing more than the date.  No time, tv, etc.  I am hoping, for selfish reasons (being in Ann Arbor on Friday) that it is Thursday-Friday or Friday-Saturday.