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Ball 4 wild pitch. Runner gets to first and it sent to second because ball 4 was a wild pitch that ends up in the on deck circle. Not thinking, the girl "on deck" picks it up and hands it to the catcher who is trying to get to the ball and throw to second. As soon the girl "on deck" picks up the ball, the umpire calls the ball dead and sends the batter/runner back to first.

2 pitches later, he decides he made a mistake and says the runner (still on first) should have been out on offensive interference and calls her out then.

Appealed, he then puts the girl back on first.

I thought the rules says that the on deck person is not called for interference if they are hit with the ball while in the circle. What if they pick it up? Should the batter/runner be out on offensive interference or just sent back to first since she got base on balls?

Can an umpire change a call after the next play (pitches) happens?


Thought I had seen it all...

What age? What governing rules?

ASA 17u

i dont have my asa book handy, but 17U often = two umps and elevated play and seasoned umps./

I would have expected the call to be punative to offense, an intentional interference "pick up" vs "unintentional if hit" would be offensive interference, runner out. but the situation may have dictated, no play etc.

umpire in chief does generically have ability to correct past mistakes if caught in time and still correctable, though i do not see it happen often (ever?).

byran sheperd is an ASA U17 ump (i think). Perhaps he can give some first hand experience.

The correct call would be interference by bench personnel (since the on-deck batter does not become a batter until the play is complete i.e. pitcher has the ball and all runners are on a base or put out). The batter would be credited with a walk and out on interference AS SOON as the on-deck batter picked up the ball. This is a correctable error UNTIL THE NEXT PITCH (LEGAL/ILLEGAL).

The umpire actually made two errors. One by allowing the runner to stay on base, and two by trying to correct it after a pitch.

welcome back Bryan. glad to get an expert opinion. !!