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Congratulations to the officials that had the privilege and honor to officiate the County Finals and State Championships.

Congratulations to all that worked the County playoffs.

AAA Finals

Tom Cully

Peter Bilianis

Hector Baker

AA Finals

Rick Norris

Steve Moffett

Gibson Barriga

A Finals

Frank Sheehan

Phil Saltalamacchio

Jack Kisilinsky

B Finals

Dave Terracciano

Steve Zalinsky

Frank Fortunato 

State Championship

Jack Kisilinsky

Rick Norris

Bob Signoracci passed peacefully today, May 9th.  Bob was a long time official in our Association and a past chairperson.  Bob was a multiple year finals official and a friend to all.  He still did officials ratings up to last year.
 

He will be missed by all.
 

RULES

 • METAL CLEATS 

o Metal cleats are permitted for all levels this season, Spring of 2024. This  is for test purposes. Section VIII is not allowing metal spikes for modified (JHS) play

• EYE BLACK

 o There is no “eye black” restriction, provided it isn’t unsporting. Excessive, poorly done, poorly designed, not your particular taste, etc.” does not amount to unsporting. When it doubt, err on the side of participation, not disqualification. Remember, this is not NFHS and we aren’t PIAA. • 

FASHIION POLICE

 o NYSSO umpires do not wear zebra striped shirts – we are NOT the fashion police. Teams swap home and away, uniform orders come in late or don’t reflect what was actually ordered, parents screw up laundry, high schoolers are forgetful. Find a way to justify allowing players to play. 

• PLAYER ELIGIBILITY 

o Refer to pages 51 and 52 for guidance regarding having a rostered player who you might not have expected. Coaches may only submit lineups for players meeting their schools’ standards. Questioning it is outside the officials’ jurisdiction. 

• APPEALS 

o Softball allows both live ball and dead ball appeals. Remember, once runners have completed their attempted base running responsibilities and the pitcher has the ball in the circle, the defense can simply request “time.” Once granted, they can verbally announce what they are appealing. Throwing to the base isn’t necessary and, arguably, is a nullity since the ball is dead anyway.

• CATCHER’S BOX 

o Regardless of how it may be drawn erroneously on the field, the width of the catcher’s box extends to the outer 

most line of each batter’s box. That makes the box 8’ 5”.

• INTENTIONAL BASE-ON-BALLS

 o Intentionally walking a batter requires the pitcher to throw four pitches declare “ball” by the plate umpire. There are no automatic intentional walks in USA Softball. The pitcher may not drop the ball or intentionally create an illegal pitch to avoid throwing four balls. The catcher is permitted to stand anyway in the catcher’s box (this is true even when not attempting to intentionally walk a batter). They are restricted to the box until the pitch is released. After that, she can move as far out as she wishes. 

• UNREPORTRED SUBS

 o Despite NYS not penalizing a player for being an unreported substitute, substitutes must be reported to the plate umpire. This is the only way to ensure the integrity of the lineup by knowing who has entered and who has been removed. It is the plate umpire’s responsibility to report changes to the other team.

If there is an emergency situation, please make sure you follow the procedure outlined below.  

Emergencies are situations that are happening today, auto accidents, sickness etc.  It is NOT an emergency in you have to turn back a game several days in the future.

First try the BOCES number, 516-396-2446.

If afterhours, weekends or holidays call the emergency Step 1 call 516 997 4861

Step 2 tell the operator you are an official

Step 3 tell the operator it is a girl's game

Step 4 tell the operator what number they can reach you at

Step 5 BOCES will contact you as soon as possible

If you are privy to Grace's cell phone, it is NOT to be used for the above situations.

Here is a summary of the run rules and runs per inning rule broken down by level.

Varsity

12 run Rule after at least 5 innings: No visiting team can win by the 12 run rule in the top of any partial 5th, 6th, or 7th inning. 

There are no runs per inning rule on the varsity level.

JV

12 run Rule after at least 5 innings: No visiting team can win by the 12 run rule in the top of any partial 5th, 6th, or 7th inning. Innings 1 - 6 allow no more than 3 outs or 5 runs scored. Unlimited runs in 7th inning. With advance notice, inning 5 or 6 could follow the unlimited runs procedure to end a game.

JHS

15 run Rule after at least 5 innings: No visiting team can win by the 15 run rule in the top of any partial 5th, 6th, or 7th inning. Innings 1 - 6 allow no more than 3 outs or 5 runs scored. Unlimited runs in 7th inning. With advance notice, inning 5 or 6 could follow the unlimited runs procedure to end a game.

Hair Adornments are NOT jewelry!! 

This ruling is still in effect for the 2023 Softball Season unless NYSPHSAA amends it, in which case we will inform all chapters.

Guidance on how to handle hair adornments for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year.  Please make sure all of your Spring Chapters get this guidance.  NYSPHSAA will be addressing this issue this summer.  

a. NYSPHSAA Hair Adornment Moratorium:  “Hair adornments, including beads, may be worn provided they are secured and do not present a safety hazard to the player, teammates or opponent.”

b. Hair Adornment Guidance for Officials:  If an official has a concern with hair adornments, they should express those concerns to the student’s coach and report the concern to the Section; the game/ contest should be played.

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Uniforms:

Our pants are heather gray, not black. Our ball bags are gray or blue, not black. They are worn by plate umpires only, they are never to be worn by base umpires. All our equipment should be left outside the backstop including water and other drinks.

LOOK PROFESSIONAL – BE PROFESSIONAL

Batting out of order:

A key takeaway is, once the next pitch, legal or illegal is thrown, ALL PLAY STANDS.

Bunt vs Slap

There have been some issues on calling batter’s out on ball batted foul on the third strike. If it is a bunt, the batter is indeed out. We need to make sure that it is a bunt and not a slap.

This is not an easy task. There is not a lot of information in the rule book except the definition of a bunt.  The ball defines a bunt as “a pitched ball that is intentionally tapped with the bat, slowly, slowly within the infield.”

What else do we look for?

Look at the hands, a bunt usually has the top hand moving up on the bat, a slap the hands are usually together. 

Looks at the wrists, did the batter break the wrists?  On bunts they don’t on slaps they do.

Look at the path of the bat, on bunts the bat stays steady and moves with the players as she runs forward, on a slap the bat moves forward and usually in a downward path as they like to pound the ball into the ground.

Here is some information from Referee magazine:

The photo above provides an interesting conundrum for umpires. While it is just a snapshot, it leads to some intriguing questions and forces us to get into the rules. At the end of the day, the issue remains the same — what do we have on this play?

To settle the matter, we need to look at both definitions and rules for batting in order to figure out exactly what we have. While at first glance it appears the batter is slapping at the ball, is it really that easy? If you are the base umpire on this game and the plate umpire comes to you for help, what will be your response?

Let’s first take the feet out of the equation. That is a different article for a different day. Let’s instead focus solely on the bat. The first determination we need to make is whether or not this is a bunt attempt. All four major codes define a bunt in relatively the same terms. A bunt is a legally batted ball not swung at but tapped or intentionally tapped into the infield with the bat. The bat is held in the path of the ball and tapped slowly as opposed to a full swing. In the picture above, the batter would need to hold the bat out, leave it and simply run forward and tap the ball at the last minute to even possibly be considered a bunt or drag bunt. Since both hands are down around the knob of the bat, it is more than likely that isn’t the case in this scenario.

If you deem this is a bunt, you must determine if she attempted to bunt or not. In USA Softball, the batter can leave the bat over the plate on a bunt attempt, provided she doesn’t move the bat toward the ball, and not have a strike called if the ball is out of the zone. In all other codes, the batter must pull the bat back in order to not have a strike called. Determining if this is a bunt attempt or not is extremely important with two strikes, because if the batter happens to foul the ball off, she would be out if this is deemed a bunt attempt.

If you determine this isn’t a bunt attempt, the next logical step is to deem it a slap. A slap is a batted ball that has been struck with a short, chopping motion or modified swing as opposed to a full swing. Batters will either set up in a bunting stance and then pull back and slap at the ball or more commonly, as in the picture above, run up toward the pitcher and swing. If the batter happens to contact the ball and fouls it off, it is treated as any other foul ball and not a bunt. Often it is incorrectly referred to as a slap bunt, which is a misnomer.

If you consider this a slap, you must determine whether this is a checked swing or a swing. While difficult to determine from a still photo, there are things umpires must consider to determine if a swing happened. The first is to ascertain if the batter attempts to hit the pitch. Second, we can look at the barrel and see if it is in front of the body or out in front of the front hip (NCAA). Other determinations include: Does the batter roll her wrists, and does she swing through the ball and bring the bat back or does she draw the bat back before the pitch arrives?

There have been instances in games when a pitcher throws a change-up and the batter checks her swing (or swings), pulls back and swings again. If you rule that first attempt was a swing, the second swing does not count. If the batter makes contact on the second attempt, it would be a dead ball and all action from that swing is canceled.

This is why it is extremely important as a base umpire to always look into the plate and make a determination on every swing or checked swing. While the plate umpire may not come to you on every attempt, this situation could blow up on you if you aren’t prepared. In this instance, a simple, “Swing?” request from the plate umpire may not be enough to properly rule on the play and all umpires may need to come together to get the call right.