Welcome

We  regret to inform our membership of the passing of our friend and fellow official Jeff Cohen. Jeff left us suddenly last month.

Jeff was elected to the position of chair elect at our last General Membership Meeting.  

Please keep Jeff and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Jeff will be missed by all.

Thanks to Christina Bivona who organized the following officials that worked the 2023 Exceptional Senior Game

Joe Dinicola

Patty Carbo

Larry Maggiotto

Joel Solomon

Phil Saltalamacchio

Dan Carroll

Doug Rosenthal

Frank Pace

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

Congratulations to all that worked the County playoffs.

AA Finals

Tom Cully

Frank Sheehan

Rick Norris

A Finals

Peter Bilianis

Gibson Barriga

Jack Kisilinsky

B Finals

Hector Baker

Paul Barnathan

Steve Melchione

AA Long Island Championship

Tom Cully

Rick Norris

Jack Kisilinsky

A Long Island Championship

Frank Sheehan

Steve Moffett

Peter Bilianis

B Long Island Championship

Tom Cully

Frank Sheehan

Rick Norris

B Super Regional

Peter Bilianis

Steve Moffett

Phil Saltalamacchio

State Championship

Jack Kisilinsky

Rick Norris

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.

Congratulations to our new members.  They have attended the course and passed the test.  All that is left for them is to attend the ratings session.

Matt Augugliaro

Katie Jackson

Ed Miller

Cary O'Connor

Michael Quinones

John Schmidt

Raymond Valeriano

Patrick Whearty

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.

********************************************************************************    

The following are points of clarification regarding Rule 4-2-L

TDP = Temporary Disabled Player

TRP = Temporary Replacement Player

To avoid potential abuse, any team with a potential TDP should notify the plate umpire at the pre-game conference.  The plate umpire should note this accordingly on the line-up card.

1. The TDP’s exit from the game is not considered a substitution for re-entry purposes for her.  

2. The Temporary Replacement Player’s (TRP) entry into the game is not considered a substitution for re-entry purposes for her. 

3. The TRP does must have re-entry eligibility to come in as a TRP.  In other words, a player who has come out of the game twice may not enter as a TRP.

4. The TRP's eligibility for purposes of running is not limited based on her spot in the batting order.  For example, a TRP who was originally in the 6 spot in the line-up and who has been substituted for, may come off the bench and enter the game as a runner in the 8 spot as a TRP. 

5. The TRP's eligibility for purposes of batting is limited based on her spot in the batting order. For example, a TRP who was originally in the 6 spot in the line-up and who has been substituted for, may not come off the bench and enter the game as a batter in the 8 spot as a TRP. 

6. If the TRP is a player who had not previously been in the game, she will not be “locked into” the spot in the line-up where she enters for the TDP.  For example, if a substitute enters the game as a TRP in the 2 spot, she may enter the game as a substitute in the 5 spot later in the game.

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.