Welcome

We still only have four people who volunteered to be mentors. We need four more to step up. The mentoring program is essential to the success of new officials and our association. Phil Saltalamacchio has done an incredible job organizing this program. Please consider offering your expertise to one of our new officials. 

Phil can be reached at: 

CELL:     516-297-0275

HOME:   516-822-3499

EMAIL:   psaltalamacchio@optonline.net 

<mailto:psaltalamacchio@optonline.net>

At the exam meeting on March 8, someone inadvertently picked up Lou Respol’s jacket and hat, and left behind their jacket.

His jacket was practically new as he rarely used it.

The jacket that was left behind was visibly worn and had lost its color.

Please contact Lou if you inadvertently took his jacket and hat.

Lou can be reached at:

andyboy170@aol.com

To Nassau County Softball Officials:

    A belated Happy New Year! 

 I had intended to contact you earlier this month, but we ran into a paperwork issue with the East Meadow school district regarding meeting dates..  We finally resolved the situation last week, so I can finally list the dates of our meetings for this year:

3/1     Interpretation Meeting                  East Meadow H.S.     7:30 PM

3/8     N.Y.S. Exam                                 Clarke H.S.                7:30 PM 

4/4     General - Nominations                 East Meadow H.S.     7:30 PM

5/3     Elections - Playoff Mechanics      East Meadow H.S.     7:30 PM

6/15    Dinner (Tentative)                        T.B.D                          T.B.D.

    Finally, I would like to share an essential insight concerning Refview.com.  Most of our members are rookies on this new software.  When setting up your availability, you will click on dates to close them out.  The date will turn to a light blue color.  However, you MUST GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE and click on "ADD TO LIST".  When you do this, the calendar date changes to a dark blue color, and the dates you close will appear on the right side of your page under the calendar.  If you do not do this, you have NOT CLOSED the dates!

    Under the new contract, you will be able to turnback any assignments without penalty until the first day of the season, March 20.  However,  you actually must do this by March 17 since the office is closed March 18 & 19.  BEWARE!

    Rick Norris and I will be attending the State Softball Meeting this weekend in Albany.  We will update the membership at our first meeting.

                                                                        Regards,

                                                                        Frank Sheehan

                                                                        Chairman

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.

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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.

The season has gone smoothly and I have not received many calls from coaches. Here are several items that need our attention before the season end.

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.