Little League Umpires and the Circle Violation
One of the most frustrating and contentious points in Little League Softball is the calling of the circle violation. This is not an issue in travel ball where they have paid softball umpires, but in Little League most umpires are volunteer dads and don’t really understand the rule, much less call it. This causes much dismay from coaches, parents, and confuses the kids. Most coaches are baseball transplants as well, I was one of them myself, so I understand the problem, we just need a mass education program for all umpires that are moving over to softball.
The basis of the rule is that softball doesn’t want a bunch of jockeying around like you see in the minor leagues of baseball. In our league, we have actually implemented the softball rule in the minor leagues to eliminate this. While we don’t penalize w/ an out as they do in softball, we do require that the batter either return immediately to the base they occupied or proceed to the next base once the ball is on the dirt part of the pitching mound and in possession of the pitcher. If they don’t, the umpire simply sends them back to the bases they occupied when the pitcher entered the dirt area.
The rule in softball is pretty simple. Once the ball enters the circle the runner must proceed immediately to the next base or return to the base they last occupied. They cannot flinch, they cannot stop, they cannot trip, they cannot stutter, they can’t fake one way and go the next, they can’t do anything at all but proceed to the next base or go back to the one they came from.
Here are the scenarios I see most often:
1. A player walks to first. The defense correctly and immediately gets the ball in the circle. The girl runs to first base, rounds it towards second after the ball is in the circle and goes back to first. This is an out.
2. A player walks with a runner on third. Stops on first or just off of it, then a coach yells for her to go to second and she takes off for second. She is out. She can proceed to 2nd no problem if she does not break stride, but any buckle in her motion is an out.
3. A player leaves early when stealing. She is out. In majors and minors she can’t leave until the ball reaches the plate, in juniors up she can leave when the ball leaves the pitchers hand.
4. A girl drills a double, the throw comes in to the pitcher. The batter-runner rounds second after the pitcher has the ball in the circle, stops, and goes back to 2nd. She is out.
If the pitcher is making a play on any runner, the circle violation is nullified. The pitcher holding the arm in the air is considered making a play.
It really is that simple, why people have so much trouble with it in my opinion is the severity of the violation. It is an out! When you only have 18 of them, 1 out is more than 5%, unsure umpires don’t really want to inject themselves into the game so much. I understand this, but failing to teach the girls the violation only hurts them in the future. You only have to call this on a girl once for it to be effective. She will never violate it again.
This is why I say it should be called in the minor leagues. If they could learn the rule there, it would eliminate a lot of the problems that occur in the majors because they wouldn’t violate the rule. Either way, we need to start enforcing the rule across the board and around the world. This would eliminate a lot of problems that arise during a softball game. First we must teach our umpires the rule, then enforce it.
Do you know of any other common situations where the circle violation comes into play?
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The Little League Coach » 2009 Little League Rules and Regulation Changes posted on October 30, 2008:
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