Crew chiefs should consider starting the pre-game with their partners a few days before your game. Use the Rule Book, the CCA Manual and this article as your sources for material. Choose one of the pre-games below. Send an email to your crew and divide up the topics, with each member of the crew taking one or two items and
Basic Umpire Crew Pre-Game
Some material from the NASO Pick a Pregame booklet was used for this article. The crew pre-game meeting is an important discussion for all officiating crews working a collegiate contest. The Crew chief/plate umpire sets the tone for the single game or weekend series. Veteran crew chiefs should include the entire crew in their discussions and ask for honest feedback
Pre-game Bat Inspection
It is extremely important that all umpire crews do a proper bat check before every game. This requires coordination with the coaches to ensure the bat list and bats are presented per the rule book. Bat Compression Testing is now required (rule changes in 2020 and 2022) for all NCAA softball games prior to the start of each tournament, series,
Communications With Your Partners
Excerpted from Referee.com, August 8, 2018 The words “requires excellent communication skills” are part of virtually every job description in today’s market, to the point where they’ve become meaningless jargon. When it comes to umpiring, however, outstanding communication skills are essential. Effective umpiring communication will: Enhance your credibility Partners, coaches, players and spectators will gain confidence in you when they
Getting the Call Right
The first requisite of an umpire is to ultimately get all decisions correct. Umpire pride is important, but never as important as getting the play right. It is the philosophy of the NCAA that umpires always seek to get the call right. This may involve the reversal of a previously rendered decision. However, the correct decision, not the pride of
Changing a Call
This article is a sister article to the article Getting the Call Right (in this same Game Management General section of the Locker Room). It paraphrases an article from Referee.com (12/28/18). For many years, an umpire changing a call was considered a sign of weakness. The current thinking at all levels of play is that getting the decision correct must
Defensive Changes and Reporting Them
Thanks to Will Macedo, Oscar Segura and Martin Vandenburg for their assistance in writing this article. All defensive changes must be reported in college. But what is a defensive change as compared to a defensive shift? This is an important distinction, as the NCAA rule book has specific requirements for listing the defensive positions on the lineup card and even
Sell the Tough Call
Excerpted from Referee.com 7/20/18 What do a ninth-inning call at home plate, a crucial roughing penalty late in the fourth quarter or a block/charge call all have in common? They are all tough calls that can generate conflict, controversy and a coach who is going to be very upset. All officials have experienced conflict with a coach. Confrontations can have
Body Language – Handshakes and Gesturing
Handshake at pre-game with coaches When you meet someone for the first time, the initial four minutes are powerful in the development of that person’s opinion of you. A common introductory gesture is the handshake. Whether it is the first time you have ever seen this coach, or a coach with whom you are familiar, the handshake at the pre-game
Going for Help on a Judgment Call
Can you change a judgment call when you kicked it and everyone knows you kicked it, but it’s not appealable? Should the umpire tell the coach he/she will not get partners together because this is judgment call and cannot be changed? There was an excellent write-up on the topic of “Going for Help” in the 2011 CCA Manual (pages 109-112), It was
Judicious Use of the Stop Sign
Excerpts from Steve Tietz article in Referee magazine, August 2018 The “stop sign” has been commonplace for many years in multiple sports, but feelings toward it have changed in recent years. Should it be used in a college softball game? The current thinking is that it can be an effective tool in your toolkit but must be used judiciously and