January Plays and Clarifications
From the Director of Umpires
As we start a new season in 2020 our program is still the best in the world of umpiring. It is this way because of you, the umpires, working hard every year to get better and support the program. We continue to think of ways to make our program better and to communicate our thoughts with the rank and file umpires. If you have ideas please share them with your Local Association UIC, your Regional UIC, Deputy Director or me.
The 2020 USA Softball Rule Book is complete and at the printer to be printed and sent out as ordered. We had several rules changes this year that do affect the games you may umpire. We changed part of the pitching rule for the Junior Olympic Girls Fast Pitch Classification of Play, the effect for an illegal pitch in the Junior Olympic Girls Fast Pitch Classification of Play, the courtesy runner rule in both Coed Slow Pitch and the courtesy runner rule for Adult Slow Pitch. In all cases it appears the USA Softball Council acted in the best interest of these divisions of play. All the new rules changes for 2020 can be found on the USA Softball Website under the Governance tab and or the Umpire Tab.
The umpire Manual is getting its final touches and could be posted by the time you see these clarifications. If not, it will be posted shortly after that. It has the video references and drawings to try and help explain our mechanics in a visual way. It also contains our USA Softball Safety Awareness Guide which is updated for this year. If you see any problems with this document, please reach out to us and let us know.
The 2020 Umpire Exam is complete and is in the hands of your Regional UIC, posted on the USA Softball Website, and is loaded into Resister USA so you may take it electronically.
2021 UIC Clinic
The finishing touches for the 2021 UIC Clinic are being finalized. The dates will be 2/4/2021 to 2/7/2021. The hotel location appears it will be the same. Make plans for the dates as these are good to go. The balance of information will follow soon.
January 2020 Rule Clarifications and Plays - PDF