This afternoon I saw a softball game in which Sacopee Valley pitcher Whitney Stacey was called for two illegal pitches in the seventh inning against Madison. The last of those two came with two out and runners on second and third, and allowed the winning run to score.

Obviously, the Sacopee fans and coaches were upset. It's like scoring the winning run when a girl drops a popup. You're happy for the win, but you'd rather see a different ending to the game.

I can see both arguments for making a call like that. For one thing, a rule is a rule. If you don't make that call and the pitcher is doing something illegal, she's getting an advantage.

Stacey was warned about the illegal pitch in the first inning. That was a 1-2-3 inning for her, but then she was called for another illegal pitch on a 3-2 count to a Madison batter in the third inning. I had already written down the batter's groundout to shortstop when I heard the umpire waving off the play. Since no one was one base, it was ball four.

Umpires, like all of us, have varied personalities. The same umpire called a Sacopee runner out for being off the bag when the pitcher had the ball in the circle. So it could be he was just following what he felt was the letter of the rules.

No matter what you do, there are going to be good umpires and bad umpires, and everyone will remember the bad ones more. St. Louis fans remember the call by Don Denkinger that probably cost the Cardinals the 1985 World Series, but try to remember just one case where you know an umpire's name because he made a great call.

Ultimately, I don't think an umpire should make a call like that in a case where it could decide the game unless it's a flagrant error. It's unfortunate that it happened that way, but more unfortunate things will happen every day.