Rules Question

[ladiesbballcoach]

Another question, I believe the following is illegal in either baseball or fast pitch softball. If the ball hits the ground in front of homeplate, can you still hit it?

[stickymitts]

Another question, I believe the following is illegal in either baseball or fast pitch softball. If the ball hits the ground in front of homeplate, can you still hit it?

 

Yes...

[STRIKE3]

I accept they made the right call and am tryng to understand the difference between a foul ball and a foul tip.

 

And I understand the infield fly rule fine. The INF rule is nowhere near as ambiguous as the difference between the batter making contact with the ball and it being a foul tip and it being a foul ball.

 

STRIKE3, let me make sure I understand.

 

Batter makes contact and the catcher catches it on the SECOND STRIKE and the runner can still advance and the batter is not out.

 

Batter makes contact and fouls it to the a foot above the catcher's head and the catcher catches it, the runner's cannot advance till AFTER the catch is made and the batter is out.

 

Batter makes contact and fouls it a foot above the catcher's head and does not catch it, the batter is not out and the runner must return to first.

 

Batter makes contact and fouls it straight back into the catcher's mitt BUT the catcher drops it, the batter is not out and the runner must return to based.

If you're talking Little League or a youth league, which has a rule, that the runner can't advance till the ball reaches the plate, then the runner can move, on any pitch and if he left after the ball reached the plate, then contact was made by the batter and the catcher retained the ball, runner can advance at his/her own risk.

 

If he left early, before reaching home and contact was made, catcher retained....then runner must return, if Umpire noticed the rule violation.

 

Another question, I believe the following is illegal in either baseball or fast pitch softball. If the ball hits the ground in front of homeplate, can you still hit it?

Yes and I've seen a HR, as a result of the ball bouncing at both the LL and High School level.

 

Here's you another discussion, on the ball hitting the ground. If the pitcher throws a pitch and the ball bounces, hits the batter in the box and he doesn't swing....Dead ball and hit by pitch is declared, batter is awarded first.

[Theoldguy]

The IFF is easy once you realize that the batter is automatically out which means there is no force play at first base. Once you grasp that, the rest of the play (and options) fall right into place.

 

Of course unless you bunt......then no infield fly, then again what some umpires call the infield is up to question also. I have seen umpires not call the infield rule when a SS makes the catch a foot off the dirt, then again I have seem men in blue make the call when the SS makes the catch in short left field....

[Theoldguy]

If you're talking Little League or a youth league, which has a rule, that the runner can't advance till the ball reaches the plate, then the runner can move, on any pitch and if he left after the ball reached the plate, then contact was made by the batter and the catcher retained the ball, runner can advance at his/her own risk.

 

If he left early, before reaching home and contact was made, catcher retained....then runner must return, if Umpire noticed the rule violation.

 

Yes and I've seen a HR, as a result of the ball bouncing at both the LL and High School level.

 

Here's you another discussion, on the ball hitting the ground. If the pitcher throws a pitch and the ball bounces, hits the batter in the box and he doesn't swing....Dead ball and hit by pitch is declared, batter is awarded first.

 

This happened in the HHS game against CovCath yesterday. Ball was thrown by HHS pitcher, and ball hit the ground and then hit the CovCath batter. Blue correctly signaled hit batter and batter was given first base on a Hit by pitch, even though it hit the dirt in front of the plate first....

 

HHS coached complained abou the call, but only because he felt the batter didn't attempt to get out of the way.....

[ladiesbballcoach]

If you're talking Little League or a youth league, which has a rule, that the runner can't advance till the ball reaches the plate, then the runner can move, on any pitch and if he left after the ball reached the plate, then contact was made by the batter and the catcher retained the ball, runner can advance at his/her own risk.

 

If he left early, before reaching home and contact was made, catcher retained....then runner must return, if Umpire noticed the rule violation.

 

Yes and I've seen a HR, as a result of the ball bouncing at both the LL and High School level.

 

Here's you another discussion, on the ball hitting the ground. If the pitcher throws a pitch and the ball bounces, hits the batter in the box and he doesn't swing....Dead ball and hit by pitch is declared, batter is awarded first.

Thanks for the info. As I understand it, the key is whether the catcher "retained" the ball or not.

 

Doesn't it seem odd that he can run if the catcher caught the ball and can't run if the catcher dropped the ball?

[20ROOK]

Thanks for the info. As I understand it, the key is whether the catcher "retained" the ball or not.

 

Doesn't it seem odd that he can run if the catcher caught the ball and can't run if the catcher dropped the ball?

If the catcher catches a foul tip, it is played like the batter never touched it at all. If the catcher misses the foul tip, it's played just like a foul ball.

[20ROOK]

Of course unless you bunt......then no infield fly, then again what some umpires call the infield is up to question also. I have seen umpires not call the infield rule when a SS makes the catch a foot off the dirt, then again I have seem men in blue make the call when the SS makes the catch in short left field....

The other day, in our JV game a batter hit a soft line drive over the second baseman, that he had no chance of catching. The ump called Infield Fly Rule, and it cost us 2 runs. Bad judgement IMO.

[Diamond Dandy]

The only problem with your last statements is that the runner cannot advance till AFTER the ball has been caught. In this case, runner took off on a steal attempt WAY before the ball was caught. He was credited with a stolen base and did not have to return to the bag to "tag up."

 

Runner can advance on a caught foul tip but it is NOT a stolen base unless the catcher makes an attempt to throw him out.