crzyjournalist03
05-07-2009, 10:51 PM
Let me recreate a scenario for you and tell you that we are playing by ASA rules in a slowpitch softball league. AN umpire's ruling completely baffled me, and after a long conference with another umpire, they insisted that the correct call had been made.
Runners were on first, second and third with no out. A routine fly ball was hit between first and second. The second baseman calls the ball, and the umpire calls "Infield fly, the batter's out!" The runner at first takes off running toward second, nearly colliding with the second baseman. The second baseman then bobbles the ball and scoops it off the ground (no catch, but batter is out). At this point, the second baseman is only a few steps from first, and the runner who started on second remains standing on second and the runner that was on third remained on third. The second baseman picks up the ball and walks over to first, assuming she's just completed a double play since it was a "fly out" and the runner left the bag long before the fielder made contact with the ball. After tagging first, the second baseman throws the ball to the pitcher and the umpire immediately calls time with two runners standing on second, and awards the runner who was on first a free return to first base.
The umpire claimed that there was no force any more at first with the batter being automatically out, and that the second baseman would have had to tag the runner before the runner reached second in order to have recorded the out.
I thought that an infield fly was essentially a caught ball that was live whether or not the fielder catches it or not, although the rules don't seem as clear on it as I had thought.
First of all, I didn't think an umpire could call a play dead with two runners standing on the same base, and secondly, does a dropped ball on the infield fly rule mean that runners do not have to tag up? The pitcher would have tagged the two runners at second just to make sure we got the out, but the umpire ruled the ball was dead upon returning to the pitcher. In fact, I don't remember exactly because it was all so fast, but I believe that the pitcher did go over and tag the runner when the umpire motioned her back to first, but at that point, they had already ruled dead ball and awarded her the bag. I'm sure there are some rules gurus out there (3afan?) who could explain what should have happened in this situation. Perhaps the umpires did the correct thing by ruling the play over because the ball returned to the pitcher, but it just didn't seem right.
Runners were on first, second and third with no out. A routine fly ball was hit between first and second. The second baseman calls the ball, and the umpire calls "Infield fly, the batter's out!" The runner at first takes off running toward second, nearly colliding with the second baseman. The second baseman then bobbles the ball and scoops it off the ground (no catch, but batter is out). At this point, the second baseman is only a few steps from first, and the runner who started on second remains standing on second and the runner that was on third remained on third. The second baseman picks up the ball and walks over to first, assuming she's just completed a double play since it was a "fly out" and the runner left the bag long before the fielder made contact with the ball. After tagging first, the second baseman throws the ball to the pitcher and the umpire immediately calls time with two runners standing on second, and awards the runner who was on first a free return to first base.
The umpire claimed that there was no force any more at first with the batter being automatically out, and that the second baseman would have had to tag the runner before the runner reached second in order to have recorded the out.
I thought that an infield fly was essentially a caught ball that was live whether or not the fielder catches it or not, although the rules don't seem as clear on it as I had thought.
First of all, I didn't think an umpire could call a play dead with two runners standing on the same base, and secondly, does a dropped ball on the infield fly rule mean that runners do not have to tag up? The pitcher would have tagged the two runners at second just to make sure we got the out, but the umpire ruled the ball was dead upon returning to the pitcher. In fact, I don't remember exactly because it was all so fast, but I believe that the pitcher did go over and tag the runner when the umpire motioned her back to first, but at that point, they had already ruled dead ball and awarded her the bag. I'm sure there are some rules gurus out there (3afan?) who could explain what should have happened in this situation. Perhaps the umpires did the correct thing by ruling the play over because the ball returned to the pitcher, but it just didn't seem right.