Attempt to avoid being hit?

[NVfishing]

How much of an attempt should the girls make to avoid being hit by a bad pitch while in the batters box?

This rule helped ruin a tournament for us last year.

 

[starsnuffer]

They should turn in to the pitch. This means a right handed batter will turn to their right. This will move their body closer to the plate, and allow the ball to strike their meaty areas such as their thigh, butt, back, or back of the helmet, rather then their ribs, hands, chest, face, pelvis, ect.

I can't believe how many times I've seen D1 level players get this wrong, and act like they're playing dodgeball with the pitcher, which is only going to lead to eventual injury.

They should never just stand there.

-W

 

[NVfishing]

A girl on our team turned as you suggested and was hit. Ump said she didn't make enough of an effort to move. I can't remember who was called out. It was the start of the end of our last game in the tournament. Coach disagreed with UMPs call and the UMP started openly rooting for the other team. I've never seen anything like it.

 

[tippy]

a good rule of thumb would be whatever action is requied not to get hit!!!! your joking about the second part of your post ,right! you turn into a pitch and you are not going anywhere.fed rules anyway.

 

[Momo's Dad]

Although it happens quite often, there's a general sentiment around here that we don't want our 8u girls getting hit, if possible. I didn't witness any major parent meltdowns firsthand last year, but did see some situations that could've escalated to that if the coaches hadn't done such a good job. One small girl did have to leave a game after being hit in the upper arm by my daughter, but at the time, I saw no overreaction from her parents or team at all.

Even though the likelihood of injury is low, the 8u girls are told by their parents to jump back away from the plate if they see a pitch headed towards them, or to jump towards the plate if it's coming behind them. I'm guilty of this as well.

I think the rule that a player *must* make an effort to avoid being hit needs to be done away with. For any number of reasons, a player might freeze in that situation and be unable to make a reasonable effort to get away without being hit.

 

[druer]

If young girls are told to jump out of the box on inside pitches going 5 miles per hour, that is going to establish a lifelong pattern of fear when they have to start facing pitchers throwing much harder and who can throw curve balls. You can get foam balls or marshmallows even and throw them at the girls and let them practice how to turn the proper way.

Help them learn how to attack the bases and make it a practice that if the pitcher/catcher have the nerve to hit a "monster" like her at the plate, that she will then "punish and terrorize" the two of them after she gets to take her base.

Every rule is written in ways that allow subjectivity and interpretation by the umpires calling the game. Just as that umpire said she didn't make an attempt that she really did, another will say she made an attempt to avoid the ball when she stood there the entire time. Don't establish patterns for young players that assumes every other umpire will make the same call.

 

[BretMan]

How much of an effort is enough? That's probably not possible to quantify. On a pitch in the batter's box, an umpire should give every benefit of the doubt to the batter. On anything other than "the world's slowest change-up that even my grandmother could move out of the way from", the default should be to award the batter first base.

Consider that:

- A pitch in the batter's box is obviously a mistake by the pitcher.

- Batter's can at times freeze when a ball is heading straight toward them.

- A batter who is loading and shifting her weight one direction may find it impossible to jump the opposite direction to dodge the pitch.

- Self preservation on the batter's part plays a role. On a fast pitch a batter may not have much of a chance to dodge the ball. Turning away to take it in the back instead of the face might be the batter's only option.

Instead of trying to determine the degree of effort on the batter's part, it might help to look at it this way:

- Was the pitch indeed avoidable? If not, all benefit of the doubt goes to the batter.

- Did the batter move in such a way that she allowed the pitch hit her, when it would not have otherwise? Did she purposely stick out a body part trying to "take one for the team" and earn a free base? If she did, then you should not award the base.

As for an umpire "openly rooting for the other team"...what an you say? Some people simply do not belong on the field in an officiating capacity.

 

[Momo's Dad]

If young girls are told to jump out of the box on inside pitches going 5 miles per hour, that is going to establish a lifelong pattern of fear when they have to start facing pitchers throwing much harder and who can throw curve balls. You can get foam balls or marshmallows even and throw them at the girls and let them practice how to turn the proper way.

You're exactly right and this is also the exact reason we should focus on teaching how to take the hit instead of teaching avoidance from an early age. Obviously, you duck if a pitch is directed at your head or shift if you sense an elbow, knee, or ankle might be in danger, but for the most part, I firmly believe ball players should be taught to take pitches to the meaty parts of their body.

 

[starsnuffer]

Softball is a contact sport, contact is going to happen, as much as the rules are designed to keep it as safe as possible.

One advantage of turning in is the batter can squeeze her eyes shut and cringe, she's facing the umpire when she does this, which should help any indication of what she's trying to accomplish (self preservation).

The last thing you want, even at high levels, is for batters to go jumping back on a tight inside pitch that might hit their hands, nothing makes a pitcher more confident than this, which isn't advantageous to the batter or the rest of her team.

Given what Bretman had to say (he's the umpire/rules expert) it sounds like you had a bad call. Then again, bad calls are as much a part of the game as being hit by a pitch, it happens..

-W

 

[quincy]

8u girls getting hit

After the 1st couple games our “gentlemen’s” agreement before games was the ball had to hit the batter in the air. Sometime the pitch would land ½ way to the plate and the batter would just watch the ball roll into their foot. Most games we also let the batter treat the HBP as a no pitch and stay up ay bat. Most girls chose to ignore the HBP and stay up at bat.