This weekend, an opposing batter squared to bunt as the pitch was coming in. As she was pulling back, the ball hit her in the hands. I know that the hands are not considered part of the bat, but doesn't the fact that her hands and bat were still in the strike zone make this a foul ball? She was definitely pulling back, but was still in motion when the ball hit her. The umpire ruled it as a hit batter, but I'm not sure if that was correct.
Rules Question
- Thread starter jinjet95
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- May 25, 2010
- 1,070
- 0
So if a batter gets hit IN the strike zone, that counts as an HBP? That doesn't make any sense.
Didn't make sense to us either, but the batter got 1st. This was in the championship game. Well played game on both sides, unfortunately the umpires weren't the best I've seen. Several blown calls in the field. Overall, the plate ump was pretty good, but I didn't understand this one.
I had a similar thing happen where a girl clearly checked her swing and it was called a strike. When our coach asked the ump if it was a strike the ump said that she swung.
Very frustrating. I'd never seen it called that tight before. The bat never crossed any part of the plate, her wrists didn't break. Anyway the call kicked us out of a single elimination tourney.
Very frustrating. I'd never seen it called that tight before. The bat never crossed any part of the plate, her wrists didn't break. Anyway the call kicked us out of a single elimination tourney.
According to ASA 4.J A strike is called by the umpire: When a legally pitched ball hits the batter while the ball is in the strike zone. Ultimately it is a judgement call by the umpire as to whether the batter was still in the strike zone when she pulled back the bunt. Aside from seeing the play did the umpire say anything that leads you to believe she was still in the strike zone?
He said she attempted to bunt and was in the act of pulling back. I am a crazy mama that sits near the bleachers behind the backstop. so I also saw the ball hit her over the plate. The umpire seemed to feel that since she wasn't making an attempt on the ball that she should get her base. Like I said, he was pretty solid otherwise, so maybe he didn't feel the ball would have been a strike. I just wanted to be sure that I understood the rule.
The field ump was another story. He missed an interference call on the runner going from 1st to 2nd. 2nd baseman fielded the ball and was within 1/2 step of getting the out at first, so she clearly had a play on the ball. He was standing behind the 2nd baseman and claims he didn't see the contact - only one in the park that didn't. Next play, fly ball to right field, clean catch and relay, runner on 3rd halfway home at catch and never tagged up. Both umpires were watching the catch, neither was watching the runners. This was a 14u Championship Game. We expect and normally have better officiating. The other team was hitting better than DDs and probably should have won anyway, but we'd want the outcome to be determined by the play of the girls.
The field ump was another story. He missed an interference call on the runner going from 1st to 2nd. 2nd baseman fielded the ball and was within 1/2 step of getting the out at first, so she clearly had a play on the ball. He was standing behind the 2nd baseman and claims he didn't see the contact - only one in the park that didn't. Next play, fly ball to right field, clean catch and relay, runner on 3rd halfway home at catch and never tagged up. Both umpires were watching the catch, neither was watching the runners. This was a 14u Championship Game. We expect and normally have better officiating. The other team was hitting better than DDs and probably should have won anyway, but we'd want the outcome to be determined by the play of the girls.
Must have been the same umps for my 14U championship game. With the score tied 2 - 2 in the bottom of the 7th I had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Batter hits the ball to 2nd baseman who makes a sweep tag at my runner and then threw to 1st for the force. Field ump called the base runner out for the double play. The 2nd baseman missed the girl by a foot and this is not opinion. I have two separate videos that confirm it was a bad call. Bottom line: We lost in our 2nd ITB with a throwing error on my 3rd baseman that allowed the runner on 2nd to score. I will give credit to the umps in that game. That was the only bad call and they did a remarkable job controlling the other team's fans. We had some drunk parents on the other side that were getting out of control and the umps laid down the law and kept the crowd under control.
Really? One checked swing ruled a strike kicked you out of a Tournament? How about not scoring more runs than the other team kicked you out of the Tournament?
Not trying to be rude, but blaming one missed call (especially a ball/strike call) on getting eliminated is crazy. I bet if you looked through the book you would find that fielders made errors (both physical and mental), batters struck out looking, pitchers didn't hit spots...ect.
Well onto the OP, IMO it should have been called a strike not a HBP.
I didn't want to bore with details but.........................
The Ump called it against us 3 times. The other team, not once. It was a close game and we lost 1-0. Were there other things? Of course there were. But he took a swing away from one of our best hitters and essentially ruined her at bat trying to figure out what went wrong.
Bottom line is it was a bad call at a critical time. Did you see the perfect game taken away? Same sort of deal. If you point to the single most pivotal moment that was it.
Geeeeesh, people sure get nit picky around here. It's not like I'm on here claiming fantasies like entire 14U leagues pitching are all throwing 60 M.P.H. etc.................
If the ball hits any part of the body while in the strike zone, the ball is dead and a strike is called on the batter.
Similar threads
