Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
First, thank you, I am enjoying this discussion. Second, IMO, the official scorer's job is to accurately record what happened during the game, rather than interpret and evaluate the strategy employed by either team. Given this, IMO the official scorer has to interpret the defensive team's perception as reflected by their on field actions to determine whether a team was indifferent or not. While allowing the go ahead run to advance into scoring position in a tight game might not seem like a good strategy or something to which you or I as official score would be indifferent to, clearly a team that makes no play in that 1st and 3rd situation hasn't perceived the value of the runner significant enough to attempt any sort of a play (which would then make the advance as SB).
14.15.2 is pretty clear on the FC notation. The NCAA DI definitiion is below and seems always to be booked as FC (due to indifference)
14.2.7 Defensive Indifference: Scoring term to describe the
lack of a defensive play on a batter-runner or base runner running
the bases after a batted ball, or a base runner attempting
to steal a base after a pitch when the player’s advance is perceived
to have no bearing on the outcome of the game.
A. R. 14.2.7.1 In the bottom of the seventh inning with no
one out and the winning run on third base, the batter taps the
ball to the pitcher who makes no throw to first base to prevent
the winning run from scoring. RULING—Credit the batter with
a fielder’s choice to gain first base and an additional fielder’s
choice if she gains second base due to indifference.
A.R. 14.2.7.2 In the bottom of the seventh inning with no one
out, base runners on first and third bases, the base runner from
first base advances to second base with no play by the catcher
to prevent the winning run from scoring. RULING—Credit the
base runner with a fielder’s choice to gain second base due
to indifference. (See Rule 14.7.2.5 and 14.15)
