2 Questions

[snoman76]

1) Batter lazily swings at an inside pitch which ends up hitting her on the hand and rolled down the first base line fair, pitcher picked up and threw to first for an out.... I asked why it wasn't a dead ball strike and he said because the ball was in fair territory. How is this any different from her swinging and missing, the ball hitting her leg and then trickling in front of the plate in fair territory? What's the right call?

2) Hit by pitch rule is USA?... I thought that if the pitch came into the batters box she did not have to make an attempt to move. In a discussion last night someone said that an umpire showed him in the book that the batter has to make an attempt to move out of the way of the pitch that's entirely in the batters box. I'm still having a hard time believing this.

 

[BretMan2]

1) Sounds like it should have been a dead ball and a strike.

For this to be a batted ball it must hit the bat, not the batter. Whenever the batter swings and misses, it's a strike. Anytime a pitch touches a batter it is a dead ball.

And, no, the hands are NOT part of the bat. They are part of the batter.

Put it all together and you have...a dead ball and a strike added to the count.

2) For USA softball, what you were told is correct.

Some sanctions have made it so the batter doesn't have to avoid the pitch if the ball is entirely inside the batter's box. But USA isn't one of them.

Still...for a pitch inside the box, give the batter every benefit of the doubt. Any defensive move will qualify as "an attempt to avoid". As long as the batter isn't purposely contacting the ball or intentionally moving into it, award the base.

 

[snoman76]

Thanks Bretman!

1) That's what I thought

2) I just learned something.