Anyone heard of this rule?

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This happened at one of our high school games... did not happen to our team but I was a little confussed because I had never heard of this.

Player steps into the batters box (right handed batter, not that it matters) swipes her foot from right to left through the batters box. Umpire throws up his hands and yells "dead ball..... strike one to the batter!" When questioned by the coach what just happened, the umpire said the batter kicked dirt out of the batters box which is illegal and the pitcher is awarded a strike.

It is not uncommon for batters to kick the dirt around in the batters box to get their footing set. I have never heard of this.... has anyone else?

 

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Sounds like BS to me.

 

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You sure he wasn't complaining that the batter was rubbing out the chalk lines marking the batter's box?

 

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Sounds like BS to me.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. The surprising thing was..... the coach didn't argue the call just wanted to know why the umpire had just called a strike to the batter. Once the umpire explained to him why he called the strike, the coach just shook his head as he walked back to the 3rd base..... :lmao: I think he was just speachless.

 

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You sure he wasn't complaining that the batter was rubbing out the chalk lines marking the batter's box?

No, I was sitting directly behind home plate and the umpire clearly said that the "batter kicked dirt out of the batter's box". All us parents just looked at each other.....

 

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NFHS Softball Rule Book, Rule 7-2

ART. 1 . . . A strike is charged to the batter when:
a. a pitched ball enters any part of the strike zone in flight and is not struck at.
b. a pitched ball is struck at and missed.
c. a pitched ball becomes a foul when the batter has less than two strikes.
d. a pitched ball becomes a foul tip (even on a third strike) or a foul from an attempted bunt (F.P.).
e. a penalty strike is called because a batter delays (7-3-1).
f. a batted ball contacts the batter in the batter’s box (foul ball).
g. a pitched ball contacts the batter while swinging at the ball or the batter is hit by the pitch that is in the strike zone (dead-ball strike).
h. a pitched ball, in the umpire's judgment, is prevented from entering the strike zone by any actions of the batter (dead-ball strike).
i. when a member of the offensive team intentionally removes a line.

So I say total BS.

 

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Under high school rules, it is illegal for players to intentionally remove any of the marked field lines (batter's boxes, pitching circle, foul lines, etc.).

Yes, I agree that this is a goofy rule. It actually trickled down to high school ball from NCAA softball about three years ago, where coaches complained about it and where they have a huge input on rule changes. Most of their complaints were aimed at pitchers erasing the lines of the 24" "pitching lane" and slappers obliterating the batter's boxes to make calling them out of it more difficult.

But just "kicking dirt" as the batter digs into the box should not be interpreted as intentionally removing the lines. There are plenty of natural game actions that will obscure lines and none of them fall under this rule.

The penalty for intentionally erasing lines on the field: On the first offense, if it is defensive player a ball is added to the batter's count, if an offensive player a strike is added. A team warning is also to be issued. On the second offense by the same team, the same ball or strike penalty is enforced, PLUS the player AND the head coach are restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game.

Goofy, goofy rule in my opinion. Unfortunately, if working a high school game I'm bound to enforce. Before enforcing it, an umpire should be 110% certain that whatever the player is doing is intentionally, purposely, delberately, obviously and blatantly designed to actually erase the line.

 

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I know it wasn't our coach, he wouldn't have been speechless....