Anyone seen this anywhere else?

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How about this rule-we were playing on a field at Brady's Run in Beaver County (this happened twice-game changing hits final score was 5-8) batter hit an incredible hard line drive hit to right/center ball lands and starts to roll down the hill only to land under a spectator's chair in a gap (huge gap about 20 feet wide where one fence ended and the back of the other field's fence was) in the fence by the time the right fielder gets there. Fielder raises hands because the ball is out of play. Umps do not call it out of play???Say it is park rules? Does this sound right to anyone??

 

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If it was in right-center and not off to either side (out of bounds area) I would say live ball, no ground rule double. Does this happen often? Maybe they should not allow spectators back there if the is no barrier.

 

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That's the reason ground rules are supposed to be covered at the pre-game plate conference.

It's also the reason that the umpires should not allow spectators to be sitting or standing in an area designated as live ball territory.

Cover the ground rules before the game and keep the fans off the field area and these problems should never happen. Here I go, sounding like a broken record again...game management...game management...game management...

By the way, a fielder raising her hands over her head means absolutely nothing with respect to the ball being live, dead or out-of-play. Just because a fielder raises her hands, it doesn't kill the ball. This only serves to alert the umpires that they have a possible dead ball situation and need to take a closer look at the ball's location. Until an umpire raises his hands and calls "time" or "dead ball" the fielders should assume the ball to still be live and not give up on the play.