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I've decided that I don't have enough stress in my life so I have taken up umpiring. Last night I was behind the plate for my first fastpitch scrimmage and I was working by myself. High School aged players. Here was a situation that I was wondering about:
No chalked lines for batter's box. Batter way up in the box, back foot in front of the plate. I had no issue with her but the catcher also then moved way up so that not only was she nearly on the plate (so seeing the plate became difficult) but it appeared that on an off speed pitch, she nearly reached IN FRONT of the plate to receive the pitch.
So here is my question.....if the catcher, in my judgement, had reached in front of the plate to receive the pitch, and did not interfere with the batter in any way, what would be the call? The ball had not reached the plate so how am I to determine if it was a strike or not? High/low is not the issue but inside/outside would be.
How would this be handled? Is there a rule that addresses it?
No chalked lines for batter's box. Batter way up in the box, back foot in front of the plate. I had no issue with her but the catcher also then moved way up so that not only was she nearly on the plate (so seeing the plate became difficult) but it appeared that on an off speed pitch, she nearly reached IN FRONT of the plate to receive the pitch.
So here is my question.....if the catcher, in my judgement, had reached in front of the plate to receive the pitch, and did not interfere with the batter in any way, what would be the call? The ball had not reached the plate so how am I to determine if it was a strike or not? High/low is not the issue but inside/outside would be.
How would this be handled? Is there a rule that addresses it?