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Batter has two strikes, she swings and misses. Ball hits the catcher and she catches ball on her lap and its not ruled an out? Umpires and another parent says ball needs to be caught with a glove?
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this is correct, ball must be caught right off the bat.
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Since we're talking about a swing and a miss...
The catch of the third strike needs to meet the same definition of a catch as on a batted ball. That is, the ball must have been airbourne from the pitcher's hand until it is secured by the catcher, not touching the ground, the batter or the umpire, it may not be caught with detached equipment and it must eventually be securely held in the hand or glove.
On this play, with the ball being held in the catcher's lap, you don't have a catch...yet. But, as soon as the catcher grabs it and holds it securely with the hand or glove, you do have a catch (again, assuming that it never touched the ground, etc.).
Once the catch is completed, then you have a caught third strike and the batter is out.
It sounds like maybe the umpire was confusing this with the definition of a foul tip, which is something completely different. On a foul tip (when the bat barely nicks the ball and the ball goes sharply straight to the catcher) to be a legal catch the ball must first touch the catcher's hands or glove before touching anything else. It might rebound from there before eventually being caught and it would still be a foul tip, which is a live ball and a strike.
The catch of the third strike needs to meet the same definition of a catch as on a batted ball. That is, the ball must have been airbourne from the pitcher's hand until it is secured by the catcher, not touching the ground, the batter or the umpire, it may not be caught with detached equipment and it must eventually be securely held in the hand or glove.
On this play, with the ball being held in the catcher's lap, you don't have a catch...yet. But, as soon as the catcher grabs it and holds it securely with the hand or glove, you do have a catch (again, assuming that it never touched the ground, etc.).
Once the catch is completed, then you have a caught third strike and the batter is out.
It sounds like maybe the umpire was confusing this with the definition of a foul tip, which is something completely different. On a foul tip (when the bat barely nicks the ball and the ball goes sharply straight to the catcher) to be a legal catch the ball must first touch the catcher's hands or glove before touching anything else. It might rebound from there before eventually being caught and it would still be a foul tip, which is a live ball and a strike.
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