Dead Ball or continuation?

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here's the setup:

runner on third
pitch is a passed ball, pitcher and third baseman (who was in covering bunt attempt) rush in, catcher runs back, runner on third running home.

foul ball from other field lands directly in front of home plate and bounces, pitcher and third baseman hesitate/stop, runner scores..

should there have been a dead ball and runner sent back to third? or does play resume? and if it resumes, why? judgement of ump if play could have been made...does that mean i can roll a bucket of balls during middle of game and not impede any of the action going on during the game (not that i'm going to do that)

 

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same type of situation, batter hits ball to outfield, ball is returned to the SS standing on 2nd base. Batter reaches 1st base safely and rounds the bag when she sees a ball bouncing past her toward the outfield (this ball is a foul ball from an adjacent field). Batter/runner takes off for 2nd base where she is tagged out by the SS who has been holding the real game ball all along.

In this situation, they put the batter/runner back at 1st base.

 

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Those clover-leaf configurations can be a problem sometimes but they are a great set up for watching multiple games. Maybe this is something that can be discussed at home plate at the coaches meeting. I'd have to say dead ball, return runners to original bases but I'm not sure. I'd sure be bummed if I was the team whose run scored but sure would be happy if I was the team whose girl was out at second.

 

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Dead ball runner goes back.

 

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Dead ball runner goes back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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When a ball from another field enters your field, it's not automatically a dead ball.

If there is no play in progress, then the umpires should call time until the ball is retrieved.

If there is a play in progress, just because another ball enters the field the umpires shouldn't necesarily kill the play. To take this to an extreme, what if the play being made is at the plate and the other ball comes in somewhere out around second base? If I'm the umpire in that game, I'm not calling time on that one!

Killing the play is totally at the discretion of the umpire. Some things to consider are the proximity of the errant ball to the play being made, if there was some reasonable chance that the players could confuse the "extra" ball with the live game ball or if the ball from the other game had any real impact on the play at hand.

You would have to see it to judge it and it's not anything until you judge it!

On this play, without seeing it in person, I'm kind of on the fence. We have just had a passed ball and a catcher chasing it back toward the screen. Was there any reasonable expectation that two defensive players would mistake the game ball for one suddenly flying over the backstop right in front of them and bouncing quite a few feet away from where the game ball really was? Did anyone on the defensive team mistakedly try to play upon the other ball, instead of the "real" one? Did the defense have any reasonable chance of actually retiring the runner at home?

I dunno...you tell me...

Now, Ray, I know that you would never resort to dumping a bucket of ball onto the field to confuse the defense while making a play! But if you did, that would be something altogether different than a single ball accidentally entering the field.

Just supposing a coach tried that, you're looking at an out for interference by an offensive team member and probably an ejection for unsportsmanlike conduct!

 

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thanks, bret, now no onw withing 5 meters of me will let me around bucket of wiffles, softballs or even gum! it was one of those that i hadnt seen in quite a while, thanks for clearing it up for me!

 

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I personally think the first scenerio of the play at home.... you just have to let the play continue. As for the second play, with the runner who thought the ball that was hit on the field was "their game ball" ... then in USSSA there is a rule Called Rule 10, and rule 10 makes me as an umpire sole judgement with what is "fair play". That would be dead ball as that is a thought process of the runner versus the untimely sitaution of the play at home.