infield fly rule question

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last night at DD's game the infield fly rule was called. actually not until after did the ump say infield fly, not yelled out at any point during the play.
anyway, bases loaded one out. infield pop up. batter out. so far so good. runner on third drifts off of the bag and stops. 2b sees this and throws to third, runner comes back and is tagged.
ump calls her safe because infield fly rule was invoked, although as stated previously, no one heard the ump say it.
we had assumed since the baserunner decided to drift towards home she was fair game.
how about a clarification? just want to know for future use. DD was in the circle and i thought she had gotten out of the inning.....

 

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I'm confused. Was the runner at 3rd tagged while off the base? If so, she is out regardless of the IF call. The point of the IF rule is so the runners are not obligated to advance if the ball is dropped because they are no longer being forced when the batter/runner is out. However, they MAY advance at their own peril and are subject to every other normal rule concerning baserunning.

 

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that is exactly what happened. the runner drifted off third, 2b threw to the bag, 3b tagged her coming back to third. should be three down out of inning. 1b coach for that team talked the ump out of calling the runner out because infield fly was invoked.
i thought that even though you call if rule, if you decide to move you're fair game.

 

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I thought that once infield fly was called than everything is dead,,I may be wrong though

 

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No. "Runners MAY advance at their own peril"

 

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Infield fly only means that the runners MAY advance but they do not HAVE to. The batter is out but the ball certainly is not dead. The infield fly rule is in effect even if it is not "called" by the umpire (i.e. the batter is still out and the runners are not forced to advance on a dropped ball even though the umpire may not use proper mechanics and make the announcement). The offense is responsible for knowing the rule. Not sure why the runner on third would have "drifted" but when she did she was fair game.

 

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Fastpitch Life ... definitely not, as noted above, force play is now off, but runners can advance at their own risk. If the runner on third is tagged off the base, she is out. If the ball was actually caught, and she hadn't yet tagged up, she could also be out if a fielder touched the bag before she got back.

 

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1b coach for that team talked the ump out of calling the runner out because infield fly was invoked.

There's nothing about the infield fly rule that would prevent this runner from being tagged out. Sounds like an out to me...

But, in the spirit of recent OFC discussions...should we start mauling this dishonest and immoral coach? He apparently argued a rule that doesn't exist, talked the umpires into too, and in the process maligned not just one kid, but an entire team of kids.

Let the bashing begin!

 

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some people are just better salesmen than others i guesss!!!

 

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like I said ,,, I may be wrong,,,, wont be the last time

 

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"No Brainer" runner is out.
Umpire was wrong.
As stated runners may advance at their own risk on "infield fly rule"
1st Base coach needs to brush up on the rules.

 

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The only conceivable reason the umpire put the runner back on 3B is IF they put them in jeopardy by calling IFF after the fact. This typically happens though when the catch was missed. It's a tough sell when the catch was made.

 

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There's nothing about the infield fly rule that would prevent this runner from being tagged out. Sounds like an out to me...

But, in the spirit of recent OFC discussions...should we start mauling this dishonest and immoral coach? He apparently argued a rule that doesn't exist, talked the umpires into too, and in the process maligned not just one kid, but an entire team of kids.

Let the bashing begin!

Oh boy! That's funny right there.

 

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Bretman, help me out on this if I am wrong. The Umpire doesn't have to yell "Infield Fly Rule, Batter is out" for the rule to be in effect.

 

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No, it's not a requirement of the rule that the umpires must announce the infield fly for the batter to be out. The rule itself says that the batter is out whenever all of the infield fly conditions have been met. You can't be "more out" or "less out" just because the umpire says some magic phrase.

Announcing it is really just a courtesy to (you hope) prevent confusion. The rule is what it is- conditions either exist for a possible infield fly or they don't. The variable is the umpire's judgment of "ordinary effort" for the infielder to make the catch. Announcing it let's everyone know what the umpire has judged. It helps the players, both on offense and defense, to know their responsibility for tagging up or advancing and what plays might happen next.

At least...in theory it does. There have been MANY times where I've announced an infield fly and chaos ensues!

Still, the recommended mechanic for umpires is to always announce an infield fly when one is hit. There will usually be the least confusion that way. If they don't, it is permissible to invoke it retroactively, after the play. And, if it's not announced, and that causes a disadvantage for the runners, it is expected that the umpires correct that and place runners on whichever bases they judge would have been reached had it been properly announced.