Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the call?

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We have had this happen a couple of times and it has been called both ways.
If the pitch hits the dirt and then bounces back up and hits the batter what is the correct call.
We have had the call that it is a dead ball and not a hit batter because it hit the ground first so it is not hit batter by pitcher and then we have had it where the call was hit batter and the batter was given 1st.
Does anyone know what the actual right call is???

 

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Re: Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the cal

If it bounces and hits the batter, it's a hit by pitch, dead ball batter gets first as long as an attempt was made to move. If it bounces and the batter decides to swing and hit it, a live ball in play.

 

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Re: Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the cal

Hilliarddad is correct. And this is another one of those "rule myths" that just won't go away...

There's nothing magical about the pitch hitting the ground on this play. It is still a pitch. All of the rules regarding pitches hitting batters still apply. This is true for all softball and baseball rule sets.

If the ball hitting the ground meant that the ball was dead, how could a runner ever advance on a wild pitch or passed ball?

We had another thread this week and talked about "rule myths". "Hands are part of the bat" and "a foul tip is a dead ball" were a couple that I think would be in the top five most often confused rules. That a pitch hitting the ground is a dead ball would probably be included in that top five list.

It's something that many, many people consider to be an actual rule, but it is not. Unless you're playing slow pitch!

 

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Re: Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the cal

I originally thought that it was a hit by pitcher too but when it happens and you get different calls from different umpires sometime it is hard to know what it right and what is wrong.

 

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Re: Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the cal

I know some leagues that don't give the batter first base in this situation.

 

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Re: Pitch hits ground then batter- What is the cal

In my DD's rec league I've seen it occur several times where the ump states that the player didn't make an attempt to move even though hey did - apparently just "not enough of an attempt" to satisfy the ump. I haven't noticed this being the case when she plays travel ball though.