Scoring question..Triple or error?

Bases empty, no outs. My batter hits a hard long line shot STRAIGHT at the CF. Its not knuckling, its spinning clean. CF doesn't have to move, it will hit her in the forehead. She opts to come in a few gentle strides and it soars over her glove by 12 inches. Runner stopped at third.

This is high school, second round of playoffs by two very decent teams. I did not scout the CF and do not know her skill level. The average high school centerfielder makes that catch and the batter is retired.

I gave it an E due to this definition of an error....NFHS rules...."An error is charged against a fielder for each misplay that..... prolongs the time a player has to be a runner, or permits a runner to advance one or more bases." Whereas a hit is credited "when a batter-runner advances to first safely because of a fair hit, rather than a fielder's error". Or should it be a triple because it was "hit so forcefully that the fielder couldn't handle it"?

I disagree with notion that a hit ball needs to be touched by a fielder to record an error. Opinions please?

It's about ordinary effort. Should the catch have been made with ordinary effort? If so, then it is an error. If not, then it is a hit.

If the ball was not touched, it should be a Triple imo. The fielder saw something that made her think she need to come in to make the play (common mistake), but not a technical error if the ball wasn't touched.

MLB game couple yrs back. High pop up infield. Pitcher coming towards plate. For some reason he stopped, thought catcher called it, lost it, whatever. Ball hits ground between C and P. Announcers said base hit. I like most wanted to assign E but the they said you can't charge mental E. While your example is line drive and mine is easy fly they are both results of mental. In your case misjudged in mine poor something. What is the correct verdict?

Usually scored a triple when it doesn't touch a glove and is a misjudgement.

Errors require some sort of physical mistake, not a mental mistake. Thats a triple every time, unless you are the pitchers parent in which case its an error.

Per scoring rules you have to go with a triple.

IMHO they should really looking into changing scoring rules but until the do it's a hit.

my two cents....triple

Phathead said:

MLB game couple yrs back. High pop up infield. Pitcher coming towards plate. For some reason he stopped, thought catcher called it, lost it, whatever. Ball hits ground between C and P. Announcers said base hit. I like most wanted to assign E but the they said you can't charge mental E. While your example is line drive and mine is easy fly they are both results of mental. In your case misjudged in mine poor something. What is the correct verdict?

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You are correct in classifying both of these as mental misplays. You might even call them ''judgment'' errors. If you are judging something, you are engaging in a mental exercise. Can't be charged an error for that.

Also, on a different subject, an error doesn't require that the glove touch the ball. If the fielder indeed had been hit in the head on the flyball in the original post, that can be ruled an error.

The ball was misplayed and that misplay allowed her to get to first safely. This play would have resulted in an out 92 times out of 100 in this league. That's an error in my book. No different than a can of corn to CF that misses her glove by 12 inches where the sun wasn't a factor.