Pitcher does her wind up and releases ball in to ground and rolls toward home plate but doesn't reach home plate. Is this an illegal pitch?
Ball doesn't reach plate = IP ?
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ArmyStrong
Going broke on softball
My DD and I learned this by reading a DFP thread on this a couple years back. Just last weekend, she was in her delivery, something went wrong, and she held onto it until the very last moment and dropped it. It rolled about 6 inches in front of her. The ump called it a ball. The other team wanted the IP, but the ump explained to them that the ball left her hand.
Would not have known this if it weren't for the contributors here on DFP!!
That's what I understood as well. Ump in game this weekend didn't call IP "because it was a pool game". But said it was a bracket game and it didn't cross it was an IP.
Thank you for the reply.
Thank you for the reply.
Another thing that you can do with the younger ones when this happens is steal. For the Little League Minor girls you have to wait for the ball to reach the batter before you can steal. But once it hits the ground you can take off and do not have to wait. Not that too many catchers are going to throw you out in Minors anyway but a good thing to know nevertheless
Just a couple more comments on this particular situation:
In most rule sets, this is still a live ball and runners can advance at their own risk.
If this ball is still rolling toward the plate and the batter could have a chance to swing at it, it would be catcher's obstruction if the catcher jumps up and runs out in front of the batter to retrieve the ball.
In most rule sets, this is still a live ball and runners can advance at their own risk.
If this ball is still rolling toward the plate and the batter could have a chance to swing at it, it would be catcher's obstruction if the catcher jumps up and runs out in front of the batter to retrieve the ball.
So if a ball that fails to reach the plate is an IP then I guess any inside pitch that is pulled is probably also an IP?
Armystrong, I recall a thread a couple years back when the NCAA pitcher tripped herself and fell with the ball resulting in an IP. Had she let go of the ball, it would have been just a ball called. That's what I thought it was odd about his comment.
That's the perfect example of the situation. The ball only has to be released to make it a pitch. It doesn't matter what direction the ball goes, or if it crosses the plate. It sounds like the ump needs a refresher on that part of the rules.
As I recall from that play when the pitcher hung her spike in the shoelace she yanked both feet off the ground, so actually would have been a leap even if she had released the ball. But yes, not release the ball on a pitch would be an IP.
