game winning fielders choice??

[Indiana]

1. false
2. false
3. false

??? I'm going off of what you said earlier, that if a ball hits the dirt in front of the plate it's a WP? Ha! Now I'm not so confident

I ran into a bit of this the other night; DD's team was scrimmaging a much weaker opponent (actually registered as a class below DD's team). DD's team was hitting hard grounders that the ss couldn't really handle. They would get past her, and then the outfield wouldn't be prepared to field and throw quickly, resulting in the batter taking 2nd base. How to score that? A single? A double? A ROE, since an equally classed team would make the 6-3? Plus, since it was a scrimmage, a dad was the plate umpire and his daughter was pitching! He was calling a pretty tight zone - I thought his DD was going to kill him at one point. I've experienced that! When my DH is plate umpiring our DD in a scrimmage the ride home is silence punctuated by outbursts of fury. It's super fun - ha ha.

 

[CoogansBluff]

DD's team was hitting hard grounders that the ss couldn't really handle. They would get past her, and then the outfield wouldn't be prepared to field and throw quickly, resulting in the batter taking 2nd base. How to score that? A single? A double? A ROE, since an equally classed team would make the 6-3?

For me, the question is whether there was a physical misplay of the ball. If the outfielders failed to back up, that is not an error. (It's a mistake, but not an 'error' as defined by scorekeeping, IMO.) As for the shortstop, that's harder. Did she get herself in good position to catch it? If she's in front of it and well-positioned to make a play and failed to glove it cleanly, then that's an error. If she lacked the skill or experience to react and move to get in good position, then that's the tougher call. I often have to hold my nose and call that a hit.

I've learned this middle school season that the more imbalance you have among the teams you're scoring the less meaningful that stats can be. Most of our team's extra-base hits in a 15-game season have been against three terrible teams that have such bad outfielders that they can hardly get to the ball, much less catch it routinely. So fly balls that would be caught by the better teams get into the gap untouched by others who don't have the skill or experience even to get there. You have to call them hits, and usually doubles, triples and home runs. So when you're looking at team stats, certain players' stats are inflated by 'great' performances against these inept defenses. Especially when you're talking about a short season (15 games) relative to a summer of travel ball (50+ games).

 

[Greenmonsters]

OK, now that your confident IA, here's your official PB/WP quiz. Assuming HS or younger age so NFCA guidelines are being used, please correctly identify the following statements as true or false

1. A ball in the dirt that gets by the C is a PB.
2. A ball in the dirt that gets by the C is not a WP if it could have been stopped by the catcher with ordinary effort.
3. The identical pitch could be a WP for one catcher and a cleanly caught ball for another catcher.

1. false CORRECT!
2. false CORRECT!
3. false OOPS! should be true i.e., a tall (or more skilled catcher) will be able to catch a high (or semi-wild) pitch that a short (or less skilled) catcher can't

I'm going off of what you said earlier, that if a ball hits the dirt in front of the plate it's a WP? Ha! Now I'm not so confident

Unless its college-age and NCAA scoring, I will follow the NFCA scoring rules, so any ball in the dirt that gets by the catcher officially is a ruled a PB regardless of where it hit the ground or the catcher's effort.

Nice job IA, thanks for playing. FWIW - a two out three batting average will lead the league (assuming, of course, accurate scorekeeping!)

 

[Scl1991]

For me, the question is whether there was a physical misplay of the ball. If the outfielders failed to back up, that is not an error. (It's a mistake, but not an 'error' as defined by scorekeeping, IMO.) As for the shortstop, that's harder. Did she get herself in good position to catch it? If she's in front of it and well-positioned to make a play and failed to glove it cleanly, then that's an error. If she lacked the skill or experience to react and move to get in good position, then that's the tougher call. I often have to hold my nose and call that a hit.

I've learned this middle school season that the more imbalance you have among the teams you're scoring the less meaningful that stats can be. Most of our team's extra-base hits in a 15-game season have been against three terrible teams that have such bad outfielders that they can hardly get to the ball, much less catch it routinely. So fly balls that would be caught by the better teams get into the gap untouched by others who don't have the skill or experience even to get there. You have to call them hits, and usually doubles, triples and home runs. So when you're looking at team stats, certain players' stats are inflated by 'great' performances against these inept defenses. Especially when you're talking about a short season (15 games) relative to a summer of travel ball (50+ games).

Errors are typically the opinion of the scorekeeper, but you have to take in account ability sometimes. It would be nice to score things "I" for incompetence if you could! Incompetence isn't an error, however, and that does work against some teams sometimes.