Intentional Hit By Pitch - Coach Tells P to Hit Batter?

[softgabby]

I'll give a little different take on this. I was actually placed in this situation two years ago as a pitcher when I was 13. I never had a coach tell me to purposely throw at a hitter...but I had one of my teammates come to me on a conference in the circle telling me to intentionally hit a batter because one of my teammates got hit and to my teammates seen this as intentional. Did I throw at her? No! Did I throw inside a little further than I ordinarily would have? Yes. As players we can choose whether or not to seek vengeance on the softball field. Whether or not this is part of the game is highly debatable. I don't think it's part of the game and it shouldn't be either. I'm curious as to what the official rules are regarding this?

Now on the other hand...in Babe Ruth baseball, my brother was a part of this and was intentionally thrown at and hit by a pitcher and both the pitcher and the coach were ejected from the game.

 

[Rocketech1]

NEVER ok to intentionally throw at a batter whether it's baseball or softball, and if a coach is advocating this they should lose the ability to ever coach again This whole idea that players need to "police themselves" is complete crap at any age or playing level. Let's stop this nonsense and old school mentality.

 

[Sparky Guy]

This whole idea that players need to "police themselves" is complete crap at any age or playing level. Let's stop this nonsense and old school mentality.

Have to disagree with you there to a point. DD was pitching in a college game. The 1B on the opposing team would intentionally slap the runners in the head hard with the ball on a pick-off attempt when the runners dove back to the bag. There was no doubt this was being done intentionally. It was done on every throw down whether the play was close or not.

When the 1B came up to bat it was the 1st and only time I saw my DD throw at a batter. She stuck two balls up under her chin knocking her down twice. Then proceeded to K her with 2 curves, another one under chin and another curve. After that at bat the BS at 1st stopped. I never once told my DD to intentionally hit a girl from the time she first started pitching. She hit plenty on her own when she was younger without intending to.

I never did ask if it was intentional and she never volunteered any info, but in 4 years of pitching in college her HBP total was 9 while facing over 2500 hitters.

 

[riseball]

Just like everywhere else in college softball there are certain societal norms. If you choose to cross the line, it will be addressed. One way or another.

 

[BobInMadison]

When my DD 3 was 10u she hit girls with pitches all the time.
Then she learned better control as she got older.

With teams at this level of play, did the pitcher even have enough control to hit a girl or miss?

 

[sbmom19]

My DD has been hit by a lot of pitches. She is a power hitter that goes yard. Not a brag, just the truth. Do they intentionally hit her? Maybe. Do they try to throw her inside to try to jam her and keep her from going deep, possibly missing and hitting her. Yeah, I think so. At 10U? I am sure that they just miss!

 

[Rocketech1]

Have to disagree with you there to a point. DD was pitching in a college game. The 1B on the opposing team would intentionally slap the runners in the head hard with the ball on a pick-off attempt when the runners dove back to the bag. There was no doubt this was being done intentionally. It was done on every throw down whether the play was close or not.

When the 1B came up to bat it was the 1st and only time I saw my DD throw at a batter. She stuck two balls up under her chin knocking her down twice. Then proceeded to K her with 2 curves, another one under chin and another curve. After that at bat the BS at 1st stopped. I never once told my DD to intentionally hit a girl from the time she first started pitching. She hit plenty on her own when she was younger without intending to.

I never did ask if it was intentional and she never volunteered any info, but in 4 years of pitching in college her HBP total was 9 while facing over 2500 hitters.

I don't see a problem with this as she didn't intentionally hit her, she only brushed her off the plate and ended up striking her out.

I'm talking about when a player hits a home run, the next time she is at bat, the pitcher throws a fastball into her ribs, and then the pitcher gets hit the next time she is at bat, etc. Completely insane IMO and totally unnecessary.

Disagree with riseball, if a player crosses the line,, the umpire should address it. Otherwise it just breeds retaliation and vigilantism. Softball is not a contact sport and should be played in a respectful way without having to resort to battery. Nobody benefits from that behavior. It's a pretty simple concept to follow.

 

[CoachJD]

First of all, the kids are 10. An adult telling a 10 year old to do something purposefully that could potentially lead to serious injury is deplorable.

It's also probably a crime.

 

[coachjwb]

No adult coach should ever tell a youth player to throw at or intentionally hurt another youth player ... period. It's wrong in every sense of the word, and any adult coach who does so should be banned from coaching. Why would a 10 year old offer that up voluntarily if it wasn't true? With that being said, any conversation you have with the coach based on this alone would probably get ugly. I would consider either you as coach or the mother of the girl who got hit talking to the parent of the player who said this to try to figure out if it really happened or not.

But regardless, the point is no adult coach should EVER do this!!

 

[CoogansBluff]

My point was its common in baseball even at younger ages. I have never heard of it happening in softball. It's hard to imagine a coach making that call at all much less factoring in the age of the girls and the relationships he knows the girls have.

I apologize GunnerShotgun for bringing up baseball. Just using as an example as it is common in BB. I'm fairly new to the Fastpitch world, so I am not up to speed on Softball Unwritten rules. Is there no beanball in FPSB?

The way you worded it, I wasn't sure what you were saying. It happens in softball, but it's rare, and I certainly wouldn't call it part of the game. I can recall only 1 game in 7 years of travel ball where I'm sure it happened, and I wasn't happy about it. It was the pitcher on DD's team taking it upon herself to plunk somebody, and while one could argue that the victim had it coming, it was still wrong and accomplished nothing.

But my view on it doesn't have anything to do w/ the frequency of it or unwritten rules. It's just not OK for adults to tell kids to hit other kids. Shouldn't happen in baseball either, IMO, not when kids are involved. What happens on a college team with young adults is a little different. I don't condone it then either, but at least they are no longer children.