Hit or Error

In a game this past weekend - the leadoff batter bunts the ball right back to the pitcher who cleanly fields the ball, runner is not even half way down the baseline...
first baseman was crashing and the second baseman had a brain fart and did not cover first base so pitcher never throws the ball.

Is this recorded as a hit?

It's a single.

Edit - removed my unintentional hijack.

I wold score as a hit. If you read the scorekeepers guide the standard is ordinary effort. So when keeping score what is ordinary effort at 10u may be routine in HS. Just because a ball hits the glove does not equate an error. The situation in your OP is the reason why with younger players you need to do some "enhanced" score keeping. I would have my scorekeepers notate an M4 for a mental error and we would count those up at the end of the day. When hitting we would also note which kids hit the ball hard. I would much rather have a kid go 0-3 hitting rockets than 3-3 on misplayed bloopers.

I would think it would be an error on 2B for not covering (1st scenario). That's 2B's job on a bunt, at least the way we do it on our team? The 2nd I think I'd score a hit.

By the way is there some sort of guide with official answers to scoring questions? I come across things like this often keeping score and I have to guess. I'm pretty new to score keeping & bumbling my way through most of the time.

Wouldn't the first scenario be a fielders choice. Its not a hit but there is no error either

grcsftbll said:

I would think it would be an error on 2B for not covering (1st scenario). That's 2B's job on a bunt, at least the way we do it on our team?

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Rockjerry said:

Wouldn't the first scenario be a fielders choice. Its not a hit but there is no error either

Click to expand...

It's a hit.

Scoring rules almost never punish mental errors. Yes, it's a mistake, but not a scoring 'error.'

Hit. No physical error occurred so one cannot be charged.

Mental errors are NEVER recorded in a score book.

Of course, this all begs the question as to why aren’t mental mistakes charged as errors.

I think the answer is that it adds too much subjectivity into scoring. The more subjectivity you have, the less meaningful that statistics become from one scorekeeper to the next

Consider what might be considered a mental mistake. Fielder took her time on a groundball because she misjudged how fast the batter was. Is that a mental error? Outfielder throws home, runner safe, another runner advances needlessly to second. Was that a mental mistake? Or did she have a legitimate shot at getting the runner? Was that a smart play in that situation? Might depend on the score. Do we look in the dugout to see if the coach is throwing his visor?

Or consider the play in the OP. Was it the second baseman's fault? Maybe the first baseman was supposed to stay home and not go for the bunt. The scorekeeper doesn't have every team's playbook. Who was supposed to catch that popup that dropped right behind second base?

Better to make it as objective as possible. Put the ball in play and reach first and you get a hit. Unless somebody fails to make a routine throw or catch.

grcsftbll said:

I would think it would be an error on 2B for not covering (1st scenario). That's 2B's job on a bunt, at least the way we do it on our team? The 2nd I think I'd score a hit.

By the way is there some sort of guide with official answers to scoring questions? I come across things like this often keeping score and I have to guess. I'm pretty new to score keeping & bumbling my way through most of the time.

Click to expand...

Per your request:

NCAA Stats Manual