Deliberate swing and miss on a wild pitch for strike 3

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Jun 28, 2016
34
6
NJ
DD and I were watching a game waiting for ours to start. No one on base, 0-2 count, ball squirted out of the pitcher’s hand. It rolled slowly on the dirt and eventually crossed the third base foul line. The fielders just stood there looking at it. The umpire very theatrically squinted at the ball lying there in the dirt and then said “Ball 1!” Everyone laughed. Eventually the third baseman picked it up and threw it back to the pitcher.

DD asked, “could the batter swing and run to 1st?”

I told her yes but most batters would rather hit than get on base that way.

Still... it got me thinking. When would be the last moment the batter could swing — when the ball stopped rolling? When the umpire called it a ball? When the third baseman touched it?

Would such an obvious “swing and miss” to get a third dropped strike be ruled illegal? Bad sportsmanship?
 
Apr 24, 2017
203
28
Georgia
I am interested to hear what an umpire has to say about this. I have often thought about this, when one of our girls is struggling at the plate and the count is 0-2 or 1-2 when a wild pitch comes in, could they swing and take off for first? I am thinking that as long as they swing before it is called a ball (or some other issue like no pitch or illegal pitch) then it would be a dropped third strike. I don't know that it would really be bad sportsmanship. I don't see anything wrong with taking advantage of the situation given to you, just like you would take advantage of an error by the infield to be safe on first.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
I think you can swing at it until umpire makes the call.

I would go with bad sportsmanship opposed to illegal.

I have seen batters swing at a wild pitch on purpose and take off to 1st, don't have problem with that. Seems kind of cheap to swing at ball that never makes it close to home plate.
 
Last edited:

MTR

Jun 22, 2008
3,438
48
I think you can swing at it until umpire makes the call.

I would go with bad sportsmanship opposed to illegal.

I have seen batters swing at a wild pitch on purpose and take off to 1st, don't have problem with that. Seems kind of cheap to swing at ball that never makes it close to home plate.

The rule states it is a strike if the batter "swung at" and missed the pitched ball. IMJ, for the batter to be able to offer to hit the pitch, the ball needs to be with the range of the batter's area where it is feasible to believe s/he could have legally made contact with the ball or at least been fooled into believe such contact was possible.
 
Jun 11, 2013
2,619
113
I side with bad sportsmanship. Maybe if it's a 1-1 game in the National Semis, but on a normal game I'm totally against it. I hope that all of my players can do something that years later they'll be able to tell their kids. Maybe it's a great catch or a HR. It might be scoring the winning run in the Silver championship at the summer fun festival tournament. I doubt you would look back fondly and talk about the time you struck out on purpose in a 12U rec game.
 
Feb 19, 2016
280
28
Texas
This is why DD probably isn't cut out for pitching. If someone did this to her, she'd probably throw some inside heat on her next at bat.
 

ArmyStrong

Going broke on softball
Sep 14, 2014
87
8
Pacific NW
DD and I were watching a game waiting for ours to start. No one on base, 0-2 count, ball squirted out of the pitcher’s hand. It rolled slowly on the dirt and eventually crossed the third base foul line. The fielders just stood there looking at it. The umpire very theatrically squinted at the ball lying there in the dirt and then said “Ball 1!” Everyone laughed. Eventually the third baseman picked it up and threw it back to the pitcher.

DD asked, “could the batter swing and run to 1st?”

I told her yes but most batters would rather hit than get on base that way.

Still... it got me thinking. When would be the last moment the batter could swing — when the ball stopped rolling? When the umpire called it a ball? When the third baseman touched it?

Would such an obvious “swing and miss” to get a third dropped strike be ruled illegal? Bad sportsmanship?

Why worry whether it would be illegal/bad sportsmanship? It doesn't make you a better hitter. I don't ever recall a coach raving, "Player X does a good job of reading a wild pitch with two strikes and an empty first base or occupied first with two outs."

The playing days are limited for those players who need to rely on the uncaught third strike to reach base safely.
 
Feb 19, 2016
280
28
Texas
It's just a hypothetical.

All sportsmanship aside, I don't see what would be illegal about it, but...

Whether technically correct or not, I'd prefer it being tallied as a ball if it's ridiculously off the plate like that.

If a girl swings, and the umpire calls "strike," then it's time to run to first base and there will be a managers' meeting at the umpire. If there's no strike called, then it's ball one and you just got an extra practice swing in. How's a coach really going to make an argument that it's strike three if it is called a ball? Move along. Nothing to see here.
 
Feb 18, 2014
348
28
The rule states it is a strike if the batter "swung at" and missed the pitched ball. IMJ, for the batter to be able to offer to hit the pitch, the ball needs to be with the range of the batter's area where it is feasible to believe s/he could have legally made contact with the ball or at least been fooled into believe such contact was possible.
I disagree, just because some of the best change ups ive seen, the ball was no where near the bat.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
We still have newer girls who swing after the ball is already in the glove or when it's so clearly a ball (ump called a ball 4 on one of girls and had actually missed that she swung and the other team's parents let him know - so did we)...so for some girls - it might not even be on purpose ;)
 

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