I'm still not convinced this is the correct ruling. Hypothetically, if there was a runner on 1st and 3rd, batter bunts to third; 3B forces runner back to base, throws to second and records force out. On throw, runner at 3rd changes direction and scores on the throw, is this a sacrifice bunt and RBI? If not, how is this any different than original scenario where fielder checks runner before recording out at first? Similar to situation where runner is off with pitch versus waiting for wild pitch to occur. In the first instance, it is SB; the latter, it is advancing on WP.
Scoring question - bunt with runner at third
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I'm still not convinced this is the correct ruling. Hypothetically, if there was a runner on 1st and 3rd, batter bunts to third; 3B forces runner back to base, throws to second and records force out. On throw, runner at 3rd changes direction and scores on the throw, is this a sacrifice bunt and RBI? If not, how is this any different than original scenario where fielder checks runner before recording out at first? Similar to situation where runner is off with pitch versus waiting for wild pitch to occur. In the first instance, it is SB; the latter, it is advancing on WP.
- Feb 12, 2014
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Scorekeeping should not be about rewarding or penalizing based on the opinion of the scorekeeper. It's about accurately reflecting what happened in the game. In this situation, there is no sacrifice - that ceased to be an option when the runner stopped. It's a putout with an RBI and a pat on the back from the coach for getting the bunt down.
This is no different than a batter hitting the ball to the right side on the ground in the same situation. Good team softball, but still a 4-3 groundout.
This is no different than a batter hitting the ball to the right side on the ground in the same situation. Good team softball, but still a 4-3 groundout.
"You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."
Laying a bunt down with a runner in scoring position is NOT the same as a 4-3 ground out. Not even close. One is done intentionally, the other by accident. There is no caveat for the runner hesitating. None.
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Not even close to the same thing. For your information and education.
Sacrifice:
Credit given to a batter who, with less than two outs, advances one or more
runners by bunting or slapping and is called out at first base or would have been called
out had no error occurred.
https://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Baseball/baseball_softball_scorebook.pdf
There's no caveat for look-backs, fakes, or intervention by little green men from Mars.
Inconceivable!
Depends a lot on the bunt, and the aggressiveness of the runner. What we see very frequently (14U TB) is the look only serves to give us a little more time to hopefully make a DP. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't...sometimes my kid sets up poorly and gets her knee taken out, allowing the run to score, and ending up on the bench for a few weeks with a strained MCL.
I'm scoring it a SAC.
When you lay down a sacrifice bunt you are expecting the fielder to pick it up ... and to throw it. So the fact that she looked the runner back has nothing to do with it. That runner knew she was going to throw it and when she did she ran. It was still a sacrifice/RBI.
Of course those are just my opinions and if I'm wrong it would be the first time (since the last time).
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