Bat out of Hands

[cncsoftball]

After a ten-minute Google search, I could not find a rule which addresses the following, so I thought it would be easier to ask on DFP rather than continue my searching:

In tonight's high school game, a player let go of the bat on her swing. The bat goes straight at the pitcher and hits the pitcher in the glove arm. Play continues, the shortstop fields the grounder and gets the batter out at first. Should a dead ball have been called? I can only find rules pertaining to broken bats not thrown bats.

Sidenote: the pitcher is fine...just has a small bruise.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pigskinguru34]

I will defer to the professionals but I would have called the batter out and dead ball unless there were runners on and you did not elaborate on that. Regardless batter is out for throwing the bat.

 

[eddieq]

There is no official rule for carelessly releasing a bat. It’s only a problem if it interferes with the defense. You said high school so that’s NFHS, which I don’t call so I cannot point you to any case play or rule.

That said, one of the local leagues I call has a rule about that. A carelessly released bat is a dead ball, batter out, everyone back to their base at the time (treated as interference). Multiple offenses by the same player are dealt with by ejection.

Throwing it in anger is another issue but the result is an ejection, not an out.

 

[EdLovrich]

NFHS Rule 7.4.14 The batter is out when: The batter throws her bat and interferes with a defensive player attempting a play. NOTE: If the bat breaks and a portion is hit by the ball or his a runner or fielder, no infraction has occurred.

PENALTY: The ball is dead immediately and runners return to the last bae touched at the time of the interference.

 

[EdLovrich]

There is no official rule for carelessly releasing a bat

If the bat isn't dropped, then it has been thrown, carelessly or otherwise. If it went "towards the pitcher" it wasn't dropped.......

 

[Northball]

So what if the ground ball goes to 2nd baseman, but the bat flies and hits the 3rd baseman, who has no attempt at a play?

 

[EdLovrich]

Then you have nothing but a stern talking to, unless you felt it was intentional.

 

[CoachJD]

I will defer to the professionals but I would have called the batter out and dead ball unless there were runners on and you did not elaborate on that. Regardless batter is out for throwing the bat.

"Out for throwing the bat" is not a rule in any rule set (it IS common in rec league/house rules though) unless it's done intentionally. EdLovrich posted the applicable rule, which requires actual interference to occur for an out to be called.

 

[AcesFullMoon]

This actually caused a dust-up between myself and my regular partner in one of the rec leagues I call for. He was frustrated that I said I wouldn’t make up an out I told him the proper way to handle thrown bats was one warning to a batter, followed by ejection under unsportsmanlike rules listed in umpire section at end of NSA rulebook. Unless the thrown bat resulted in interference, in which case it did call for an out under that rule. I hate to toss a kid out, but I find that preferable to making up a rule; I’d rather enforce a harsh rule than make up an out, which I feel makes me look like an amateur to anyone that knows the rules.

However, I did find NSA 8u rules that call for a warning followed by an out call and brought that to league’s attention. They sent out addendum to rules stating that rule would be followed for all age levels.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Crabby_Bob]

Ed has given the rule for a discarded bat that interferes with a play, NFHS 7-4-14.
NFHS also has a rule for a player who carelessly throws a bat, 3-6-3. Issue a team warning and restrict the next offender to the dugout for the remainder of the game.