ASA 8u Rec
Nobody on, nobody out, BR1 takes her place in the box. F1 pitches the ball. BR1 steps backwards out of the box after F1 releases the ball and before it reaches F2 and:
a) batter does not swing at the pitch and the pitch enters the strike zone.
b) batter does not swing at the pitch and the pitch does not enter the strike zone.
What is your call in a) and b), and if they are different, why?
When I umpire, I have been calling the following:
a) strike, because the pitch entered the strike zone.
b) ball, based on ASA 7-3-F.
ASA 7-3-F
After the ball is live, the batter may not step out of the batter's box to stop play unless time has been granted by the umpire.
EFFECT:
1. All play shall continue.
2. The pitch will be judged a ball or strike by the umpire.
This happened to one of my batters this weekend, and when the umpire called the strike, he made it a point to say the strike was called specifically because the batter stepped out. When asked for clarification, he said it is an automatic strike anytime a batter steps out of the box during a pitch, and that it is in the rule book. When asked if the ball was in the strike zone, he replied it didn't matter, the batter was out of the box, and therefore it is an automatic strike. Had he just said the pitch entered the strike zone, I would have no argument, but his insistence on stipulating that it was a strike because she stepped out left the door open. Realizing I wasn't going to get anywhere with this, I filed my protest with the hosting team and play continued. In case it is important to your determination, the batter is a new player afraid of being hit, and not trying to disconcert the pitcher or delay the game.
Going to the rule book, the closest I get to finding this "automatic strike for being out of the box" rule he spoke of was 7-3-C and 7-3-D, but those two rules appear to apply to either the time before a pitch or between pitches.
Am I reading too much into 7-3-F, or is the umpire's explanation incorrect?
Nobody on, nobody out, BR1 takes her place in the box. F1 pitches the ball. BR1 steps backwards out of the box after F1 releases the ball and before it reaches F2 and:
a) batter does not swing at the pitch and the pitch enters the strike zone.
b) batter does not swing at the pitch and the pitch does not enter the strike zone.
What is your call in a) and b), and if they are different, why?
When I umpire, I have been calling the following:
a) strike, because the pitch entered the strike zone.
b) ball, based on ASA 7-3-F.
ASA 7-3-F
After the ball is live, the batter may not step out of the batter's box to stop play unless time has been granted by the umpire.
EFFECT:
1. All play shall continue.
2. The pitch will be judged a ball or strike by the umpire.
This happened to one of my batters this weekend, and when the umpire called the strike, he made it a point to say the strike was called specifically because the batter stepped out. When asked for clarification, he said it is an automatic strike anytime a batter steps out of the box during a pitch, and that it is in the rule book. When asked if the ball was in the strike zone, he replied it didn't matter, the batter was out of the box, and therefore it is an automatic strike. Had he just said the pitch entered the strike zone, I would have no argument, but his insistence on stipulating that it was a strike because she stepped out left the door open. Realizing I wasn't going to get anywhere with this, I filed my protest with the hosting team and play continued. In case it is important to your determination, the batter is a new player afraid of being hit, and not trying to disconcert the pitcher or delay the game.
Going to the rule book, the closest I get to finding this "automatic strike for being out of the box" rule he spoke of was 7-3-C and 7-3-D, but those two rules appear to apply to either the time before a pitch or between pitches.
Am I reading too much into 7-3-F, or is the umpire's explanation incorrect?