Why would your opinion be contrary to the rules and guidelines published by every baseball or softball organization on the planet?
All of them! Which fastpitch rule book do you think says a pitch touching the plate CAN be a called strike?
Did the umpire make the right call?
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Why would your opinion be contrary to the rules and guidelines published by every baseball or softball organization on the planet?
All of them! Which fastpitch rule book do you think says a pitch touching the plate CAN be a called strike?
12 ft ceiling or more.
I have never seen a pitcher throw a drop that crossed the front of the plate at the knees & still hit the plate..........except in sloooo-pitch
- Jul 28, 2008
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Don't need to read it. I've already read it, memorized it and been tested on it!
A pitch that touches the plate can NEVER be a called strike- PERIOD. (I will assume that you understand the difference between a called strike and a swinging strike). Once the pitch touches the plate, and the batter has not swung at it, it is automatically a ball, no matter if it has passed the batter or gone through any portion of the strike zone.
The other poster threw in some excess qualifier about it touching the plate after passing the batter, but that that isn't a requirement of the rule (and, it seemed to be tied to his false premise that if the batter is in the front of the box the location of the plate is irrelevant).
What point of rule 7-5-A exactly do you think I'm missing?
A pitch that touches the plate can NEVER be a called strike- PERIOD. (I will assume that you understand the difference between a called strike and a swinging strike). Once the pitch touches the plate, and the batter has not swung at it, it is automatically a ball, no matter if it has passed the batter or gone through any portion of the strike zone.
The other poster threw in some excess qualifier about it touching the plate after passing the batter, but that that isn't a requirement of the rule (and, it seemed to be tied to his false premise that if the batter is in the front of the box the location of the plate is irrelevant).
What point of rule 7-5-A exactly do you think I'm missing?
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Shockcoach,
To help you understand why you are wrong, I will break it down step by step. I don't have my book at home so below is copied and pasted from an earlier post in this thread. Lets go!
A ball is called by the umpire:
"A) (Fast Pitch) For each legally pitched ball that does not enter the strike zone,"
This is so obvious it should need no explanation so on to the next part for the rule
" touches the ground before reaching home plate,"
Again obvious to all you know even a little about the game. On to the part that confuses some folks
" or touches home plate, and the batter does not swing. "
The key here is the operator OR . This allows you to discard the rest of the rule if the ball hits the plate. A ball that has such sever arch that it passes through part of the zone can only be called a strike if it doesn't touch the plate. If it touches the plate is automatically always a ball.
I know Bretman's creds. from another board. In the world of ASA Blues, he is a big dog! You need to jump off the porch on this one!
Thanks for the clarification. It makes sense if you read the rule precisely. And it actually makes what might be an impossible call for Blue a lot easier...if it hits the plate, it's a ball. Pretty simple and tough to argue with (assuming Blue knows the rule, going back to the original post on this thread). I can see where that situation might be a misapplication of the rule, and maybe protestable, although I don't know what the remedy would be.
Nah, I'm just a grunt in the trenches armed with a pretty good grasp of the rules. But thanks for compliment!
A far bigger dog (both figuratively and literally) up the ASA food chain already gave the right answer to this about ten posts back, yet there still seemed to be some confusion.
