Dirty play?

[guero_gordo]

AFAIK, interference is a judgment call for ump to make things as ump believes they would have been had the INT not occurred. No idea how this could possibly end up in batter being out, but even assuming he had the right player, he would have had to believe there was a decent chance the runner at third would have been thrown out had the ball continued.
For one thing, the throw looks to have been in the dirt well short of third. For another, the runner looked to be pretty close to third and not at much risk of being put out even by a good throw.

Then occasionally you get that ump that thinks the batter is obligated to get out of the way and it's open season to bean little girls in the head with impunity all day long. Good times, great memories :-(

 

[JAD]

does one foot or both have to be out of the box to be interference? I can't look at the video at work, I did see interference called on a batter w/one foot out of the box at a recent tournament. It was a purely an accidental incident but the batter turned toward 3rd immediately after the pitch as the catcher was moving to throw to third.

The batter can have both feet inside the batters box and if, in the umpires judgement, the batter intentionally moves in order to block the catchers throw they can call interference. It happened to my DD a couple of years ago. She stepped out with her front foot to take the next sign from the 3B coach and umpire called her. She had no idea where the catcher was or that she was even trying to make a throw.

 

[inde53546]

JAD thats the exact scenario in the game i was watching. She did get one foot out.

 

[Orange Socks]

My Catcher DD did the very same thing last week but on accident. Knee throw right in the ear hole! The difference is she apologized profusely. This week my DD asked during the game "if the batter has a foot out of the batter's box and I hit her or run into her isn't it interference?" I said no, but the Blue is taking a water break at the end of our dugout. Why don't you go ask him yourself? Blue said that both feet have to be out of the box or perceived to be intentionally interfering with the play. Blue complimented her on asking the question since in his words no catcher has asked him that question before. Asking those "what if" questions is a great way to build rapport with the ump. Not to mention it's good to know the rules in case it works in your favor. As far as this play in the OP, we have thought about implementing it, but if it looks as though you are gaming it I thought it would go against the catcher. I didn't see anything positive coming out of training my catchers to do this, unless the batter is really in the way impeding the throw. I've played against these coaches and org and will keep my opinions to myself.

 

[ndame88]

BAD, BAD, BAD!!! If any 10U coach wants to win that bad, that way, please let me know at the start of the game, you can have the stupid win.

 

[Cannonball]

To think that a team actually has this play say a heck of a lot about the coaching staff, team and program. That is absolutely cheap. The fact that the umpire fell for it is even worse.

 

[pdqkevin]

The umpires call was, in accordance with the rules, correct. The batter stepped out of the box with both feet.

In my opinion the catcher intentionally hit the batter when she saw her exit the batter's box. Only a kid who had been taught to do such a thing by their coach or some other older person would do such a thing.

If players are taught to remain in the batter's box it will avoid allowing bush league, but legal, play of this sort from occurring.

The parents of the kids who play now or in the future for the catcher's team need to determine who instructed her to make that throw and then they need to make sure that their child never again has anything to do with that individual.

 

[Cannonball]

Ok if the kid steps out of the box, throw and hit them in the head is legal. It is unethical. It is extremely dangerous. If this is what we are going to go for, then I could teach kids how to do all kinds of "legal" things that can absolutely cripple someone.

 

[Comp]

The rule has no requirement for both feet to be out of the box. It says steps out or actively hinders the catcher while in the batters box. I have already stated I'm not sure inagree with the interference call, but it was his judgement it was. What wasn't correct is he called the runner on 3rd out. It should have been the batter who was called out.

 

[casedawg51]

Another angle that shows it was intentional. Catchers guides it right to the helmet...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA0T6PMt-ME