Dropped line drive question

[leerph]

OK. So I know that the infield fly rule doesn't apply to line drives or bunts, but is there another rule which covers line drives? Here is what happened.

We had runners on first and second with no outs. The batter hit a line drive directly to the short stop. It hits her glove and she then drops it right in front of her (no idea if it was intentional or if she simply missed it). She immediately picks it up and tosses it to third and then over to second for a double play. I know in baseball there is some other rule that protects the offense from a situation like this. It says something about the defense not being able to do something deceitful in order to gain an advantage or something like that. Does anyone know if there is a similar rule in fastpitch? We play USFA and their rulebook is a joke. It's like 20 pages or something crazy. We have always been told that if it is not specifically covered in the USFA rulebook that the rules in the ASA rulebook will apply. The problem is I don't have an ASA rulebook to read through. I've just gotta think that there is some rule somewhere that protects the offense in a situation like this. If not, I gotta start working with my team on intentionally dropping line drives hit right to them in these situations. LOL. Any clarifications or posting of the specific rule would be greatly appreciated if it exists. Thanks so much.

 

[Comp]

ASA does have a rule about intentionally dropping a ball, but I am out of town and dont have my book with me so I cant give you the reference or quote it. With regard to that rule, I believe ASA also came out with a rules clarification that a defensive player could guide the ball to the ground and it was not considered to be an intentionally dropped ball.

 

[Comp]

From the rules clarification.

Rule 8 Section 2J (Batter-Runner is Out)

A question was submitted on the situation of an intentionally dropped fly ball as it is explained in the rule supplement. Rule Supplement 30 states “The ball cannot be intentionally dropped unless the fielder has actually caught it and then drops it. Merely guiding the ball to the ground is not an intentionally dropped ball.” The purpose of the rule is to prevent a defensive player from gaining an advantage for a possible double play. To have an “intentionally dropped” ball the ball must be caught and then dropped. It is always umpire judgment as to whether the fielder caught the ball and then dropped it.

 

[MTR]

ASA RS #30 INTENTIONALLY DROPPED BALL

The ball cannot be intentionally dropped unless the fielder has actually caught it, and then drops it. Merely guiding the ball to the ground is not an intentionally dropped ball.

8.2.J (paraphrasing) With a possible force in effect at any base, if the fielder intentionally drops ANY batted ball caught in flight, it is a dead ball and all runners are returned to the base occupied at the time of the pitch. When an infield fly is in effect, an IDB cannot be called.

 

[BretMan]

I know in baseball there is some other rule that protects the offense from a situation like this. It says something about the defense not being able to do something deceitful in order to gain an advantage or something like that.

Forget what you "know"...There isn't really any rule about "the defense doing something deceitful to gain an advantage". In fact, there are plenty of "deceitful" things you can do on the field that are perfectly legal.

What baseball does have is the exact same rule softball has (or, more accurately, softball has the exact same rule baseball does, since it was a baseball rule long before softball was ever invented). Whenever there is a force play available (runners on first, first and second, first and third, or bases loaded) and less than two outs, the intentionally dropped ball rule can be applied.

What baseball doesn't have is the same definition as ASA of what exactly constitutes an intentionall dropped ball. The ASA definition above tells us that the ball must first be caught before it can be considered dropped. It also tells us that merely guiding the ball to the ground is legal. Not so in baseball (also not so in some versions of softball other than ASA). In baseball, purposely guiding or knocking the ball to the ground is prohibited. As long as the ball can be caught with ordinary effort, if the fielder purposely touches it and purposely does not catch it, it is considered to have been intentionally dropped.

This is another one of those cases where both sports (or even different sanctioning bodies within softball) have the exact same rule which applies in the exact same situations, but they each interpret it just a little bit differently.

I will agree with you on the USFA rule book- it leaves something to be desired. If you think it's bad now, you should have seen it when they first came out. Back then it was only a couple of pages long and said something like "any rule not covered here should be governed by the accepted practices of softball". Huh?