Wait, WTF? Is that the real ruling?

[Big Daddy Michigan]

I saw something I've never seen before in my 40+ years. I don't think the umpires got this right, but I'm not sure what the correct action was. It's probably easy, but the easy is escaping me.

NFHS rules Two strikes on the batter no one on base 1 out.

The batter swings and misses badly and on her followthrough the missed pitch hits her in the chest, and falls to the ground. The batter just stands there in the box & the catcher picks the ball up and returns it to the pitcher in the circle.

The umpires call time and confer. They ruled it was a dropped 3rd strike, but the runner never tried to advance, and the defense never to put her out, so they declared it a dead ball, because it was in the circle and no action was taking place. Then they essentially declared a "do over." And the batter singled.

What should have happened? Is there a rule that the runner must make some action to advance to the next base? Is there a time limit for the batter to run? Is a runner refusing to run the bases a travesty of the game, even if she didn't do it on purpose? Am I missing the obvious easy ruling?

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

The ball hit her = dead ball. She swung = strike. Third strike = she’s out. There is no uncaught third strike in that situation.

 

[jackfrost]

Agree with "greatdaytobeawildcat" [hope that's not Kentucky!] but a little confused on the OP. You said the ball hit batter on the follow through. Did it bounce off the catcher or was that the original pitch. Hard to imaging a ball coming in so slow that the batter was on the follow-through before the ball reached her. To answer some of the other questions you asked.

1st. As wildcat already said if batter swung and ball hits her, it is dead ball because it hit batter and it is also a strike becasue she swung
2nd. if this had been a true dropped 3rd strike, somebody has to do something! there is no time limit. If batter stays in box and catcher throws ball back to pitcher, umpire has to stand off to the side and wait till someone realized they better do something. If batter has 3 strikes and eventually walks to dugout and leaves the playing field you can then call batter-runner out. [you can't just call them out because they took a couple of steps towards dugout, the batter-runner has to leave field of play]
3rd. runner not running is a brain-fart, not a travesty of the game.
4th. there is no do over. It is what it is and need to rule accordingly.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

Agree with "greatdaytobeawildcat" [hope that's not Kentucky!]

Ha, no...harmless Davidson College.

And agree, would be weird to be so ahead of the ball that the hit batter comes substantially after the swing....

 

[The Man In Blue]

Yep, easy obvious ruling. Surprised the umps kicked that one.

 

[Comp]

Yep, real ruling directly out of the MSU rule book.

 

[Lozza]

It’s dead ball, batter in the box so the correct call was made.

 

[MTR]

It’s dead ball, batter in the box so the correct call was made.

Not even close. GDTBAW had it correct in the first response

 

[Big Daddy Michigan]

Agree with "greatdaytobeawildcat" [hope that's not Kentucky!] but a little confused on the OP. You said the ball hit batter on the follow through. Did it bounce off the catcher or was that the original pitch. Hard to imaging a ball coming in so slow that the batter was on the follow-through before the ball reached her. To answer some of the other questions you asked.

You had to see it to believe it. The pitcher has already signed with a D1 school. The batter was the number 9 hitter and she was scared to death to be up there. She was asked to bunt the first two pitches every time and would square and pull back when the ball was halfway. They were call strikes. I think she was so far behind on everything that the coach probably told her to swing earlier. Her bat was through the zone- her upper body was open and the pitch hit her in the chest. I think it was so strange that it confused the umpires. It may have been a change, but I don't remember it that way.

 

[Big Daddy Michigan]

Thanks for the answers... I knew it had to be easier than the umps made it, but once the umpires explained their thinking we were all so focused on the dropped 3rd strike and what to do when no one makes a play we missed the obvious.