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HS Softball Gets It Right

biggerpapibiggerpapi5,000+ posts
An exerpt from the newspaper today:

INDIANAPOLIS — Batters in high school softball no longer will have to make an attempt to avoid being hit by a pitch in order to be awarded first base.

This revision to Rule 8-1-2 was one of four rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Softball Rules Committee at its June 11-13 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

A batter will be awarded first base if "a pitched ball is entirely within the batter's box and it strikes the batter or her clothing. No attempt to avoid being hit by the pitch is required; however, the batter may not obviously try to get hit by the pitch."

Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials education and staff liaison for softball, said this rules change clears up the gray area of whether the batter made an attempt to get out of the way of the pitch.

"Since a batter is penalized for prohibiting a pitch from entering the strike zone, the committee thought there should be a penalty when the pitcher hits a batter when the pitch is completely inside the batter's box," Wynns said.
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When will baseball follow? That is one of the worst rules they have, forcing the batter to jump out of the way of a bad pitch.
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F 3FingeredGlove1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by fillsfan:
Doesn't this rule also apply in college baseball?
As the commercial says, "not exactly". From the NCAA baseball rules

(2) If the batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball and the pitch is out of the strike zone, the pitch shall be called a ball. The ball is dead, no runners may advance and the batter is not awarded first base unless the pitch is ball four.
A.R.—If the batter freezes and is hit by a pitch that is clearly inside the vertical lines of the batter’s box, the ball is dead and the batter is awarded first base.
(3) If the batter intentionally gets touched by moving or rolling any part of his body into the pitch and the batter does not swing, the ball is immediately dead; the umpire shall call a strike or ball in accordance with 7-4b and 7-5a.

You can see how this might be interpreted in various ways, depending on how you view the word "freezes". Some years ago, the rules did roughly say that a batter hit by a pitch in the batter's box would automatically be given first, and that fact also leads to variability in how it is called.
Last edited by 3FingeredGlove
fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
(2) If the batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball and the pitch is out of the strike zone, the pitch shall be called a ball. The ball is dead, no runners may advance and the batter is not awarded first base unless the pitch is ball four.
A.R.—If the batter freezes and is hit by a pitch that is clearly inside the vertical lines of the batter’s box, the ball is dead and the batter is awarded first base.
(3) If the batter intentionally gets touched by moving or rolling any part of his body into the pitch and the batter does not swing, the ball is immediately dead; the umpire shall call a strike or ball in accordance with 7-4b and 7-5a.


My criticism isn't in the wording, it is in the college and high school baseball implementation of the written rule.

Too often these high school and college baseball batters are hanging over the plate, and get hit by the pitch. There are top college programs that teach how to get hit while doing exactly as I described. Umpires are extremely reluctant to call it a strike or ball when it should be called a strike or ball even though it hit the player outside of the batters box. This will continue until college baseball decides it wants to enforce the written rules.
Last edited by fenwaysouth
fillsfanfillsfan1,000+ posts
quote:
A.R.—If the batter freezes and is hit by a pitch that is clearly inside the vertical lines of the batter’s box, the ball is dead and the batter is awarded first base.


I understand this to read that if a ball is clearly coming at the batter he does not have to attempt to get out of the way. Is this correct?

No question of leaning into the pitch.

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