Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Ives
Is going through the motion without releasing the ball an IP?
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I actually had this exact "sort of" situation in a high school game years ago. The pitcher began her pitching motion, and as she stepped, she slipped and fell. In doing so, she never releases the pitch. The runner on 2nd base, is on the base through the point at which the ball would have been released on a normal pitching motion, but leaves the base as the now falling pitchers had passes the "normal" release point.
My base umpire, who loved to be the center of attention, may he RIP, goes big with a dead ball, she is out for leaving early call. At the same time, I am calling an illegal pitch on the pitcher for not releasing the pitch and falling face first to the dirt. Within a few seconds we have both coaches screaming about the situation. Finally, I made the ruling that we have an illegal pitch, and runner did not leave "early" and the penalty for an illegal pitch should be applied. The defensive coach wasn't happey, but I was not going to penalize the base runner for his pitchers mistake of not being able to stay out of the way of her own feet. I didn't feel then, and I don't feel now, that the penalties in this situation would "offset".
I can see this being an area of gamesmanship. Let's say bases loaded, 2 outs. Pitcher, knowing a big power hitter is up, decides she is going to bait the runners into leaving early. He fails to release a pitch causing the runners to leave early. Yes, you penalize the illegal pitch, but if you also call the runner out, you have now allowed the pitchers actions to create the 3rd out of the inning.