|
Re: Coach hit by thrown ball.
1. Blocked ball should not be part of discussion. As others have noted, coach is active participant in game and not subject to blocked ball rule.
2. 8.6.17 "A coach . . . . interferes with the defensive teams opportunity to make a play on another runner. Penalty: Ball is dead and runner closest to home plate at the time of interference is called out. This rule should be interpreted as a physical interference against a defender, not being hit by a thrown ball. This same rule in ASA 8.7.O adds the sentence "A batted or thrown ball that unintentionally hits a base coach is not considered interference." This is not clear in NFHS.
3.5.5 was re-written this year (was 3.2.3 last year) to read "If a thrown live ball accidentally touches a base coach in the coachs box, . . . . , the ball is live and in play." That suggests that if the coach is hit when outside the coach's box we have interference and the rule points to 8.6.17 for a penalty. (Actually points to 8.6.16, but that is also a mistake.)
So the fielder makes a bad throw and nails the coach outside the coach's box and we reward the defense with the runner closest to home called out. Obviously that cannot be, so I e-mailed this issue this morning to Randy Allen, Assoc Dir M.H.S.A.A. who is also a member of the NFHS SB Rules committee. His response:
"The interpretation stays the same
The 2004 language which added the coaches box was a mistake. Well correct in the June meeting of the NF committee. The ball remains live when a ball accidentally touches a base coach in foul territory, in or out of the box. You are also correct about the reference to 8.6.16, it should be 8.6.17"
The bold sentence is basically the 2003 rule (3.2.3)which we will go back to using. This rule then negates using 8.6.17 to claim interference when the coach is hit by a thrown ball.
WMB
|