Quote:
Originally posted by Ref Ump Welsch
In the first situation, where the batter was hit by the pitch, I would declare dead ball right away and runner returned to 1st. No penalty for not getting out of the way. If you look at the ASA rule book, it clearly states that the ball is dead if it hits the batter and no play can happen.
Second situation, where the batter caught it, would have been a dead ball, no penalty because there's nothing in the rules that states the batter can't do that (I've looked myself and can't find anything that would reference that).
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Then you didn't look at 7.6.P. It is illegal to intentionally contact a pitched ball.
HOWEVER, since the SP players have been doing this forever, Butler, Pollard and associates on the NUS have determined there is no penalty or warning. It is simply a dead ball if the batter contacts the pitched ball with any part of their body, or bat if the ball is rolling on the ground and the intention isn't to put it into play. All runners would return to the base occupied at the time of the pitch.