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I need someone to explain exactly how the mercy rule should be applied. I have been doing a majority of lower level high school games where the mercy rule is either 10 or 15 runs after 5 innings. I was under the impression that this rule means that after the home team has batted the 5th time and the opposing team has the required number of runs for the mercy rule, the game is over- at any point after the 5th inning. I have had games where the visiting team reaches the mercy rule margin in their half of the6th or 7th inning and the game is over by mutual agreement of the coaches. Yesterday the visiting team reached the mercy rule margin, in this case 10 runs,in the top of the 7th and I felt that based on all of the prior games I've had this occur in, the game should have been over. The home team disagreed. I let them bat. My assignor says I should have let them bat because had I not, the home team would not have had the same number of at bats as the visitors. I agree, but what's the purpose of the mercy rule then? By his logic if in a varsity contest where the visitors are leading 25-0 after they bat in the top of the 6th that the home team should get their raps in the bottom of the 6th. Why? I feel like I'm missing something here! If after the home team bats in the bottom of the 5th and the mercy rule doesn't apply yet, does that change the way the rule is applied for the 6th and 7th innings? In other words does the home team get to bat in the bottom of the 6th or 7th no matter how many runs they are chasing?
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