Saturday, I came upon an interesting dilemma that I thought I would share with you guys to see what kind of input I get. On the fields where I am calling fall ball, they have an "unwritten" rule or policy where they want the on deck batter to be in the on deck circle behind the batter. For example, regardless of which dugout is batting, if the batter is right handed, then the on deck batter will be to my left. If the batter is left handed, then the on deck batter will be to my right. Still with me? Here is where the situation that could have happened, but didn't comes in. The on deck batter takes her place in the batter's box, discarding the bat she had in the on deck circle for the one that the previous batter was using. No one has come out of the offensive dugout to take her place in the on deck circle. Seeing a bat lying on the ground, I call over to the defensive coach and ask him to put it in his dugout, since it is the nearest one. He comes over and gets it, and I holler a quick thanks and proceed with the at bat. The batter hits the first pitch to shallow center and an errant throw from F8 allows her to take second. About this time I notice the bat that the defensive coach had retrieved for me leaning against the fence, on the OUTSIDE of the dugout. Now...here comes the question. What would have happened if the thrown ball had come into contact with the bat and become blocked. Do I still treat this as an offensive interference, even though I had asked the defensive coach to park that bat in his dugout? Interesting dilemma that I am glad I didn't have to face that day. So....I am ready to hear any and all opinions!
Scott
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