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Originally Posted by coach2535
Hey guys, can someone please clarify this rule. 10U USSSA tournament, fly ball to center, ball caught-runner at 3rd tags. Catcher is positioned about 4 feet up the line towards 3rd, the throw is perfect and catcher is waiting for the runner. The runner approaches catcher and jumps over the top of him, flipping and landing on home plate untouched. PU signals safe, then confers with BU and calls runner out. PU stated "runner has to slide". However the rule does not state that; The rule is 8.07.G and it states, “the runner must slide or seek to avoid contact”. Game was played under protest and the director of USSSA for our region stated The words “seek to avoid contact” are interpreted by the National Rules Committee as going “around” not “over” the catcher. This is taken from the National Federation of High School’s Baseball Rules. It’s a simple safety issue.
Whats the call guys, is he safe or out?
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The aforementioned is a BIG problem when doing these type tournaments UNLESS the rules are EXPLICiTLY stated.
Many youth organizations say (and i get a kick out of this) we play by PRO rules, however, most of us no that to be false.
According to the USSSA website, they use OBR. I cannot find a No malicious contact rule ala FEd or even a No Colission rule ala NCAA. It seems as though this is an area by area 'thing"
Most argue that LL, PONY , USSA, Babe Ruth, etc. are OBR based. With the exception of LL, I find that not to be true as evidenced by your thread.
IMO, this is turning out to be an area by area ruling. With the exception of LL, IMO it's safe to say that many of these type youth organizations are now using a Hybrid of rules and their web-sites need to be updated.
Whenever my assignior gets a tournament to schedule, we ask for the "house rules" so to speak. In my experiences I have found that many have adopted the FED DH Rule, FED batting restrictions (meaning -3) and the No malicious Contact rule EVEN though their particular web-sites do not give out this info.
Since your director said
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"This is taken from the National Federation of High School’s Baseball Rules"
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the runner would be declared out for hurdling over F2, plain and simple.
Rules which say “the runner
must slide or seek to avoid contact”. are vague in nature and subject to many different interpretations. It's my gut that many of these organizations will become closer to FED/NCAA in the future and hopefully their specific Web-sites are updated accordingly.
For example; Legion does use OBR however, they have also adopted a hybrid of rules. American Legion uses the FED FPSR and the FED DH rule (for the jr. program) and uses the NCAA No Colission rule. Tese are "spelled out" on their Web-site, therefore if USSA is adopting some of FED rules, then their web-site should be updated similar to the American Legion Web-site
Bottom Line: get the "house Rules" before you step on the field.
Pete Booth