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Originally Posted by kyleflan
Are you saying the fielder dropped the ball or the glove? I don't see why she would have to get the ball out of the glove if the ball simply fell.
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I think what mccann was asking is does the player have to reach in to have voluntary release, ie be reaching for the ball in order to throw the ball and then drop it. And to me the answer is no. There can be voluntary release without reaching for the ball. If F3 takes the throw for the third out of the inning and then opens her mitt and drops the ball in the pitchers circle as she is running accross the field toward their 3rd base dugout that is a voluntary release of the ball. If the SS is trying to flip the ball from her mitt into her throwing hand for an attempt at a double play at first and the flip goes wild and she drops it, that was voluntary release.
mccann I think what you are looking for is that the release has to be voluntary, and that is umpire judgement. If IMJ the ball was voluntarly released you have an out, if they judge she did not then we have a no control of the ball call and the runner would be safe.
Not to muddy the waters too bad but one other thing...IF the player is attempting another play when she drops the ball the out still stands. For example lets say R1 on 3rd and F6 catches a line drive and throws to F5 (while standing on base) for 2nd out of inning (R1 stupid leading off too far) then R2 is even stupider and has lead off WAY too far and F5 runs toward R2 and tags her...during the tag the ball comes out of her mitt, NOW R2 would be safe (unless there was INT, crash etc.) BUT the R1 would still be out as F5 maintained control through the original play and lost control on a subsequent play. Hope that makes sense.