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RE: Foul tip on a bounced pitch...
This one been's a hot topic of debate on the baseball side of things for years. The debate was compounded by the fact that rules interpreters at the pro schools had issued completely opposite rulings- one said the nicked ball could be caught for a foul tip, one said it could not.
After much debate, it was finally agreed that the pitch bouncing was irrelevant to the call. Once touched by the bat, the ball is a legally batted ball and all of the rules governing a batted ball apply. The accepted ruling now is that a bounced pitch can indeed become a foul tip.
But enough about baseball! How is this ruled in the (fastpitch) softball world?
Without an authorative printed ruling at hand, I will say that in softball (at least, ASA softball) a bounced pitch can become a foul tip. I am basing this on a question from the 2008 ASA Umpire Exam. Here was the question:
11FP) With no outs and B1 at bat with a 0-2 count, the pitch hits the ground before B1 swings. The batted ball goes directly from the bat to F2’s glove and is securely held. This is a foul tip.
The answer provided to me was "TRUE".
Now, as far as something from the rule book or case book that specifically addresses this, I have nothing- and no time to dig for it right now as I'm getting ready to head out for a game. Maybe someone else can come up with that.
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