|
That is one of the problems I'm having- the rule you quote (which is rule 9-1-s in the fastpitch section) says the ball is dead when it is "intentionally dropped".
But rule 7-11-e, which states that the batter is out on an intentional drop, says that he's out when "...a fielder intentionally drops or lets drop a fair fly ball...".
For all other baseball and softball codes, an intentional drop requires the fielder to actually contact the ball. The addition of the phrase "or lets drop" leads me to believe that they're talking about something different than making the catch, then dropping the ball, or guiding the ball to the ground or letting it hit the glove and fall. It seems that the "lets drop" in this context must mean "allows the ball to drop untouched".
Yes, this is an exceedingly rare call- perhaps the rarest one we will ever have to make on the field. I have made it once in a ten year span, in an ASA slow pitch game where it was so blatantly obvious anyone could call it.
Of course, the players in the game were incredulous, convinced that I was just making stuff up!
As you say, actually catching the ball, then releasing it in a controlled manner is the ASA requirement for an "intentional drop". But the NFHS rule is different- no clean catch is first needed. Purposely knocking the ball down or guiding it to the ground, when it could have been caught with ordinary effort, satisfies their "intentional drop" definition.
So, those two major rule sets have different interpretations of this rule- but both require contact with the ball. Apparently, NSA has a third and different interpetation- that simply allowing the ball to drop untouched can be called as an "intentional drop".
|