We're playing USSSA rules and this happened in the game before us. A grounder is hit to the base of the picher's mound (we use portable mounds, but I think a real mound would change the rule - please correct if I'm wrong). It bounces off the front of the mound and:
- The catcher fields it in fair territory, then throws the runner out at 1B (this is what happend in the game)
- The catcher fields the ball in foul territory (i.e., it bounced from the mound to foul territory without contacting anyone/thing before the catcher picks it up in foul territory)
The umpires called the runner out in the game and I believe, based on previous threads I've read here, that is correct. What's the ruling in the second scenario? My understanding is that it's a foul ball but, when asked, the umpires last night said it would still be a fair ball since it contacted the mound in fair territory.
I seem to recall a thread here with a hypothetical example of a ball getting hit to the outfield with tremendous backspin and bouncing back foul between either 3B or 1B and home without contacting a fielder and it being a foul ball.
I looked through the USSSA rule book and couldn't find anything in terms of a definition of fair/foul ball. Incidentally, what's the best way to search through a rule book like that? I use a key word search but that never seems to work very well. Is it better to look through OBR since USSSA is based on those?