[greymule]

There was a play 2 years ago, mike lowell was playing 3rd, runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, HE DOVE TO HIS LEFT to "catch" a line drive, never closed his glove on it, let it drop, tried to step on 3rd throw to first but the ump killed the play right away for a IDB.

I'm not quite clear as to what happened. If by "let it drop," you mean Lowell allowed the ball to fall untouched, then the ump blew the call. If you mean he blocked it with the side of his glove, then the call was correct. And just because the glove didn't close on the ball doesn't mean an intentional drop can't be called. But it's hard to visualize F5 diving to his left and expecting to knock a ball down and still have time to step on 3B and throw to 1B. Well, maybe if he was positioned right near the line.

Some softball associations other than ASA rule this the same as the OBR baseball rules and prohibit guiding the ball to the ground. Some even enforce the out if a fielder allows the ball to drop untouched when it could have otherwise been caught with ordinary effort!

I know that NCAA follows ASA on permitting the guiding of the ball to the ground. I assume Fed does the same, but I don't know for sure. There are a lot of softball codes out there, and I don't doubt that some call it differently.