[youngump]

Originally Posted by Little Jimmy

This got me thinking this weekend. USSSA game but all rulesets appreciated. Runners at 1st and 2nd, no outs, infield fly potential. Batter hits a towering fly straight up and then drifting toward the backstop fence. Backstops are at least 15 -20 feet back. Catcher fades back and camps out directly under the ball as it starts coming down. As she reaches out to touch the fence she momentarily looses sight of the ball, and it drops straight down, missing the catcher and the fence by inches. The ball takes a big kick back toward fair territory and would have went beyond the foul line into fair territory if the 3rd baseman, who was also in, hadn't have reached down and picked it up before it crossed the line. Basically a foul ball.

But here's where I started thinking (after the game of course). If the ball would have crossed the foul line into fair territory would I have had an infield fly? Wouldn't this have been the same as if the catcher was right on the line and the pop up would have landed a few inches foul before it rolled fair? In that scenario I would have called "infield fly, if fair...". In the actual play I did not use those terms because the ball was 15-20 feet in foul territory and I thought the "if fair" wouldn't apply. But it almost did.

As I was looking for some guidance, I ran across this info. The Umpires Handbook of Softball Rules Differences 2011 seems to draw a difference between Utrip and Fed interpretations. It states that an infield fly must be declared by the umpire (USSSA 8:17 H) ( as well as NCAA 1.68). Fed 8-2-9 (note) leaves a situation for declaring the infield fly after the fact even if it was not declared at the time.

My questions are...

1. Mechanically speaking, should an umpire use the phrase "if fair" even if the ball seems to be much too far over foul territory to ever roll back in (even though it almost did in my scenario)? Should the words "infield fly" even be used when the ball is that far over foul territory?

2. NCAA 11.18 note 1 speaks of when to use the words "if fair". Does any other organization have have that addendum written down? I use it for all the ball I do but don't really know where else it is stated.

3. In my original scenario, would that play have resulted in in an infield fly being declared if the ball would have indeed crossed the foul line and then was touched or stopped moving?

Thoughts from any ruleset would be appreciated.

I'd defer to the experts on this one. But my thought is that I would rule that in my judgment that ball that close to the backstop couldn't have been caught with ordinary effort and not have an infield fly.

All infield flies are only infield flies if fair regardless of the declaration. But not all fly balls are infield flies just because they are fair and end up in the infield.