Thread: fair ball!
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Old Sat Mar 15, 2003, 05:20pm
CecilOne CecilOne is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by refjef40
... snip ... My question is what would we do if the pitcher went ahead and threw a pitch?Someone said the batter is out for not running but I say she never abandoned the field.Dumb coaching for sure though!
As the question says if, I'll try to answer even though I agree the PU should keep signaling fair and not returning to a position behind the plate. As the PU is only 2nd year and the players might only be 1st year, anything can happen. I have often seen pitchers "pitch" when the PU was not behind the plate.
The BU can do nothing, of course, and the PU should say nothing. I would try to be sure the batter-runner and fielders see my signal by moving and being more emphatic and then moving more and being dramatic.
A "pitch" thrown at this point would actually only be a throw, because the batted ball is still in play. As long as the pitcher and catcher continue throwing back and forth, the play is still on and the game is in a kind of limbo until either the batter-runner or one of the fielders does something.
If the batter-runner moves away from the plate, especially toward the dugout or 3rd base coach, then I might call the "abandonment out", if I've exhausted my ability to make the signal clear.
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