Quote:
Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA
Speaking ASA
Only the pitcher at the beginning of each half inning may request a change in the ball. Once asked, s/he must accept the ball that comes out of the umpire's bag.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, if a new ball is still available to the umpire, the new ball should be put into play after the visitors bat.
If a ball goes out of play, whichever ball comes out of the bag should go into the game. If you want to replace a ball out of play with a new one, I don't have a problem with that, but it isn't going to the pitcher, it's going in the bag. If two go out relatively close manner, I will accept the ball from the team and put that into the game if the other two are not available.
The only other time a ball should be removed from play is if it is damaged.
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In the situation Lark is talking about, Mike, the umpires don't handle the balls. Each team hits their own balls. If one of your hitters hits a ball out of play, then your team throws in ball, not the umpire. I've seen this done quite a bit at tourneys to cut down on the costs. Generally most teams will try hard to retrieve their own balls.
In the tourneys we have played in, we were allowed to change balls during any dead ball.