Quote:
Originally Posted by bsnalex
Had this last night, simple ground ball was thrown from F6 to F1, but F1 had glove way off line and ball pegged 1B coach. Coach went down with injury. I immediately called dead ballandawarded runners 2 bases from throw, assuming the ball would have gone dead if coach was not there ( no-one backed up the throw). BR ended on 2B, R1 ended on third.
Afterr consulting the rulebook after the game (ISF) I note 8.10.p
The runner is not out when a coach unintentionally interferes with a thrown ball or batted fair ball while in the coaches box
Only problem is, that rule is merely a classification that runner is not out and coach is not ejected. It doesn't give any effect.
Anyone know if I got this one right?
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I think I would have done the same thing as you did. Why? I did not kill the play because the ball hit the coach, but because the coach went down with an injury. At this point I am not allowing play to continue and I am awarding the bases that I feel the runners would have reached had the play not been killed due to an injury. I would have verbalized this to the coaches though that the award was not based on the overthrow itself, but based on the fact in my judgement the players would have reached the bases had the play not been killed. If they want to argue you have the safety aspect to fall back on. Coach, a potential injury to team personal is more important than keeping the ball alive right? If the coach disagrees they are just being cruel, but most would agree safety first. That is your "out" on a play like this.
Now, had the play not been killed because of a potential injury situation, I'm leaving the ball live and the play ends up the way the play ends up.
We had a situation in a slow pitch game I was observing (my game was over by this point). Ground ball to F6. F6 throws low to F1 and F1 misses the ball which strikes the batter-runner in the face and she goes down. The umpire immediately calls dead ball because of a potential injury situation. The thrown ball continues to roll (would not have been stopped had play continued) and goes under the fence. This occurred after the dead ball call from the umpire. The umpire awarded the runner second base on the play. Of course the defense argued the call. His point was a good one. A bad throw by the defense caused a potential injury situation to an offensive player. Had he not killed the play, the ball would have gone out of play, and the runner would have been awarded second base. His killing of the play because of an injury to an offensive player due to a mistake by a defensive player should not benefit the defense. If he did not award her the base, the defense would benefit from the poor throw striking the player in the face and thus the umpire killing the play.