[BratzCoach]

The league I'm in uses a 7 run per inning limit, with a 10 run mercy rule after the 5th inning. Games are 7 innings, or 2hrs--whichever comes first.

It was always my understanding that the spirit of this rule is to save time in games and keep them moving, but also to remain fair to both teams. It has been my experience in playing other places around the greater St. Louis area that the inning ends after the play is completed on which the 7th run is scored, but that only 7 runs are counted. Play does NOT come to a halt after the 7th run scores.

The league I'm in now seems to interpret this rule as meaning that all runners who score on the play are counted, thus making it possible to score 10 runs in an inning.

This is inherently unfair, and also invites strategy that would prolong innings, and therefore games.

Example 1: In the last inning of a tie game, the visiting team scores the 7th run, and has their inning stopped. Then the home team gets the bases loaded with 6 runs across the plate, and the batter hits a base clearing double. This is unfair to the visiting team.

Example 2: Team XYZ gets a runner (A) to 3rd base with no one out, and 6 runs across the plate. The next batter (B) hits a single, but the coach holds A at 3rd. The next batter (C) hits what could be a double, but the coach is again holding the runners, so that B advances only to 2nd base, and D only gets to 1st. Now the coach has created an opportunity to score ten runs. Since the inning ends after play is completed all that is necessary is for the runners to keep going no matter where the ball is hit or thrown and try to get as many runs across the plate as they can. Rather than the inning ending after B hits a single, the inning has been extended by batters C and D, and possibly batters E, F, and G. This is 2 to 5 additional batters, possibly every half inning.

Example 3: Team A is down by 10 runs at the start of the last inning, and due to the 10 run Mercy Rule they are declared the losers without being given an opportunity to bat. If it is possible for team A s to score 10 runs, then it is inherently unfair to call the game due to the Mercy Rule.


I do realize that the 2nd example would be taking a risk on the coaches part, but that is part of baseball/softball.

So far it looks like a split decision on how common this interpretation is.