Infield Fly

[David Emerling]

Originally posted by Gre144
I agree with what everyone has said. But you bring up an interesting dilema in middle school. In middle school 99.9% of the time a double play will not occur(on an infield
fly) because the ability and knowledge of players is not at the point where they know how to turn a double play on a missed fly ball that would normally be considered an infield fly in high school

In fact when an infield fly is dropped in middle school, the majority of the time the runners advance safely at their own risk

In the game that I did, the left fielder missed a routine fly that was hit in the infield. Everyone advance easily and all players including the batter-runner would be easily safe if I had not called the infield fly. In short, what I am saying is that when a middle school fielder misses an infield fly, the majority of the time all runners advance safely.

Should we be more hesitant to call an infield fly in middle school since player have trouble turning a double play?
Greg

Do not overly complicate an Infield Fly ruling based on the perceived inability of the players to make routine plays.

Because as soon as you do NOT call it ... and a double play occurs ... you will have some explaining to do.

Technically, you can retroactively call an Infield Fly if an undeserved double play occurs as a direct result of your failure to call an Infield Fly. But then you will have created a huge mess explaining it.

Most reasonable people understand why an umpire would call an Infield Fly. It would not be a very intelligent argument on the part of a coach to claim that "they're just a bunch of 9-yr-olds!"

I will say this, however - you *still* have the burden of determining what is routine. A 9-yr-old may very well make a pop-up much harder than it should be.

Example: A high pop-up is hit over the 2nd baseman's head, at the edge of the outfield grass. Normally, this would pose no problem for a good 2nd baseman. He hustles back ... camps out underneath it ... and makes the catch. I would probably rule that an Infield Fly. Anytime a fielder can camp out under a fly ... it's routine.

But a 9-yr-old 2nd baseman might stand flat footed, watching the ball without moving instead of reacting as soon as a more experienced and capable infielder. If the umpire observes that ... he may determine that it will now NOT be routine.

Remember, take your time in calling an Infield Fly. Call it no sooner than the ball reaching its apex and, if you want to call it while the ball is descending, that shouldn't create any problem, either. Calling it too soon is where you get into trouble.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

[Edited by David Emerling on Oct 22nd, 2004 at 03:13 PM]