Dead-ball Area &

[Warren Willson]

Originally posted by Dakota
Interesting wording. I'm NOT an OBR umpire (I do ASA JO Fastpitch, so I hope you don't mind the "intrusion"), but both of these imply to me an unintentional result -- i.e. the assumption is that the fielder intended to remain on his feet. What about a fielder who makes a dramatic diving catch into DBT? Is this a fall? No, it was a dive. Is it loss of body control? Certainly not, it is the untimate in body control to dive at full speed into the ground and make a catch, and to come up firing.

Is the ball live or dead?

Jim Mills is right about the fall and the dive producing the same result. It is the result that matters.

I just wanted to add that the whole point of the rule under discussion is to allow play to continue if the fielder remains on his feet after involuntarily entering dead ball territory as a result of his momentum after making a catch. It is most often colloquially referred to as the "catch and carry" rule. The only reason that the "loss of body control" interpretation from NCAA is of any consequence is that it gives us a reference point in time at which the act of falling commences, and after which a legitimate throw can no longer be made.

In the case of your diving fielder, the moment he left his feet such a subsequent throw became automatically impossible under the rule. If he catches the ball in mid dive before touching down in dead ball territory the catch and the out will stand, but either way there can be no legitimate following throw and continuation of play under OBR, unless the fielder is a cat and manages to land feet first!

Cheers,

[Edited by Warren Willson on Feb 27th, 2001 at 12:34 PM]