Injured player question

[danreeves1973]

Heres a situation I have seen a couple times, twice so far this year, that i cannot find a good answer to.

When should you call time and kill the play if during the action, a player is injured in some way?

Situation. Happened at a girls softball game. Pitcher delivers, ball is driven right back at her, hits her in the chest before she can get a glove up and she goes down. Runners were on base, they take off, catcher charges up, tossed the ball to third and then checked on her pitcher, who had the breath knocked out of her, but was okay. In the time span shes down, one run scores, coaches on the defense are raising hell saying play should have stopped when she fell down. Whats the right answer?

Make it boys baseball, FED or OBR. Pitcher gets dinged like that. When do you stop play?

Say a runner pulls a hamstring or his knee locks up rounding second and he goes down. Or he gets hit by an errant throw and is injured. When do you kill it?

I just want some reference, rules etc. to back myself up with when one of these situations occur. In my mind, since I'm calling Dixie right now, and really at any game I'm calling, HS or whatever, safety of the players is paramount over who wins or loses.

[JRutledge]

You do not stop play until there is no chance for a putout or players are not advancing.

5-2-1d.

Peace

[U_of_I_Blue]

Rut-

Agree with your answer, but you also have to take into consideration the exception beneath it. If by continuing play, you are jeeopardizing the injured player's safety, the umpire can kill the play immediately. In the above situation, I agree that there is no further danger to the pitcher around the circle from further play, so play on till no advancement or putout is possible. However, take the following situation:

Bases loaded, ball hit to right field. R1 from third while running home for some reason falls just in front of home plate. Meanwhile, R2 from second has decided to try to score and there will be a play at the plate. I would attempt to kill the play in this situation as further play could jeopardize the saftey of said injured player.

Now, maybe I shouldn't do this, but at this point in time, that is how I would handle it.

Please let me know what you all think.

-J

[JRutledge]

I just gave a rule that is all. What you choose to do after that is up to you. I am not like some people insistent on what you should do. There are rules in plays that back up your actions if you need it. What you do after that is really up to you. DR1973 asked for a rule, I provided one for him. There are always exceptions to rules or personal common sense that can influence what you actually do on the field. I think the kind of injury would influence the reaction and umpire makes. I personally never had anyone get hurt more than a broken leg (just happen last week). Even when the player did that, it was not clear to us there was such a serious injury. It was only clear after play had stopped that this outfielder was really hurt.

Look at 5.2.1 SITUATION D for another example of what the NF wants.

Peace

[orioles35]

Depending on the severity of the injury, I have killed the play once there isn't much potential for any further advancement by runners. Example:

R1, batter hits bad hop grounder to short which breaks shortstops nose (yes, this actually happened). Ball heads to the outfield as the fielders converge on the ball. As runner hits 2nd, I call time and immediately kill the play, even before the ball is retrieved by a fielder.

There could have been a further play, but it wasn't likely and given the amount of blood spurting out of the shortstop's nose I felt it was prudent to do so at that point.

[mcrowder]

Unless I think the player is in immediate danger, and immediate action is required, I'm letting the play develop. The runner falling down near home is not NEARLY enough to get me to stop play. Neither is the original sitch.

[Tim C]

mcrowder wrote:

"Unless I think the player is in immediate danger, and immediate action is required, I'm letting the play develop. The runner falling down near home is not NEARLY enough to get me to stop play. Neither is the original sitch."
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The perfect answer again, sir.

[jicecone]

Originally posted by mcrowder
Unless I think the player is in immediate danger, and immediate action is required, I'm letting the play develop. The runner falling down near home is not NEARLY enough to get me to stop play. Neither is the original sitch.

I agree.

Last year, I was the PU for a local semi-pro league. R1.
Catcher drops pitch which rolls about 2 ft away. R1 heads to second. Catcher retreives ball and throws all in one motion. These players are probably 19 - 30 something years old so they throw hard. Catcher throws ball and hits pitcher in back of head. Pitcher goes down and ball is deflected to backstop, approx. 20-25 ft behind plate. Catcher retrieves ball and runner advances to third. We then kill the play. The pitcher is revived, taking to the hospital and play continues.

I think each situation stands on its own.

[danreeves1973]

Thanks for all the input

I agree on the situation I decribed, don't kill it till the play ends. Thats what the ump in that situation did, I agreed with her 100%.

Now had blood been spurting from the girls nose or the ball hits her in the ehad and shes bleeding, then kill it instantly, use common sense.

Problem I've noticed this year is that common sense in regards to player safety is being overridden by the coaches desire to get one more run, or the out. If its a HS varsity game, I understand the urgency. But if its Dixie 7-8 or even 9-12, kids safety is paramount.

[Blue37]

Originally posted by danreeves1973

Now had blood been spurting from the girls nose or the ball hits her in the ehad and shes bleeding, then kill it instantly, use common sense.

Do not let blood be your only guide. I would be more worried about a blow to the chest than a busted nose. I doubt many kids die from bloody noses, but blows to the chest can disrupt the heartbeat and result in death.

[BuggBob]

Sharply hit ball off the pitcher forehead rockets into the night sky. I called dead ball immediately, offensive coach beat everybody to the field to render first aid. Later the defensive coach asked if I noticed the ball was caught in the air by the SS. I did but the dead ball over ruled. He did not complain.

[DG]

I was a spectator this spring in a scrimmage game when I saw the worst case of ball off the bat to side of a pitcher's head I have ever seen. The pitcher went down like a rock, ball dropped to the mound area. It was a painful 3 or 4 seconds before time was called, but only after no play was available. 3 or 4 seconds had no bearing on his recovery or safety. In fact it was a good 10 minutes later before he was helped from the field, mostly under his own power. The umpires, who were in pre-season training, handled it perfectly.