Infield Fly situation

[TwoDot]

I had a question from my son who was umpiring a 13 yr legion game. He had bases loaded, one out, when the batter popped a short fly towards the second baseman, runners all are moving on contact. He calls infield fly, batter out, however no fielder played the ball with it dropping on the edge of the infield grass. He then called the r1 out for leaving 1st before tagging up.

He felt that he should not have called the infield fly, because no defensive player made an attempt at the play. I think that was the correct call, but I do not think that the runner was out because he did not need to tag on the ball dropping.

What is the correct call in this situation under OBR? Any help is appreciated.

[U_of_I_Blue]

Was the ball catchable by an infielder with ordinary effort? If yes, the infield fly rule is in effect whether or not anyone tries to play on it or not

Now, once the infield fly rule is called, all it does is cause the BR to be automoatically out, regardless of the result of the play. Everything else is still the same. If the ball is caught, the runners must tag. If the ball is not, they are not required to.

In your situation, it sounds like IFR is the correct call, but he should not have called R1 out for not tagging up. There is no tag up requirement if the ball is not caught, ever, even on an IFR.

Hope this helps.

-Josh

[UmpJM]

TwoDot,

It sounds to me like the IFF call was correct. The call is based on the umpire's judgement (assuming the proper conditions, which were certainly in place in the sitch you describe) of whether or not the fly ball can be caught with ordinary effort by an infielder - whether or not any infielder actually makes an effort to catch it is irrelevant.

However, calling the runner out for failing to retouch is absolutely wrong if the ball is not legally caught - it's doubly wrong if the defense made no appeal.

The only thing the IFF call does is remove the force on the existing runners because as soon as the BR is declared out, all "forces" are removed. In all other respects, it's just like any other fair batted fly ball. If a fielder catches it, runners must retouch their TOP bases. If it's not caught, they don't.

If the fly ball is caught, the umpire only calls out a runner who has failed to retouch upon a proper appeal by the defense.

JM

[mcrowder]

The IFF bell cannot be unrung. Once he calls it IFF, it IS an IFF (if fair). So once he spoke, BR was out, even if not caught (actually... ESPECIALLY if not caught). Runners do not need to tag if it's not caught - so bad call there.

I want to reiterate something Coach said... even if it had been caught, and R1 was forced to tag, the umpire should NEVER call the runner out for leaving early unless it is properly appealled by the defense.

[TwoDot]

Thanks all! That is what I told him my first impression was with the play. IFF call correct but he blew it with the out on the runner.

I haven't umpired much this year and was not feeling very confident in my answer to him. Thanks again for the clarification.

Fortunately, the team he made the call against ended up winning the game, so the call didn't change the game that much!