Game ball gets away

[bainsey]

Here's something I've never seen before.

VB game I'm watching, after servicing the JV game. We're in OT.

The ball gets away out of bounds and goes behind the home team bench. There's a full ball rack between the table and that bench. Instead of grabbing the game ball, official grabs a different ball that fell off the ball rack. Apparently, nobody ever noticed that ball, until the official grabbed it. That ball went into the game without anyone noticing.

"That's not the game ball!" a few fans cry. A fan goes to get the game ball, and confused on what to do with it. I'm sitting behind the table, so I ask for the ball, and give it to the scorekeeper. At the next opportune moment, the timekeeper hits the horn, and the game ball gets back into the game. (Insert easy substitution jokes here.)

I got to thinking. Is basketball the only ball sport that is supposed to use the same ball for the entire game? In soccer, we have three balls ready. Baseball/softball? Multiple. Hockey pucks? Multiple. Football? I'm not sure of the exact number, but it's more than one. Volleyball maybe?