Batter goes to 1B in error on
 

NFHS JV game.. A walk-a-thon. I have the plate with a slow pitch umpire working the bases due to shortage of qualified fast pitch guys.

No outs runners at 3B and 2B , 1-0 count, when pitcher steps on rubber and start moving ball from one hand to other and back again, obvious and blatant double touch. No pitch is delivered and I call IP. Ball to the batter, runners advance one base. DC comes out of 3B team area to get explanation and play resumes. I give count as two balls no strikes. Two pitches later (both balls) I take off my mask and move to position to watch BR go to 1B when I notice a runner on 1B who should not be there. And the batter is looking at me saying "that's only the second pitch blue...". Uh, oh!

Apparently when I told the runners to move up the batter took it to mean her too and went to 1B while I was talking to the DC. And the on deck batter took her place in the batter's box.

Ok the obvious answer here is "Dumb Move Plate Umpire" I should have noticed rouge base runner at 1B and brought her back. My only defense is being a little brain dead from 58 minutes of JV pitching in which we had only managed to eek out five outs and this following doing the varsity game behind the plate as well since my partner was a slow pitch emergency backup. The defense never questioned why this batter went to 1B and my partner just figured I knew what I was doing and it was some crazy fast pitch rule....and l just did not notice it had happened.

My ruling was that the on deck batter had simply taken the batters place out-of-order and the ball three and ball four pitches stood. The correct batter was standing out on 1B but had no right to be there, however her presence had no effect. Since the on deck batter had watched ball four go by on the batters behalf I left the batter on 1B (now with a right to actually be there) and had the on deck batter start a new turn at bat with no count.

On reflection I considered a case could be made that when on-deck took the batters place who had 2-0 count that she was in fact an unannounced substitute under 3-3-3D. And since she is attempting to enter in a spot in the order that she has no right to she is illegal sub. But BOO seems closer and the result seems more in the spirit of the rule. Both teams were ignorant on the rules and yours truly missed the batter going to 1B so this was my fix.

What do you think? :confused:

I think I completely understand what you were facing with the pitching, BTDT this season too many times.

I think other than kicking the call (which happened, and is something we have all done - see my previous post).

I don't think the substitute rule applies because she was legally in the game as a player if I understand the situation correct.

The only rules I see applicable are the batting out of order rules, which are what you made the call based on. The question comes into the application of the batting out of order rule because the incorrect batter was noticed prior to the next pitch (legal or illegal) after the incorrect batter took her place in the box.

With that said, I think I would have done is put the correct batter where she was standing, on first. I would have put the incorrect batter in the batters box with a 0-0 count. I would have counted it up to my mistake and if the coaches wanted to argue, I would have taken the heat for my mess up.

I rule this as batting out of order, brought to your attention by the offensive team (you said the [improper] batter told you that was only 2 pitches).

The proper batter should be brought to the plate with the existing count, which in this case is 4 balls and an awarded 1B. Since she is already on 1B, the following batter should bat with a new count. The (wrong) batter never went to 1B, so can't be appealed by the defense....especially since the offense brought it to your attention first.

You got this right, as far as I can tell. The out-of-order batter cannot be an illegal or unannounced sub, as she is already legally in the game. At most, she was batting out of order, and it seems you applied the right ruling.

I'm not sure where the umpire error fits in here. But as to BOO, if the batter takes ball 4, she can't avoid being called out for BOO by refusing to go to first. If she fails to go to first, she'll be out for that alone. If she does go to first, she's liable to be called out.

The umpire error was me not seeing that the batter had gone down to 1B on an IP call. But it was only ball two. I should have seen runner on 1B and fixed it before the pitcher threw the next two pitches? :eek:

Yes, I agree you should have noticed the runners moving. (And your partner really should have). I was saying I don't know how that error should figure into the analysis (and I'm afraid the answer is not all).

I noticed only two pitches later! Lol

S##t happens. Fix it when you find it, ideally with rule support.