2011 NFHS Rules Interpretations/Deceitful Tactics

[chapmaja]

Play from a few years ago. JV game a few years back. Pitcher goes to deliver the pitch. She stumbles and falls forward but never releases the pitch. The runner on second base is attempting to follow the arm motion of the pitcher to leave just after the release. Since the pitcher never released the pitch the runner left early. How do we call this play? It certainly was not an attempt to deceive the offense, it was a clumsy move by the pitcher. How do we call this play. An illegal pitch on the pitcher and the runner is out for leaving early?

[Scooby]

With an illegal pitch the offense has an option, take the results of the play (R1 out for leaving early) or enforce the penalty for the illegal pitch (ball on the batter and advance any base runners). You can give the options the to coach or just enforce the illegal pitch as it is what s/he will choose. Both rules apply on the play, but the leaving early will never be chosen.

[Altor]

Originally Posted by Scooby

With an illegal pitch the offense has an option, take the results of the play (R1 out for leaving early) or enforce the penalty for the illegal pitch (ball on the batter and advance any base runners). You can give the options the to coach or just enforce the illegal pitch as it is what s/he will choose. Both rules apply on the play, but the leaving early will never be chosen.

This is what I thought when I read the case play posted. Why is R1 out if both infractions are penalized? While the result of the play is an out, when the IP is enforced, the offense gets the choice. It's a no brainer.

[RKBUmp]

Except both asa and nfhs have case plays stating you enforce both infractions. However, the case plays involve an illegal pitch which occurs prior to the runner leaving early not a situation where the illegal pitch is what caused the leaving early violation.