Infield fly rule after the fact

[RKBUmp]

InAnyone that wants to view the plays and clarifications can go to the asa/USA softball website and view them. And, any umpire that actually wants to leam and advance should read all the plays and clarifications as well as the case play book. No rule book is ever going to cover every situation that could occur on a field, that is the reason for the case book and the plays and clarifications. Each and every rule set publishes a case play book to cover how that rule set wants particular plays called. As has already been mentioned, nfhs and usssa also both have case plays stating the iff can and should be applied after the fact. You can point at the rule book all you want, but it is not the only source of information as to how the rules are applied.

[prekowski]

RKBump, the operative words in your reply are, “can”, “should” and “want to” as opposed to “shall” or “required to”. The book could and should be undated on next round to clarify it with either “IFF is in effect when it happens” or “IFF is in effect only when declared”. That would eliminate or at least minimize ambiguity. It is not surprising that in a level above the ASA (i.e. amateur), NCAA (which is one notch below professional) that they do indeed make it clear that it is in effect only when declared. That tells players that they know if it is in effect because it has been made known while the play is happening, and they can react accordingly, and don’t have to guess is this an IFF that has not been declared but may be called after the fact.
Respectfully, I admire your passion for the sport and your diligence at being the best you can be at your job of umpiring.

[BretMan]

This is straight from the published ASA Case Book, the sole purpose of which is to clarify and explain the playing rules.

With one out and R1 on second base, R2 on first base, B3 hits an apparent infield fly. The umpire does not call "infield fly". The fly ball is not caught and in the confusion both R1 and R2 are tagged off base resulting in three outs.

RULING: The infield fly should have been in effect. Failure of the umpire to invoke the infield fly placed the runners in jeopardy. This is correctable by calling the batter out and returning the runners to their respective bases (see rule 10-3C).

It can't be much more plain than that.

[Big Slick]

Originally Posted by prekowski

...It is not surprising that in a level above the ASA (i.e. amateur), NCAA (which is one notch below professional) that they do indeed make it clear that it is in effect only when declared. ...

Unfortunately, your distinction between ASA (and as stated all other codes sans NCAA) and NCAA are not so black and white, and rests on how the rules/interpretations are implemented.

ASA rule changes are proposed and voted on by player representative at the annual convention. Like any convention, changes take time and some are very passionately argued (Steve and Mike can shed more light on this).

NCAA rules, on the other hand, are made by a committee of coaches, who may bring a "I got burned by this one time" bias. While the "declared" part of IFF has been around since at least 1999, my guess is that this play negatively impacted a game of an influential coach.

NCAA isn't "one step from professional," as much as it is a unique rules for unique players.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by prekowski

Boy how quickly some get their hackles up to defend their position, instead of just taking an objective view.

Do you understand the purpose of the case book at all?

It's not OUR position. It's the position of ASA. It's the position of NFHS. The ruling bodies for whom you are working.

[BlueDevilRef]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Do you understand the purpose of the case book at all?



It's not OUR position. It's the position of ASA. It's the position of NFHS. The ruling bodies for whom you are working.

Uhhhhh, seems to me this guy is a coach, not an official.