Third Strike

[josephrt1]

I don't understand why catch/no-catch was brought into this discussion. If shortstop throws the ball to 1st base on a bounce and the 1st baseman controls it in the hand or glove, it is ruled a catch. The bounce doesn't matter. In the USA/ASA rule book definition of catch/no-catch it has nothing to do with dropped third strike.

The specific rule on dropped third strike is 8.1.b: When the catcher fails to catch the third strike before the ball touches the ground and there are:
1. Fewer than two outs and first base is not occupied at the time of the pitch, or
2. Any time there are two outs.