NFHS Foul Ball

[AtlUmpSteve]

Originally Posted by Manny A

And I would counter that the NCAA rule is flawed in that a pitch the catcher fields on a short hop and then throws the ball to the third baseman would be nothing if the batter swung and nicked it (foul ball), but would be an extra ball on the batter if she didn't contact it.

Quite frankly, I don't care for the rule altogether. Who cares that the catcher threw the ball to another fielder who then, in turn, throws it to the pitcher? As long as there isn't a delay in the pitcher being ready to deliver the next pitch, no biggie. Charge an extra ball to the batter if the catcher's throw to another fielder is wild, gets muffed by that fielder, or that fielder's subsequent throw to the pitcher causes a delay.

So, some of us umpired in the days before this rule was adopted. After every foul ball retrieved by a catcher in a men's fastpitch game, the ball was ALWAYS thrown to someone other than the pitcher (F3 or F5, depending in which side the ball was retrieved), who was no where near the pitcher, who then threw the ball to someone else who wasn't the pitcher, who had to pat the pitcher on the a$$ before handing him the ball. I am conservatively stating this added AT LEAST 10 minutes of non-action to every game.

In today's female game, there would be another team meeting with high fives and hand slaps, after every foul ball, just like the start of every inning, and the end of every request for time by a defensive player. There is no reason to invite more stoppages; allowing that throw to someone other than the pitcher, and to start the next pitch sequence, would be an open invitation to more "huddles" that aren't conferences.

Since we have so few tools available to keep the game under 2 hours, anymore, I would be really unhappy if that rule was removed (and we couldn't begin a reasonable timing sequence between pitches).