HBP or Fair Ball

[MNBlue]

Fed rules. No one on, no one out. Pitch comes right at the batter, she moves to protect her self, bringing the bat up. I 'think' it hits her, but not sure since she is between myself and the ball. Ball rolls to F1. Batter doesn't move. Defense doesn't move. Third base coach yells run, and then BR runs to first, F1 throws to F3 to retire BR.

As F1 is making the play to F3, I kill the play, believing I have HBP. Before all h#$% breaks loose, I go to U1 and ask him if he had a HBP, and he replies that he was sure that the ball hit the bat. I ask U2, and he thinks that the ball hit the player and then the bat. What a cluster!!! I decide to put the BR on first as HBP, since that is what I had, and I killed the play.

Beside me not killing the play and figuring out the HBP/fair ball after the runner had been retired, could it have been handled any differently? Are there any other options other than putting the BR on first?

[Steve M]

First question is where the devil are you getting to work a 3-man in Fed ball?!?! - I'm jealous.

If you're going to kill the play, kill it a lot sonner than you did.

Once you killed it, I'm not putting B-R on 1B 'cuz I "Coach, in my judgement, the batter swung defensively and the ball made contact with her body while swinging. I have a dead ball & strike. I have checked with my partners, neither has offered anything that changed my judgement."

[blu_bawls]

I was U1.The batter didn't swing, she brought her hands and bat handle up to protect herself from a very high, very inside pitch that she sorta "squared up" for and it either hit her hands, the knob of the bat, or her helmet (or in some order related to some or all three of these areas).

From my position I feel it hit the knob of the bat and landed fair. The PU killed the play immediately so there was no delay during the time of the hit and the DEAD BALL call. The Head Coach was yelling run after play was ruled dead.

I based my decision that the ball hit the knob based not only on the solid sound created by the contact, but also on the fact that the player didn't display any actions indicating she was hit AND the ball came out into the field quite forcibly and landed some distance away from home plate.

U2 felt it hit her helmet/facemask area. This could have been the case also.

I do know this: Not one person (coaches, players, or fans) said anything about our decision.

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by blu_bawls

I was U1.The batter didn't swing, she brought her hands and bat handle up to protect herself from a very high, very inside pitch that she sorta "squared up" for and it either hit her hands, the knob of the bat, or her helmet (or in some order related to some or all three of these areas).

From my position I feel it hit the knob of the bat and landed fair. The PU killed the play immediately so there was no delay during the time of the hit and the DEAD BALL call. The Head Coach was yelling run after play was ruled dead.

I based my decision that the ball hit the knob based not only on the solid sound created by the contact, but also on the fact that the player didn't display any actions indicating she was hit AND the ball came out into the field quite forcibly and landed some distance away from home plate.

U2 felt it hit her helmet/facemask area. This could have been the case also.

I do know this: Not one person (coaches, players, or fans) said anything about our decision.

OK, so she was protecting herself with the bat. Another description of this is that she attempted to hit the ball (that it is defensive is still trying to hit the ball with the bat) - call that a swing.

What I said earlier is still accurate - with the exception that killing a play has to be done sharply enough and loudly enough that the dead lift their heads to see if someone is calling them. When I kill a play, I want everything to stop - immediately. That apparently didn't happen and that's why we've got questions.