Wiping out field lines

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

The Fed rule says that the player must 'intentionally remove the lines'. If a player is rearranging the dirt to make the batters box suitable for her at bat and it covers up a line, I'm not going to assume that she 'intentionally removed a line'. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.

It certainly is gray area in my mind.

Mark,
I don't think you're giving the players enough credit. Of course they are going to make it look like they're just rearranging the dirt in the batter's box. That batter intentionally rearranged that dirt and in doing so, removed the lines - that's intent, call it. They know what they are doing.