Out of play rules, 3rd base side (no fence)

[celebur]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

You are implying the fielder being in DBT is caused by crossing the plane of the DBT line in the air ("trailing ankle crossed over the dead-ball line"). As far as I know, it's the last ground touched, no matter how far the "leap".

Maybe I'm misinterpretting this--I don't have the Softball Canada casebook right now, but I believe the wording is that the fielder must first touch the ball before his/her body is entirely in DBT, and that control must be established before touching down in DBT. Because they list these two as separate requirements, I interpret this to mean that if the fielder leaps from playable territory, he/she must still touch the ball before completely crossing the plane of DBT.

If it's the last ground touched that matters, then I don't think they would have separated these two conditions in this way. Is it to be understood that one is not in DBT until one touches down in DBT? When I have a chance, I'll try to post the actual wording from the casebook.