Chopped Ball

[rwest]

There was no backspin. The ball was driven down hard into the ground within maybe 10 feet of the pitcher and came up sharply close to his head. The pitcher complained about it after the second time. Now, I was the BU so I didn't call the batter out. I thought that was my PU's responsibility. Should a BU call a batter out on a chopped ball?

To diffuse a touchy situation I warned the batter about it. My PU said she thought she should have called the batter out on the first chop but didn't and decided not to on the 2nd chop because she had let it go earlier. Which I don't have a problem with that. The idea being that you don't call something late in a close and heated game that you let go earlier. We should have called it in the first inning, in my opinion.

This was the first game of a double header and I was the PU for the next game. I informed both teams that I would call the chopped ball. When the batter who chopped the ball in the first game came up to bat, he didn't chop it and got a double, if I remember correctly.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by rwest

There was no backspin. The ball was driven down hard into the ground within maybe 10 feet of the pitcher and came up sharply close to his head. The pitcher complained about it after the second time. Now, I was the BU so I didn't call the batter out. I thought that was my PU's responsibility. Should a BU call a batter out on a chopped ball?

To diffuse a touchy situation I warned the batter about it. My PU said she thought she should have called the batter out on the first chop but didn't and decided not to on the 2nd chop because she had let it go earlier. Which I don't have a problem with that. The idea being that you don't call something late in a close and heated game that you let go earlier. We should have called it in the first inning, in my opinion.

This was the first game of a double header and I was the PU for the next game. I informed both teams that I would call the chopped ball. When the batter who chopped the ball in the first game came up to bat, he didn't chop it and got a double, if I remember correctly.

I may be incorrect here ... but it was my impression that the chopping rule was in effect an extention of the no-bunting rule, meant to disallow bunt-like backspin hits like the one I describe above. I don't believe a simple attempt to hit a very hard ground ball should be penalized via this rule.

[rwest]

As I told Mike, I've never actually had any instruction on this that I can remember at any of the camps/clinics that I've attended. No one's ever told me the intent behind this rule. It is mentioned in the same rule that disallows bunting, but I never derived an intent based on that association. Maybe I should have.

[IRISHMAFIA]

2007 ASA Clinic Guide, Chopped Ball:

In Slow Pitch it is the act of the batter chopping down on the ball with a chopping motion to make the ball bounce high in the air. It is illegal. The ball is dead and the batter is out. It is the act of chopping the ball this is illegal; therefore, whether the ball is batted fair or foul does not matter.

Before moving this to a CD, the following sentence was included in previous clinic guides: "like chopping wood".