Infield Fly question Little League - U12 girls softball
 

If it is apparent that a fly ball will land infield, is PU required to call "Infield Fly"? If he does not, is the batter still supposed to be out if it hits the ground without being caught?

I am a first year coach getting a handle on rules and this happened last night where the play was not called by PU and 2 runs scored bacuase F4 picked the ball up and overthrew 1st base :eek:

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

The IFR is as simple as this. If the umpire judges that a fly ball can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, then the IFR is in effect and the batter is called out.

That's it. The rule doesn't require that the ball necessarily be in the infield, or that an infielder is the person necessarily making the play on it. It doesn't require that the ball is caught. And it certainly doesn't require that the ball "land in the infield."

The purpose of the rule is to prevent the defense from not catching the fly ball for the out, and instead going for an easy double, or even triple play.

Hope that helps.

Oh...and welcome to the boards. Feel free to bring any questions you might have here. You will find the folks here more than happy to help.

In addition to what Scott said, for the Infield Fly Rule to be in effect, there must be a possible force play at 3B and less that 2 outs.

But the point I wanted to make was this: The IFR is not to give an unearned out to the defense, nor protect them from muffing the catch or overthrowing 1B. Its purpose, as Scott said, is to protect the offense from a cheap double play.

And, no, the umpire is not "required" to make the call. It still requires his judgment about "ordinary effort."

Considering the intent of the rule is to protect the offense from the double play, not protect the defense and give them an easy out.. and the DP was obviously not a concern.. probably not a big deal.

Thanks for the clarification
 

Now I get it. Thank you all for your response!

I will have questions and am glad this board is here!