Intentional, or not intentional?

[Jaycec]

Originally Posted by Al

Dakota,
There was no guiding the ball to the ground, but a grasp of the ball in her glove, and then what appeared to be an intentional releasing of the ball directly in front of her. Thanks to all for all the good replies. Nothin' like fun at the ole' ball park! ...Al

Based on your original description I was picturing the ball hitting the back of the glove-hand where it could not be caught. If it was in fact in the glove and then voluntarily released, it should probably be ruled an out.

I wish the rule was written better. I played with a shortstop who had the art of guiding a ball to the ground down to a science. With a runner on first or first and second, he'd let a line drive hit the back of his glove. After the ball would drop in front of him we'd turn a double-play. Seems to be one of those ambiguous rules that I wish was less so.

[NCASAUmp]

The way I've always looked at that rule was that it was intended to prevent the defense from setting up a BS double-play. There should be no reason for a defensive player to let a pop fly ball drop like that, so they remove the force out by calling a dead ball and the BR out.

My criteria for making the call are:
1 - Runner on at least 1B?
2 - Could the fielder have easily caught it?
3 - Did it touch the glove?
4 - Was it intentionally allowed to fall to the ground in a controlled manner?
5 - Did the action present an unnecessary advantage to the defense?

If my answers to all 5 questions are "yes," then I make the call.

If the fielder caught the ball and had control, then I have an out, and I make sure it's loud enough for the runner on 1B to hear it.