Illegal Pitch Penalty Redux

[AtlUmpSteve]

Youngump, you are confusing and mixing a few different issues.

The penalty notes that the ball becomes dead at the end of playing action if the ball is pitched, not that the penalty is applied based on the results of playing action. The purpose is to allow the possibility of the batter hitting the ball or becoming a baserunner.

Granted the wording is unclear, and might lead to your conclusion, but the award is a ball on the batter and a base to all baserunners without liability to be put out. And, that award is from the time of the pitch; that is when it became illegal, and that is the time it is called, therefore, like all other awarded bases, that is the basic time of the award.

So, if the ball is not hit, and the batter does not become a batterrunner, the penalty MUST be applied. No option, even if the runners circle the bases like a merry-go-round. In your sit1, what you originally thought (but overthought). In your sit2, the coach has no option, either; the ball was not hit, the batter did not become a batterrunner, so the OC has no available option, just the illegal pitch remedy.

So, to summarize, the enforcement in NFHS is absolute; the coach ONLY has the option if the ball is hit or the batter becomes a baserunner. If either condition is met, the coach ALWAYS has an option; if neither condition is met, the coach has NO option.

In NCAA and ASA, the enforcement is different. The coach always has the option, as long as the ball is pitched; UNLESS batter and all runners advance at least one base safely (then the result of the play always stands, without a coach's option).