ASA shorthanded rule...

[jumpball6]

I was reading the ASA book about the shorthanded rule and was wondering (Slowpitch) if you drop a batter from your lineup or lose a batter due to injury is that an automatic out every time that batter is up to bat? or does the rule only apply when you go below a certain number of batters in the lineup?

[Tap]

In ASA slow pitch, you can start a game with 9 or you can continue a game with one less than you started with (9 if you started with 10, or 10 if you started with 11), assuming the playing leaves for any reason other than an ejection. If there is an ejection and no sub, it's a forfeit. Otherwise, it would be an automatic out every time that spot comes up in the order. Rule 4, Sec. 1.

Some leagues modify their rules to avoid forfeits or to even let teams play shorthanded without having automatic outs. I happen to think that's a good idea in rec leagues, as opposed to tournaments or championship play -- especially avoiding forfeits in a rec league (why penalize the other 20 players and send everyone home, including those on the opposing team, when someone loses their cool).

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Tap


Some leagues modify their rules to avoid forfeits or to even let teams play shorthanded without having automatic outs. I happen to think that's a good idea in rec leagues, as opposed to tournaments or championship play -- especially avoiding forfeits in a rec league (why penalize the other 20 players and send everyone home, including those on the opposing team, when someone loses their cool).

Because it is their job to keep him in the game, not mine.

[greymule]

Most slow pitch leagues around here let teams start or continue with a certain minimum (as low as 8) without having to take an out. However, a team cannot play short after an ejection. No sub, forfeit, and it happens not infrequently.

Girls' rec leagues, especially at the younger levels, never take the out. One league lets them play with five. Why not? The little kids seldom hit the ball to the outfield, and everybody gets to bat a lot. And if somebody shows up, she simply enters the game at the end of the lineup.

In the tournaments, a team usually can't go short without taking an out, and short for ejection is a forfeit.

Interesting wrinkle: a few years ago, in a tournament that required a batter to be ejected for excessive home runs, a team that had come several hundred miles was way ahead late in the game, but one of their players hit one over the fence. Ejection, no sub, forfeit. However, there is now a distinction between "ejection" and "disqualification" (which allows a team to play short but take the out).