BOO question- sorry if this is a repeat

[BretMan]

For the OP...

- Mary is out. Any outs made by runners already on base during the improper batter's time at bat stand.

- Alice's time at bat is negated. She's not out. It's just like she never batted.

- Mike (the batter who should have batted) is out on the appeal.

Two outs. Fred is the next batter.

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

Why have such a convoluted exception though?

Because co-ed batting orders are by their nature convoluted.

Since we're talking co-ed here, the goal is to maintain the alternating male-female batting order. If Alice were to bat again, the rules would be forcing two same-sex batters to follow each other, which is not in the spirit of co-ed play.

The perceived advantge is that you could potentially have two male batters back-to-back, an advantage that is not intended by the rules.