pitcher throws pitch backwards
 

I was working a game the other night and with no runners on, 1-0 count, pitcher starts to pitch, well, she ended up throwing the ball backwards, as in, she "pitched" it to 2nd base. Ball just slipped from her hand as she was at the top of her windmill.

I've never seen any rule to cover that, so I just added a ball to the count and we played on. Didn't get any complaints from any coaches. Was that the correct call? What if there were runners on base?

I know in Baseball, this would be a balk, but in Softball, would this just be an illegal pitch and add a ball to the count and advance each runner one base?

Its not an illegal pitch, its just a pitched ball that slipped out of the pitchers hand. It is a live ball, and if runners are on base they are free to advance at their own risk. And yes it is a ball on the batter.

For ASA, it is 6FP.11. "If the ball slips from the pitcher's hand during the delivery, a ball is declared on the batter, the ball will remain live and the runner(s) may advance at their own risk"

I had F1 do this this past weekend. There were no runners on but the offensive coach is holding his hands out like what do we do? I laughed to myself because this was discussed this week. It seems like if you talk about it, it will happen soon.

First time that I have had F1 lose the ball backwards. I have F1 have the pitch come off at an angle but not ever backwards.

Now, if the batter squared to bunt and did not pull the bat back....... :D

I'll see your :D
and I raise you:rolleyes: ;)

Chances are if you wait long enough, the batter will pull it back before the ball reaches the vicinity of the strike zone! :D

But if you reeeeealy need that strike, you know like in a two hour long JV game and it's way after beer-30.... :p

I know what BEER-30 is but whats a JV game:confused:

JV is Junior Varsity. High school B team, also sometimes generically subvarsity.

Steve it was meant as a j:Dke as I do very few non Varsity Softball games.

And I do a few varsity games that are essentially JV games with older players. :eek:

Yeah we have 2 schools like that. Both schools are 1 umpire mechanics. I make a day of them as they are in scenic areas 50 and 70 miles away. Plus it helps that the final pay for each game is $100.:D

Frankly, I'm surprised that your high school athletic association will allow that. It's basically telling those two schools, "You guys suck, so you only deserve one umpire."

In our neck, we have at least two schools that rarely win a softball game. One of them is very close to my work commute route, so I've done probably five or six of their games each season. I honestly cannot recall any of their games going beyond five innings, thanks to our run-rule, and they typically give up 15 to 25 runs a game.

And yet, these schools field varsity teams every year, and we provide their games two-umpire crews. We don't treat them any differently.

Well, I say that, but I'm sure there are a few "veteran" umpires in our association who refuse to accept these schools' games when they get assigned them. I like working these games because I'm usually teamed up with a partner who needs experience. And I usually see rule violations in these games that keep us on our toes. :D

exactly :cool: