ASA Catcher's Box Violation

[Linknblue]

It was plain ol' ASA Fastpitch 12U A play. I can only assume that the defense did what they did because it was a close game and the defense had a 1st and 3rd situation to deal with and there was some sort of play on to combat it....but with 12U, it ain't perfect.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Linknblue

It was plain ol' ASA Fastpitch 12U A play. I can only assume that the defense did what they did because it was a close game and the defense had a 1st and 3rd situation to deal with and there was some sort of play on to combat it....but with 12U, it ain't perfect.

Some sort of play...to combat a situation where the runners have to hold their bases until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand?

In that case, couldn't you just rule on general principles? There's no advantage to pitching out, there's no safety issue, it's not wasting time, the catcher gains no edge by repositioning on a ball that's not going to be in play...so why would the action be penalized?

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Some sort of play...to combat a situation where the runners have to hold their bases until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand?

In that case, couldn't you just rule on general principles? There's no advantage to pitching out, there's no safety issue, it's not wasting time, the catcher gains no edge by repositioning on a ball that's not going to be in play...so why would the action be penalized?

Runners were on first and third, so I'm guessing the reason the catcher did what she did was to make a possible play on R2 advancing to second base? I see nothing wrong with that. (Edited to add) Now that I re-read the OP, the batter was squaring to bunt, so perhaps the defense thought there was a squeeze play coming. Again, I don't see a problem with what the catcher did here.