Tag: sports

Yesterday, my son’s high school baseball team had a game last night. It was game 1 of a best of 3 series. The winner of the series wins the Section XI championship and moves on to the regionals. A few unlucky and unusual plays happened during the game. These are just my observations from many yards away. I did not discuss the plays with the coaches after the game.

First play of the game, the leadoff batter hit a ball to the second baseman. The second baseman bobbled the ball and the batter reached first base safely. The batter apparently tripped, either over the base or his feet. He fell and severely injured his knee. I was told it was very severe. That was the first play of the game.

In the bottom of the first inning. We had a batter swing and miss and the ball hit him. He tried to check his swing, (it was not a full swing) but the umpire felt it was enough for it to be a swing and miss. So, even though the ball hit him, it didn’t matter because he swung, making it strike three. After some confusion, and the batter finally realized it was a strike out, he ran to first base hoping to advance on a dropped third strike. However, I think that it’s a dead ball since it hit him (even though he swung), therefore he could not advance on a dropped third strike.

The next odd or unlucky thing that happened was the hidden ball trick. A batter hit a ball to right field for a single. He stopped at first base and the ball was thrown into the infield. The batter began taking off his batting gloves and any shin or elbow guards he had. (I don’t remember). Well, before anyone knew what was going on, the first baseman had the ball and he tagged the batter out. The batter was standing a foot off the base while taking off his batting equipment. I am not sure if the second baseman threw the ball to the first baseman or if the ball went from the second baseman to the pitcher and then to the first baseman. There was confusion on what exactly happened. However, it was obvious that the batter was off the base and was tagged. Apparently, the umpire did not call time out. There were lots of yelling from the crowd and the team. The crowd felt that they couldn’t do that because the pitcher was on the mound. However, the pitcher was not on the rubber, he was just standing on the mound. He was just standing there and wasn’t preparing to pitch. So, I believe the call was correct. I have not consulted the rule book for confirmation.

Third odd thing that happened involved a pop up in the infield. A batter hit a pop up in the infield. He immediately ran as fast as he could to first base. He ran straight down the line. The pitcher and first baseman converged to try and catch the ball. The first baseman ran into the batter on the way to get the ball. The ball dropped to the ground. The umpire called interference on the batter. Many people believe that the batter has a right to the baseline and will be called out of the baseline if he moves out of the baseline. He has a right to the baseline. However, the fielder has a right to catch the ball. The baserunner should try to avoid contact with the fielder, when he can. He isn’t avoiding a tag, which is different. It definitely was the batter’s fault. It is a tough rule because all the batter was doing was running as fast as he could to first base. You see this happen occasionally, sometimes it happens when a base runner runs into a fielder that is trying to field a ground ball. The base runner needs to try and avoid interfering with the fielder trying to field the ball.

I was many yards away from all of these things and I didn’t discuss them with people that were much closer. I don’t know what was said by the umpires, players, or coaches. These are just my observations what I think happened. Game two is tomorrow. We will see what happens…