During the Little League World Series' Italy vs Australia elimination game, an apparent triple play turned into a foul ball, confirmed via Replay Review, but we ask what if the ball had been actually fair? Article: www.closecallsports.com/2022/...
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This scenario begins with none out and the bases loaded. Italy's batter hits a fly ball on the infield and along the foul line between home plate and first base. Although the real-life play resulted in a foul ball as the Australia fielder first touched the ball in foul territory, we wonder what would have happened had the ball remained in fair territory and was fielded as a fair ball.
First and foremost, with none out and the bases loaded, it is important to be aware that this is a potential infield fly situation. Infield fly situations occur when there are less than two outs (there were none) and there are runners on first and second base or the bases are loaded (the bases were loaded). An infield fly occurs when the batter hits a fair fly ball which is not a line drive nor a bunt that can be caught by an infielder (including the pitcher) using ordinary effort. Even if the ball is dropped or falls to the ground untouched, as long as it is a fair fly ball, it is an infield fly and the batter is out.
The batter being declared out via the infield fly removes all force plays, since the batter's erasure means that no preceding runners are forced to advance-they can legally remain on the bases they occupied at time-of-pitch. Or they can choose to run anyway, but if they do so, they are liable to be put out via a tag while off-base. If the defense tags their next base, that becomes meaningless because the force is removed: the defense must tag the runner while off-base in order to record an additional out.
Back to the real-life play, one confounding variable is the interaction between the first baseman and the runner who begins the play on first base. They appear to make contact while the batted ball is in flight. If the umpire rules that the first baseman is the fielder entitled to field the batted ball, then the runner by virtue of impeding the fielder while the runner is not touching their base, is guilty of interference.
Interference during an infield fly always results in the interfering runner being declared out. However, whether the batter too is out depends solely on whether the batted ball is fair or foul. The rule states that play is kept alive only so long as to determine whether the ball is fair or foul. Once the umpire determines fair/foul, the ball becomes dead immediately and penalties are imposed as follows:
If fair, the interfering runner AND the batter are out (double play).
If foul, the interfering runner is out and a foul ball is called (batter returns to bat with a foul ball charged).
19 авг 2022
