Any Does INF fly come into effect on a line drive?

[AWall13]

Was playing SS with men on 1st and 2nd and 1 out. I was shaded towards the middle cuz of where the batter had hit his 2 previous AB's. He hit a liner back up the middle and i let it hit the back of my glove and drop to get a DP. INF fly was never officially called but umpire called it dead as i was touching 2nd and throwing to first, left the runners where they were, and declared the batter out. Was that an INF fly that wasnt technically called or just the umpire's discretion to not allow the DP?

 

[Empire]

Was playing SS with men on 1st and 2nd and 1 out. I was shaded towards the middle cuz of where the batter had hit his 2 previous AB's. He hit a liner back up the middle and i let it hit the back of my glove and drop to get a DP. INF fly was never officially called but umpire called it dead as i was touching 2nd and throwing to first, left the runners where they were, and declared the batter out. Was that an INF fly that wasnt technically called or just the umpire's discretion to not allow the DP?

Umpires discretion is my understanding, if they think it was intentional then they do what he did... my experience anyway

 

[kornphed]

INFIELD FLY is a fair batted ball (not a line drive) that can be caught in flight by an infielder
with ordinary effort. Any defensive player may catch the ball in the infield area.

LINE DRIVE is a fly ball that is batted sharply and directly into the playing field. NOTE: A
line drive should never be considered an infield fly.

These excerpts come from the USSSA 2010 Rule book

 

[Joker]

no, the rule specifically states not on a line drive

 

[AWall13]

INFIELD FLY is a fair batted ball (not a line drive) that can be caught in flight by an infielder
with ordinary effort. Any defensive player may catch the ball in the infield area.

LINE DRIVE is a fly ball that is batted sharply and directly into the playing field. NOTE: A
line drive should never be considered an infield fly.

These excerpts come from the USSSA 2010 Rule book

no, the rule specifically states not on a line drive

So pretty much the ump used his discretion to call bs on me and not allow the double play and its not a rule. I wasnt that mad about it. We all had a good laugh about. I was just wondering

 

[Joker]

i'm not going to give a for sure answer. i'm pretty sure intentional drops are an umpire discretion call

 

[shadlikefish]

He probably didn't call an infield fly he called a dead ball. In USSSA at least it is illegal to intentionaly miss a catch to create a double play. It is at the Umpires discretion to determine if it is intentional. So that is probably what he called.

 

[bdubbew]

Its up to the ump. the guy who hit it, what did he say or do?

 

[hookumsnivy]

This response is for USSSA, but I would be surprised if ASA and others had a different rule:
It is NOT an infield fly, but if you intentionally drop a line drive in order to turn a double play, the ump SHOULD call dead ball, batter out. Based on your description, it was intentional and the umpire made the right call.
Some umps do let it go if you use the back of your glove, but they are wrong.

USSSA Rule 7 Section 2H:

Sec. 2. THE BATTER IS OUT IF:
H. He hits a fair fly ball or line drive that an infielder intentionally drops, with
a runner on first, runner on first and second, first, second and third, or on first
and third with less than two outs. NOTE: A trapped ball that hits the ground is
never ruled intentionally dropped.
EFFECT Sec. 2. H. The umpire shall immediately call the batter out (in a forceful manner)
and the ball is dead.

 

[AWall13]

Its up to the ump. the guy who hit it, what did he say or do?

He hit it hard enough to where i knocked it down and picked it back up while he was still in the box. both runners froze on their bases. Easy DP. ump probably made the right call though

This response is for USSSA, but I would be surprised if ASA and others had a different rule:
It is NOT an infield fly, but if you intentionally drop a line drive in order to turn a double play, the ump SHOULD call dead ball, batter out. Based on your description, it was intentional and the umpire made the right call.
Some umps do let it go if you use the back of your glove, but they are wrong.

USSSA Rule 7 Section 2H:

Thats what i was thinking. The cool part was everyone knew what was up and had a laugh about it

 

[Will B]

I did the same thing the other night at 1B, but my ump didn't make the same call as your's did. I got away with it.

 

[hookumsnivy]

I don't blame you for trying. Some umps let it go and it's an easy double play if they let it slide.
Notice in the rules it says INTENTIONAL. If you're a good actor, on a real hard liner you can dropping it, shake your hand like it hit your palm and hurt like a *****. It might give the less experienced umps enough reason to think it wasn't intentional.

 

[AWall13]

I did the same thing the other night at 1B, but my ump didn't make the same call as your's did. I got away with it.

Give that man a grammy

 

[Will B]

Give that man a grammy

I didn't think I got away with it at first, but the ump called both guys out. My whole team was laughing, I was trying to keep a straight face. That ump made a bunch of bad calls that night.

 

[johnsonrod]

in asa, you have to actually make the catch, then drop the ball for it to be ruled intentionally dropped. dumbest rule ever.

Yes, you are mistaken. You can't drop something that you haven't caught, can you?

But yes, the rules supplement does specifically state that merely guiding the ball to the ground without actually catching it is not "intentionally dropping the ball."

the rule is designed using the same logic as the infield fly rule, the defense shouldnt be given an opportunity to get more than 1 out when the runners would be 'damned if they do, damned if they dont'.

HOWEVER, the rule supplement flies in the face of that logic.

in baseball, you dont have to physically catch the ball. one easy thing baseball players do is "catch" the ball in the glove, but never close their glove around the ball, thus the ball hits the webbing and falls to the ground. the rule is basically interpreted in baseball is the player cannot intentionally miss the ball.

getting into semantics but intentionally dropped could easily mean intentionally not caught and not mean intentionally caught then dropped.

so in ASA, the rules say if you have halfway descent fielding skills, you can "trap" the offensive team into getting more than 1 out when the intent of the rule is to not allow this to happen. a terribly written rule supplement if you ask me.

 

[AWall13]

I didn't think I got away with it at first, but the ump called both guys out. My whole team was laughing, I was trying to keep a straight face. That ump made a bunch of bad calls that night.

I tried to get away with it with that huh, what did i do look

 

[irishmafia]

Speaking ASA

The umpire probably called an intentional drop.

I wouldn't agree with it, but most likely that was the call.