Injured player must bat or an out?

[UnsaltedStateProud]

Hello. I help run church league slow pitch softball. We most closely align with USSSA Men's D. We had a player become injured during a game. He was able to field, but not able to hit. Should the batter be considered an out, or is it legal to only play defense and not have to bat? I can't find anything concrete in the most current rulebook. To my knowledge, if the batter can't bat they're an out. Thanks for the help. The rulebook I'm referring to is the 2024 USSSA-SP-Rulebook. I'm having trouble sharing the link to it as it thinks I'm trying to spam as a new member.. cms.usssa.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/USSSA-SP-rulebook
If you put an https colon slash slash at the front of that link, and a dot pdf at the end, you can get to the rulebook I'm referring to.

 

[eddieq]

Well, he has to bat (7.1.B). Nothing says he has to swing. Have him go up with a bat and take a position. Maybe the pitcher will walk him.

 

[EAJuggalo]

In general, leagues don't follow that portion of the rulebook all that closely. Leagues I used to umpire would let you condense the lineup if someone had to leave or got injured. Tournaments are a completely different story. If I were in your position, I would consider a rule allowing one to play the field but not hit. If I were playing and had it happen, I would go to the other team and ask if they had an issue with that player not batting. If you just send up the next player in the lineup, it's nothing unless the fielding team appeals the batting out of order. Usually church league is more relaxed and no one would have an issue with it.

 

[UnsaltedStateProud]

In general, leagues don't follow that portion of the rulebook all that closely. Leagues I used to umpire would let you condense the lineup if someone had to leave or got injured. Tournaments are a completely different story. If I were in your position, I would consider a rule allowing one to play the field but not hit. If I were playing and had it happen, I would go to the other team and ask if they had an issue with that player not batting. If you just send up the next player in the lineup, it's nothing unless the fielding team appeals the batting out of order. Usually church league is more relaxed and no one would have an issue with it.

Thank you. This is the direction I was heading to begin with. It's good to see some like mindedness. Overall, it's a pretty laid back league and I'm kind of surprised that it's even an issue I need to help resolve.