Posted on 04/05/2014 7:41:07 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
What’s considered a line drive is entirely at the umpire’s discretion.
The original question inside this sub-thread was whether any line drive could be subjected to the IFR, not whether Snyder's hit in the instant case could be.
The strict wording of the rule is that an IFR can't be called on a line drive. However, since what constitutes "ordinary effort" to catch a ball, and what constitutes a "line drive" are both judgement calls at the margins, and since the IFR is entirely a judgement call once the requirements are satisfied, I think there are borderline cases where it's possible.
As you correctly point out, in addition to the judgement aspects, there are rule requirements: <2 outs and a force at third. But that wasn't the issue in the post I was responding to.
The runner should be fined for not making an attempt to get back to 1st to at least force a throw back to 1st.
Just goes to show that even a journeyman player can have one shining moment if he’s in the right place at the right time.
I didn’t even put in the funniest part. When the game started, the other team didn’t have enough players (remember this is a church softball league)so I drew the short straw and was playing for the opposition so the game could go on.
If the line drive goes out to center field and the guys on base score, my real team wins the game because this was in the last of the ninth and they were behind by one run.
But with the triple play, it was a walk off win for the other side. My coach was mad about it, even though I think we got a win on the books because they didn’t have enough players.
Oh wait a minute . . . you said this was softball. Does that count?
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