This actually happened in a jr. pony league game I was in. Bases loaded, no out. A flyball is going to drop between the 2B and RF. Man on 3d is scoring, I was on 2nd and saw it was going to fall so I was "running" and was going to score. The ball bounced away from the fielders. The man from first beats a bad throw to home. The batter is coming home too, safely, but is called out by the home plate ump invoking "Infield Fly". So how does this go in the scorebook?
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The fielder closest to the ball gets credit with the put out, runners advance at their own risk. That said, it should only be called on a sure out, not a blooper that falls in between the infielders and outfielders. Based on the situation you described, sounds like a bad call by the umpire.
Originally posted by Eddie FamousThis actually happened in a jr. pony league game I was in. Bases loaded, no out. A flyball is going to drop between the 2B and RF. Man on 3d is scoring, I was on 2nd and saw it was going to fall so I was "running" and was going to score. The ball bounced away from the fielders. The man from first beats a bad throw to home. The batter is coming home too, safely, but is called out by the home plate ump invoking "Infield Fly". So how does this go in the scorebook?
The offical scorer decides which fielder had the best chance to catch the ball--likely the 2B, from your description. Any runners who advanced would be scored as a sacrifice fly.
Your description is a little weird, though. You seem to be saying that the umpire didn't invoke the infield fly rule until the batter scored. The whole point of the rule is to invoke it while the ball is in the air so the runners know that they don't have to make the next base. And, really, if it was clear that the ball was going to fall in, the ump shouldn't have invoked the rule at all. The rule says it's only invoked when the ball could be caught with ordinary effort.
Like Vgmaster said, the batter is out by flyout to nearest fielder. The batter also gets credit for either two or three rbi's, depending if an error was charged on the throw home on the third runner.
Matthews' run counts. Moreland's base was first, not second. He could be put out only by a touch at first or by being tagged with the ball while returning. Therefore Matthews scored before Moreland was retired for the third out. (From Section 7.10a, as of October 1984)