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Bases loaded, no outs. Batter pops up high, 30 feet in foul territory, close to the third-base fence. F2 camps under it for what appears will be an easy catch. F5 calls him off and in the confusion, the ball drops in foul territory, hits a rock and deflects sharply toward fair territory, untouched, and comes to rest in fair territory, before passing 3B. Runners hold. F6 picks up the ball, tags R3, steps on 3B, and throws to F4 to force out R1 at 2B. Was this an infield fly or a triple play? OBR identifies an infield fly "a fair fly ball." This is ultimately a fair ball and was once a fly ball, but is it "a fair fly"? Also, the OBR definition of Infield Fly says this scenario is an infield fly if it was a "declared" infield fly, but the umpires would not have declared IFF on a ball that was so far within foul territory. If this is an infield fly, when would you declare it as such?

We discussed this play at the Wendelstedt SoCal Classic over the weekend, and it occurred to me that we can easily compartmentalize this play to make it easier to call on the field. Here is the play: Batter pops up into the infield near the foul line. A runner (R1 or R3 - doesn't matter) interferes with the fielder attempting to make the catch. I don't want to introduce willful and deliberate interference into this first post, but we can discuss it if there are questions. We have 4 possible situations: 1. IFF is not possible (situation doesn't warrant it), batted ball is fair. 2. IFF is not possible (situation doesn't warrant it), batted ball is foul (caught or not). 3. IFF, batted ball is fair. 4. IFF, batted ball is foul (caught or not). In ALL cases, the runner who interferes is OUT. There are no exceptions. Now, how we treat the batter-runner for each of the 4 situations will be as follows: 1. Batter-runner is awarded first. 2. Return batter-runner to bat. Add a strike to the count unless there are already 2 strikes. 3. Batter-runner is out on the IFF. 4. Return batter-runner to bat. Add a strike to the count unless there are already 2 strikes. The mechanic should be as follows: When the umpire sees the interference, he points to the infraction and declares, "That's interference!" While time is normally called on interference, in this case we wait to observe the fair/foul status of the batted ball. Once the status is determined, we then call time, and enforce the play as the situation dictates.

In the spirit of @MidAmUmp and his "What would you do?" series, here is a situation to untangle: R1, R2 with one out. B3 swings and hits F2's mitt and hits a pop-up towards F4 which is declared an infield fly by BU. The ball tips off F4's glove and rolls into the outfield. R2 scores and R1 ends up at third. B3 is standing on first base. Now what?

13yo AAU game - R1, R2, 1 Out. I am on bases, my partner signals IFF situation, I signal back, everyone on the same page! First pitch to next batter makes it to the backstop and runners advance. Second pitch is popped up near 3B for what should be a routine play by F5. Suddenly I hear my partner "Infield Fly, Batter's out!". The ball was not caught but thankfully landed and stayed foul (ignore that the verbal should have said "If fair"). We had to summon the batter back from the first base dugout because he ran there when he was called out, I will say he had to have hustled pretty hard to get off the field that quick. My question is how should we have handled this if the ball had been fair?

This question is on our association's 2013 NFHS study guide: PLAY: With the bases loaded and one out, the batter squares to bunt. At the last moment, he ducks away from a high fastball. The ball hits his bat and rises several feet in the air toward the pitcher’s mound. The pitcher makes the catch. RULING: This is not an infield fly. True or False?