Dead ball for safety

[fullcount13]

Boy I love this site! Haven't been on a full 2 days yet and already got cleared up on 3 or 4 situations! Thanks guys!

Here's another one I had the other night. (9U age group) Bases empty, no outs. BR hits line drive to SS which ricochets off his glove and hits him in the face (not full force by any means, but in the face none the less). The SS picks up the ball which dropped at his feet and throws over to 1B which sails high. The BR rounds first and makes it to 2B safely at which point the action stops and the coach calls time and comes out to check on the kid. On the way out the coach asks "isn't the runner suppose to return to 1B since the kid got hit in the face with the ball which should result in a dead ball?" I spoke with the PU at which he responds yes, a dead ball should be called when a kid gets hit in the face with the ball and the runner should return to first. He said this rule was for the kids safety (which I don't have a problem with).

This was one of the situations where the rules for USSSA would have some variation from the ORB, because unless I'm wrong, if a major league player had this happen to him, they would definately let the runner stay at 2B.

Were we right?

[Mr Umpire]

He and the coach are wrong. Play isn't stopped in this case. F6 was not incapacitated especially since he continued with the throw. Leave BR at 2B. Call "Time" when play stops and let the coaches tend to F6. If it is serious enough at this age level, stop play as soon as you realize F6 is really hurt. Just crying isn't enough in most cases. But err on the side of caution to prevent bigger issues with the parents.

If the kid looks like he might be hurt, stop play. If this is above the age of 12, let play continue around the player if he is not in immediate danger of being hurt more by the play such as laying in the baseline.

[jjb]

Here's the way we do it: If the injury is such that continuing the play would cause the player even greater injury (severe bleeding, dislocation, concussion, etc), we'll kill the play, award bases, and treat the kid.

Your kids are 9. As you've already figured out, these kids are going to grab their faces, fall on the dirt like they've been shot, and cry if the ball even comes near them. You've gotta be able to judge quickly whether you'll let the play finish and then send the coach out, or kill the play immediately. If you make a rule that " if a kid cries, we stop", you'll never finish the game.

In your situation, the kid had the presence of mind to pick up the ball and throw it (albeit poorly), before he collapsed in agony (sorry, I've just seen this too many times). I'd finish the play, award the bases like it never happened, and then send the coaches out to him..

[NFUA_44]

There isn't really any rule support for killing the play outside of your judgment of the situation. As the others have noted, pause and see what happens next. In your case the player continues the action on the field, there really is no reason at this point to kill the play.

Think of other scenario's where this could get tricky. How about a batter that cranks a shot to the right/center gap, while moving up to 1st he trips and falls down, he might be hurt, are you gonna kill it there? Where are you going to put him once the ball is put back in play, since killing the play robbed the defense of any chance to retire him. Most of the time on field injuries that require the immediate action of stopping play are very evident when they happen and generally you will be able to sort out runner dispositions once the situation has been cleared up.

[fullcount13]

Well put gentlemen! Well put!

[mstaylor]

I rarely stop play until action stops. Exceptions might be a pitcher taking a shot to the head area. Last night I was doing an 11/12 major game. The catcher threw behind the runner at first. It hit the base, popped straight up and busted the F3 in the mouth. The runner took off for second, I left it live until he got there, then I killed it. The player was fine, just a fat lip. Leave it live unless it looks life threatening. There is no USSSA rule to this effect that I know about.