Okay, let’s get technical for a minute here. If you look up “Infield Fly Rule” in the ESSC Slo-Pitch rulebook, here is what you’re going to read:
- If there are less than two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd or 1st , 2nd, and 3rd, then on an infield fly the batter is automatically declared out (the infielders do not have to make an attempt to catch the ball).
- This prevents the fielder from purposely dropping the fly ball in an attempt to force runners out.
- An infield fly is defined as: the hit must be 8’ or higher, must have an up and then down arc (line drives are exempt), and does not go past the infield.
- The entire shale is considered the infield when determining if this rule applies.
- Note: in some other leagues, the infielder must be able to catch the ball with ‘ordinary effort’ for it to be deemed an infield fly. This is not the case in ESSC leagues because there are no official umpires to make this determination.
Make sense? No? Okay, let’s try this.
There are two situations that must line-up for this rule to be in effect:
- There must be less than two outs.
- There must be runners on 1st and 2nd or runners on all 3 bases, like this:
If you are up to bat, both of the above situations are in play, and you hit an infield fly, then yooooou’re outta there!
Why? It prevents infielders from intentionally dropping the infield fly in order to force either a double or even triple play.
Let’s say an infield fly popped up towards short stop. If you’re the runner on second base, you most likely waited until the catch was made before you tried advancing to third. If the catch isn’t made, you are forced to advance bags, but the short stop now has ample time to either toss the ball to third or tag you with it (getting you out) and then throw the ball to second (getting the runner who was on first out).
Sounds pretty dirty, right? That’s why the rule is here and why you and your teammates need to fully understand it; it happens more often than you’d think!
