Sacrafice Bunt?

Runner on 3rd, coach calls for bunt. Batter gets the bunt down. Infielder plays the bunt clean, but makes no throw. Is this a hit or sacrafice, or and error on the infielder? I fill like it should be a hit or sacrafice for the batter because they got the job done. Some people say that it is an error and that punishes the batter. What is the correct call?

 

Sac but could be a hit......depending on who fielded the bunt perhaps???

Great bunt nonetheless!!

 

I would say if no throw was made, then it is a hit. It shouldn't be an error, but maybe if the throw was made to home, then it would be a fielder's choice. Bottom line, no throw, it has to be a hit.

 

it can't be a sacrafice if the runner on third did not advance. If i felt like the fielder could have made the play, i might score it a Fielder's Choice. he/she made a choice not to make the throw because of the runner on third, not because the hitter was going to beat the throw. but in my opinion, the hitter did not get the job done because the point of a sacrafice is to advance the runner.

A physical error did not occur, but maybe a mental one did. depends on the official scorer's philosophy on that. I would not have a problem with scoring it an Error. I have seen Error's called in games where a fielder threw to the wrong base...why not for simply not throwing it at all?

Now, if the runner scored, i would score it a Sacrafice with the hitter reaching first on the Fielder's Choice or an Error.

 

sorry cfastpitch44...quick read and runner at 3rd didnt score, right? assumed it was a suicude squeeze. Hate those safety ones unless you down more than a couple!

 

It should be treated as a fielder's choice, I believe.

 

Should be scored as a hit. And if the runner on 3B scored, should be a hit with an RBI. Laying the bunt down successfully is no different than a swinging bunt where the fielder (regardless of who), doesn't make a throw. This should be considered an infield hit.

A fielders choice is when the fielder make a play on the batted ball on a runner other than the batter.

A sacrifice is only scored when the batter is out and a run scores. A sac also does not count against the batter as an at-bat.

 

this one got me thinking...so i did a little research.

Most of this is based upon the official baseball rules book, but would probably apply to softball as well.

It can not be an error in my opinion. Note (3) of Rule 10.13 says that 'Mental mistakes or misjudgments are not to be scored as errors unless specifically covered in the rules.' So i was wrong to say that an error could be charged on a mental error. The only rule that i was able to find that even comes close to this situation is 10.13(c) that says 'An error shall be charged against any fielder when he catches a thrown ball or a ground ball in time to put out any runner on a force play and fails to tag the base or the runner.' In this case, there was not a force play in order for the fielder of the bunt.

Sacrifice? 10.09(a) states 'Score a sacrifice bunt when, before two are out, the batter advances one or more runners with a bunt and is put out at first base, or would have been put out except for a fielding error.' Assuming that an error can not be charged on the play, neither can a sacrafice since the runner did not advance.

So...Hit or Fielder's choice? Looks a little grey here. The Basehit rule that most closely applies here is 10.05(b) that says a hit shall be scored when 'When a batter reaches first base safely on a fair ball hit with such force, or so slowly, that any fielder attempting to make a play with it has no opportunity to do so'. If it is apparent to the official scorer that the fielder did not have a chance to make a play at first base, then score it a hit. But that is now how it was portrayed in the original post.

Baseball Almanac defines a Fielder's Choice as 'the act of a fielder who handles a fair grounder and, instead of throwing to first base to put out the batter runner, throws to another base in an attempt to put out a preceding runner'. But also includes a note saying that it could also be used by scorers 'to account for the advance of a runner made solely because of the defensive team's indifference'. But Defensive Indifference is typically for an undefended steal of a base.

So, the rules to not really spell out the correct scoring in this situation. But there is a 'note' in the rule book that states 'In applying the above rules, always give the batter the benefit of the doubt. A safe course to follow is to score a hit when exceptionally good fielding of a ball fails to result in a putout.' Exceptional fielding may not have occurred here, so still there might still be some grey area.

My conclusion...i still don't know. I think you could leave it up to the official scorer to make a decision based upon the game situation to score it either a Hit or a Fielder's Choice.

 

In my opinion this should be ruled a hit, because the batter got the bunt down that the coach called for and there was really not an error on anyone . The batter should not be punised for successfuly doing what the coach asked to do.

 

This batter is given an infield single. A sacrifice and a fielder's choice both require for an out to be made on te play. I believe in this instance no out was made, therefore it is ruled a single.