Intentional Walks

Do you have to pitch to the hitter if your intent is to intentionally walk her? I know all the regular season in our conference games you could simply tell the umpire that you wished to walk the batter and she'd be sent to first base without throwing a pitch. During state playoffs however,the umpires insisted that you had to pitch the four balls to the hitter. CF or somebody knowledgeable on this please advise...

 

Intentional Walk Procedure

If the procedure has changed, Chapel Hill has not made it known to those who need to know. As put out by the NCHSAA folks who present the officials clinics, no pitches have to be delivered and the coach can choose to put the batter on at any point during the count.

Were I the coach of either of the teams that this happened to, especially the team that advanced, I would be on the phone talking to Chapel Hill before the next round.

 

Saw it done both ways this year. It just depended on who the ups were. It looks like they would tell them (the ups) at the start of the season ok this is how we will do this. Oh never mind it is the NCHSAA what do we expect they probablly don't know themselves what they want to do

 

Effective this year, the rule was changed in North Carolina to require pitches be thrown to intentionally walk the batter. Its in the rule book. Of course, how many coaches and umpires bother to make themselves aware of rule changes?

Wouldn't it be great if the rules for High School softball were posted on the internet as travel organizations do. Imagine, everyone actually knowing the rules (umpires, coaches, players, and fans). But, maybe the NCHSAA would go broke if they lost their profit from the sale of the few rule books they sell.

 

Practice

Our team actually practices this. The girls are worked to throw 4 Balls for an IW in case it is needed. All over the country coaches, parents & players wonder why high school & travel softball does not play by the same rules as the NCAA. (i.e. pitching distance, minor rules, etc.) I think that NCHSAA finally going forward to what is done in college is the right thing for the players and the sport. I understand different standards for the younger divisions, but for high school aged girls, getting the rules in line with college is a good idea.

 

Int. Walk

 

This happened in our game Friday. The opposing team had thrown a few pitches to our hitter and then the Coach wanted to put her on base. The Coach and umpire discussed this for a little while, obviously the other Coach was upset when the homeplate umpire said NO. We were playing in the Mtns, and the umpires were from another area (Greensboro I believe). So what conclusion did you come to after your game Cheeze? What conference is it that you have used the IW without throwing pitches? We had runners on second and third, one out with our number two batter up, number three on deck. The other team could have still walked our batter, she was 3-1 when this whole discussion broke out. They opted to pitch to her after the discussion and she got a hit to tie the game. Had they walked her it would have loaded the bases with one out. The next hitter hit a double in the left center field gap to go ahead by two runs. Either way, I believe the score would have remained the same, BUT if that is true about the rule, I do not blame the coach or fans being upset about the umpire's decision. How are all the umpires in the state NOT on the same page? I still feel we should do things they way they are done in College.

 

Umpires

As I said in an earlier post, the one thing in high school softball that hurts the game, are the umpires. Out of the entire state, I doubt you could find 16 qualified officials to work the games. Is this becasue there not there, no, it's because the different booking agents do not require their officials to go to CAMPS. All they are required to do, is to show up once a week to listen to someone read a few rules to them, attend a pre-season scrimmage, (not necessarily work), with no one actually watvhing them and correcting their mistakes when they happen. In our one scrimmage this year, we had 12 umpires. They all stood just outside the foul line behind first base and cracked jokes and discussed many things other than the game; some worked, maybe an inning and then left. This is not training. I train college officials every year, we put on 4 or 5 camps during the summer and fall, and the officials MUST attend at least one of the camps, lasting approximately 2 1/2 days, they are watched closely and have hands on training on base mechanics and filmed plate mechanics. It is a travesty that our daughters are subjected to officials that are untrained, errogant, and totally unapproachable, especially when they make MAJOR screw ups. But sadly, I don't see any changes in the near future.