The IBUA Rules Interpreter distributes NFHS rules quizzes to our membership via email. The questions and solutions are listed below.
We also manage an extensive archive of more than 400 previous IBUA rules quizzes distributed between 2011 and 2019. Each quiz solution has a reference to the NFHS rulebook where appropriate — some of these references may be outdated due to recent changes to the NFHS rules, but the solutions still apply.
Current Quiz Solutions
October 25, 2023
Run Scores on a Tag-Up Timing Play
With one out and runners on second base (R2) and third base (R3), the batter hits a fly ball to centerfield, which is caught for the second out. R3 properly tags up and easily scores from third base. R2 advances to third base. However, R2 left second base before the center fielder caught the fly ball, so R2 did not properly tag up. At the end of playing action, the defense properly appeals that R2 did not properly tag up. The umpires agree and call R2 out for the third out of the inning.
What should the umpire do when:
– The defense argues that a force out ended the inning, so R3’s run should not count (NF 9-1-1b)
– The offense argues that when R2 was called out, R3 had already scored and was sitting on the bench, so R3’s run should count (NF 8-2-6h)
– Perhaps there is another argument for counting (or not counting) the run?
Answer: In the situation above, when the batter was retired on the caught fly ball, the force was removed and all outs are now time plays. When R2 was called out on proper appeal, R3 had already scored — so R3’s run counts.
October 21, 2023
Hit by Pitch or Foul Ball?
With a 1-1 count, the pitch is well inside, so the batter attempts to avoid being hit by the pitch. However, it appears (that in very quick succession) the pitch hits the batter in the arm and hits the bat. What does the umpire do if:
A) The pitch hits the batter and then the bat?
B) The pitch hits the bat and then the batter?
Answer: Whichever happened first in this scenario (hit batter or hit bat) is the key to the umpire’s call. If the pitch first hits the batter, the ball is dead. and the batter is awarded first base. If the pitch first hits the bat then the batter, this is an uncaught foul ball. The ball is dead and a strike is added to the batter’s count.
October 13, 2023
Thrown Pitch Goes Out of Play
With no outs and a 1-1 count on the batter, the runner on first base is stealing on the pitch. The pitch is in the dirt, bounces off the catcher and rolls toward the dugout. The runner from first base rounds second base just before the ball rolls into the dugout and out of play.
What base should the umpire award the stealing runner for the pitch going out of play? Is there a different award if the catcher accidentally kicked the ball into the dugout?
Answer: If a pitched ball is thrown out of play, the ball is immediately dead and each runner is awarded one base from the runner’s position at the time of the pitch. In the first situation above, the runner would be awarded second base (NF 8-3-3d). In the second situation above, the catcher kicked the ball out of play, so the ball is immediately dead and each runner is awarded two bases from the runner’s position at the time of the kick (NF 8-3-3c).
October 9, 2023
Batter Interference on Wild Pitch?
With no outs, a 1-1 count on the batter, and the runner on first base is stealing on the pitch. The pitch is in the dirt, bounces off the catcher’s mitt, and lands near the batter’s feet. The batter does not move but his position clearly hampers the catcher’s efforts to get the ball. There is no contact between the batter and the catcher. The catcher does not attempt a throw to second to attempt to retire the stealing runner. Which of the following are correct:
A) This is not batter interference because there was no contact between the batter and the catcher
B) This is not batter interference because the catcher made no attempt to throw
C) This is batter interference because (in the judgement of the umpire) the batter hindered that catcher’s attempt to retire the stealing runner
D) This is not batter interference because the batter did not make movement to hinder the catcher
Answer: If the batter’s movement hinders the catcher’s attempt to retire a runner (at a base other than home), then batter’s interference may be called. Neither a throw, nor attempted throw, nor contact between the batter/catcher is required. Answer “D” is correct, NF 7-3-5. If there is a play at the plate, then the batter must move (or attempt to move) to allow the catcher to attempt to retire the runner.
September 22, 2023
Failure to Tag Up after Throw Goes Out-of-Play
With runners on first base and second base with no outs, the batter hits a high fly to centerfield, which is caught for the first out. The runner at second base properly tags and advances towards third base. The runner at first base goes halfway to second base in order to watch the play. After catching the fly ball, the centerfielder’s throw to third base is wild and goes out of play. The runner near third base is properly awarded home. The runner halfway between first base and second base is properly awarded third base (two bases from the time of the outfielder’s throw). Is there anything that the umpires should be alert to before the next pitch or play by the defense?
Answer: No matter if the ball is live or dead or even when umpires are awarding bases — runners must properly run the bases. In the play above, while the runner at second base properly tagged up on the fly ball, the runner at first base did not return to first base to properly tag up. Once that runner arrives at third base, the runner is at risk of being called out if the defense properly appeals the baserunning error. See NF 8-2-5 and 8-2-6.
September 14, 2023
Fair Ball, Foul Ball, or Do-Over?
With the bases loaded and no outs, the batter bunts the pitch down the third base line. The batted ball is rolling about six inches in foul territory, so the umpire calls and signals “foul”. However, the ball continues to roll and eventually settles in fair territory between third base and home. All runners and the batter advanced one base. What do the umpires do now?
A) It is obvious to all that this is a fair ball, so the play stands.
B) The umpire’s call and signal of “foul” is an immediate dead ball. The batter must return to bat, the runners return, and a strike is added to the batter’s count.
C) None of the above
Answer: When an umpire calls/signals “foul”, the ball is immediately dead. See NF rules 5-1-1h and 2-16-1e. The answer above is “B”.
September 7, 2023
Ball Slips Out of Pitcher’s Hand
With the bases loaded and a 1-1 count on the batter, as the pitcher delivers the pitch, the ball slips from his hand and the ball slowly rolls towards the foul line. The runners stay at their bases and watch. What do the umpires do if:
A) The pitcher’s throw crosses the foul line and is picked up by the catcher?
B) The pitcher’s throw stays in fair territory (does not cross the foul line) and stops or is picked up by the catcher before it crosses the foul line?
Answer: When a pitcher’s throw crosses the foul line, a ball is added to the batter’s count. If the pitcher’s throw does not cross the foul line, it is a balk and each runner is awarded one base. See NF 6-1-4.
September 4, 2023
Interference, Obstruction, or Nothing?
This weekend’s tournament brings an abundance of quiz questions.
With no outs and the bases loaded, the infield and outfield are playing in. The batter hits a bloop pop up — heading to the fair area between the first baseman, second baseman, and the right fielder. This is not an infield fly. The first baseman, second baseman, and right fielder all sprint towards the pop up. The runner at first base is standing still about 20 feet from first base as the ball is in flight. The first baseman runs into the stationary runner and both fall down. The ball falls safely to the ground in fair territory. All runners advance (except the runner at first base is forced out at second base), so one run scored.
What does the umpire do if:
A) The umpires judge that the first baseman had the best chance of catching the pop up?
B) The umpires judge that the second baseman or the right fielder had the best chance of catching the pop up?
Answer: This is a ruling that the umpires will have to be ready to explain to both coaches. One team is going to be unhappy.
On a batted ball, the umpires must choose one (and only one) defensive player to protect from interference from the offense. If that chosen defensive player is interfered with, then the ball is immediately dead and penalties are imposed. If a defensive player other than the chosen protected defensive player obstructs a runner, then it is a delayed dead ball and penalties are imposed after the play completes.
A) Since the first baseman was protected, the runner is out for his interference. The ball is immediately dead and all other runners must return to their bases. No runs score. The batter is awarded first base.
B) Since the runner was obstructed by a defensive player, the umpires wait until the end of playing action to impose penalties. In this case, the runner is awarded second base.
August 28, 2023
Batter’s Interference on Steal
There are no outs, an 0-2 count on the batter, and a runner on first base, who is stealing on the pitch. The pitch is a bit outside the strike zone, but the batter lunges, swings, misses the pitch, and the catcher catches the pitch for the first out. As the catcher stands up to throw towards second base, the batter is overtop of home plate (due to his lunge and swing). The catcher alters his throw to avoid the retired batter — and as such, the stealing runner is safe at second base. Does the plate umpire have any actions?
A) No, the play stands. The batter’s position after the swing was due to his attempt to strike at an outside pitch. His interference was unintentional.
B) Since the batter struck out and then interfered with the catcher’s attempt to retire the runner, the runner must return to first base.
C) Since the retired batter interfered with the catcher’s attempt to retire the runner, the runner is also called out.
D) The batter’s interference is not an immediate dead ball. If the catcher’s throw retires the runner, the batter’s interference is ignored.
Answer: In the situation above, the batter is out on strikes, so he cannot be further penalized for interfering with the catcher’s attempt to retire the stealing runner. In all rulesets (NF 7-3-5), if the stealing runner is not retired on the catcher’s initial throw, then the ball is dead and the runner is called out for the retired batter’s interference. The offensive team will not like this call and have lots of questions, so we need to carefully explain this rule.
August 12, 2023
More Interference on Pop-Ups!
With no outs, the runner on first base is stealing. The batter hits a soft pop up to the second baseman (who standing directly in the base path between first and second base). The batted ball, the second baseman, and the runner all arrive at the same place (and same time) and there is a collision. The runner stands up and is able to run safely to second base. The batter is also able to make it safely to first base. What do the umpires do?
A) Since the contact was not intentionally and the second baseman was directly in the runner’s base path, there is no violation and the play stands
B) The runner interfered with the second baseman making an initial play on a batted ball. The runner is out, the ball is dead, and the batter is awarded first base.
C) This could be (depending on the umpire’s judgment) a rare double play. Had the runner not interfered, the batter would have been out on the fly ball and the runner would have been out on a tag or a throw to first base.
Answer: In the situation above, answer “A” is not an option. Although the second baseman was in the runner’s basepath and his contact was accidental, the second baseman must be given the opportunity to make an initial play on the batted ball.
The runner is out and the ball is dead (answer “B”). However, if (in the umpire’s judgement) the runner’s interference prohibited a very likely double play (the batter out on the pop-up and the runner out via a tag or a throw to first base), then the umpires can declare both out (Answer “C”). This is rather rare and the umpires must be prepared to explain their ruling (see NF 8-4-2g).
August 6, 2023
Interference on Pop-Up
With no outs and a runner on 2nd base, the batter hits a high pop near the first base line between home and 1st base. As the batter-runner is within the runner’s lane, he accidentally bumps into the first baseman (who is about to catch the pop up). The first baseman drops the ball over fair territory and the ball lands in fair territory. The batter-runner is safe at 1st base and the runner at 2nd base advanced safety to 3rd base. What is the call?
A) Since the batter-runner was legally within the runner’s lane and the contact was accidental, there is no violation, so the play stands
B) The batter-runner interfered with the 1st baseman, so the batter-runner is out
C) The runner at 2nd base was not involved in this play, so he can remain at 3rd base
D) The runner at 3rd base must return to 2nd base (due the batter-runner’s interference)
Answer: A defensive player is protected from a runner’s interference when the defensive player is making a play on a batted ball. If a runner interferes, the runner is out, the ball is immediately dead, and any other runners must return to their base at the time of the pitch (NF 8-4-2g) (Answers “B” and “D”).
The runner’s lane only applies when a ball is thrown from behind the batter-runner towards 1st base. This play involves a batted fly ball, so none of the runner’s lane rules apply.
July 9, 2023
Running Outside the Basepath
If a runner is called out for running outside their basepath, is this a force out or a time play? Does the ball stay live or is it immediately dead?
Answer: When a play is being made on a runner and the runner leaves their basepath, the runner is immediately out (NF 8-4-2a) and the ball stays live. This out could be a force play or a time play — it depends on the usual criteria for a force play (NF 2-29-3).
A reminder about the runner’s basepath — the runner’s basepath is NOT a straight line between the bases. The runner establishes their own basepath. Their basepath is a line directly between the runner’s position when a play is being made on the runner and the base to which the runner is advancing. If the runner deviates more than 3 feet (or commonly defined as a step-and-a-reach by the fielder) from that basepath, the runner is immediately out.
July 2, 2023
Batting Out of Order
The batting order exchanged at the plate conference had the home team players #1 through #9 batting in that order. However, the first time through the order, the home team batted #1, #2, #3, #5, #4, #6, #7, #8, #9. This improper batting order was not detected by either team.
As the home team batted through the order the second time — with #5 on first base and #4 at bat with a 2-2 count — the visiting team alerted the umpire that the home team was batting out of order.
What should the umpires do?
A) Nothing. After the home team went through the order the first time, a new order was established and batting #1, #2, #3, #5, #4, #6, #7, #8, #9 is legal.
B) Nothing. Since #4 has taken 4 pitches, he is the legal batter, so play on.
C) #4 is declared out for batting out of order. Since #5 is on base, #6 comes to bat.
D) #4 is the wrong batter, so replace #4 with the correct batter (#6) and #6 assumes the 2-2 count.
E) None of the above
Answer: Batting out of order can take one of three scenarios: Discovered too soon, discovered too late, or discovered in-time. This line-up problem is discovered too late to declare an out.
The first pitch to #4 made the previous batter the proper batter. Now that #5 is the proper batter, the batter that follows #5 should now be batting — so #6 should come to the plate (and assume the count).
June 21, 2023
“Spitballs”
Pitchers have a habit of licking their fingers and then grabbing the baseball. While these pitchers are not trying to throw a “spitball”, offensive coaches sometime ask for a penalty (including asking for a balk). What are the penalties?
Answer: NF rules differ from the NCAA and MLB. Below are the NF rules and rarely should a balk be called. At most levels, umpires will likely want to employ some “preventative umpiring” before assessing any penalties. When the pitcher is:
- Off rubber (with or without runners), goes to mouth, wipes off – LEGAL
- Off rubber (with or without runners), goes to mouth, does not wipe off, grabs ball – LEGAL
- Off rubber (with or without runners), goes to mouth, does not wipe off, grabs ball, gets on the pitcher’s plate – BALL
- On rubber, without runners, goes to mouth (regardless of wipe-off) — BALL
- On rubber, with runners, goes to mouth (regardless of wipe-off) — BALK
June 18, 2023
Deflected Ground Ball
When a batted ball is deflected by an infielder, does that change the rules for offensive interference, defensive obstruction, or runner hit-by-batted-ball? In all 3 situations below, the bases are loaded, the 3rd baseman is playing in, and the shortstop is playing back. A fair ground ball deflects off the third baseman and heads towards the shortstop.
Play A: Before the shortstop can field the deflected ball, the deflected ball hits the runner (R2). Is R2 out for being hit by a fair batted ball?
Play B: After the deflection off the 3rd baseman, R2 runs into the shortstop as he is fielding the deflected ball. Is the shortstop still protected as he fields a deflected ball and thus R2 is out for interference?
Play C: After the deflection off the 3rd baseman, R2 runs into the third baseman as the third baseman is standing in R2’s basepath. Is this interference on R2, obstruction on the third baseman, or nothing?
Answers: Play A: After a batted ball hits a defensive player, if the ball touches a runner, the touching is ignored (unless it is intentionally touched by a runner).
Play B: A fielder is protected when making his initial play on a batted ball — even when that fielder is playing on a ball deflected by another fielder. R2 interfered and is out. R3 is returned to third base. The batter is awarded first base, so R1 is forced to second base.
Play C: Since the ball deflected by the third baseman is now being played on by the shortstop, the shortstop is protected — and the third baseman is at risk of obstructing.
June 7, 2023
The “Hidden Ball Trick”
With the bases loaded and 2 outs, the defensive coach calls time to meet with the infielders. After the visit concludes, all the offensive and defensive players return to their proper offensive and defensive positions. As soon as the plate umpire puts the ball back in play, the first baseman tags the runner off of first base (the first baseman had taken the ball from the pitcher during the coach’s mound visit).
The defense believes that they have an out to end the inning. The offense believes that there was a balk (since the pitcher was on the rubber without the ball). What do the umpires do now?
Answer: This is neither an out nor a balk. The plate umpire erroneously put the ball in play — even though one of the six criteria for doing so was not met (that being that the pitcher must be on the rubber with the ball in either hand). Since the ball was not live, the defense cannot put out any runners nor can the pitcher balk.
The umpires have a lot of explaining to do — but this is “nothing”.
June 2, 2023
Tag-Up Timing Play
With 1 out and runners on first base (R1) and third base (R3), R1 is stealing on the pitch. The batter hits a fly to centerfield, which is caught for the second out. R3 properly tags up and easily scores from third base. Since R1 was stealing, R1 was not able to return to first base to properly tag up, so the defense threw to first base to retire R1 for the third out of the inning. R1 was retired after R3 had scored.
Many believe that R3’s run should not count because the inning ended on a force out at first base. What do the umpires do?
Answer: When the batter was retired on the fly ball, the force was removed at all bases. R1 was not forced at first base. Instead, all runners were required to return to their base in order to properly tag up — else they would be at risk of being called out upon proper appeal. Since R3 scored before R1’s proper appeal for the last out of the inning, R3’s run counts — NF 9-1-1.
May 27, 2023
Runner Interference on Ground Ball
With no outs and the bases loaded, the batter grounds to the shortstop. The shortstop steps directly into R2’s basepath. R2 tries to stop, but contacts the shortstop and the shortstop is unable field the ground ball. R3 scores and all other runners are safe.
What do the umpires do? Is there a different umpire action if the shortstop is contacted but is able to recover and throws to second base to force out R1?
Answer: In both situations above, the ball is immediately dead, R2 is declared out for his interference. R3 must return to third base. R1 is awarded second base. The batter is awarded first base. Runners must allow defensive players to make their initial play on a batted ball. The runner’s basepath and/or their intentions are not a factor — NF 8-4-2g.
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