fastpitch re-entry rule

fastpitch on February 24, 2017, 04:41 pm

I will be learning scorekeeping by scoring high school fastpitch (softball) games beginning mid-March. There are a number of rules differences by comparison to MLB. This post concerns the re-entry rule.

In fastpitch, a player who is taken out of the game may re-enter later in the game. This is treated like a substitution and the re-entering player assumes the batting order position of the player for whom she (it is a girls game) subs. Such re-entry could apply to several different players during the course of a game.

On the Reisner scorekeeping system, this seems simple to handle. Just treat it like an ordinary substitution. The player (name and number) will then appear twice on the scorecard. This shouldn't cause any problems since the subs, etc, all reference event boxes. The only wrinkle is that in totalling the player stats after the completion of the game, you have to total both entries for the given player.

Should be no problem, but I'll let you know how it works in real life after the season starts.

I have no idea how one would handle re-entry (especially multiple players coming and going) on the traditional scoresheets. I'm thinking it would be a real mess.

There are some other rules differences; courtesy runners, automatic out call on leaving base too soon (runners cannot leave the bag until the pitch is released), and maybe some others.

Jim Perry