Scorer's Guide to Baseball Australia Club Baseball Scoring 2020

Besides the Baseball Australia Official Scorebook or a scoresheet, the CABS study guide lists:

• 1 fine-point black or blue pen (for the line-up and game details only)
• 1 HB or F grade black lead pencil, or a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil
• 1 red pencil, 1 blue pencil, 1 dark green pencil and 1 orange pencil
• 1 soft white pencil rubber and a reliable pencil sharpener
• a small ruler or straight edge
• a board or table to work on
• the current Official Baseball Rules

Some scorers also like a towel under the scorebook and a pair of binoculars. The guide notes that Baseball Australia uses the Official Baseball Rules in the format MLB reorganised in 2015 and does not publish its own rule books, and that MLB updates the rules annually when its season begins in April.

• Each team's coach or manager hands the official line-up sheet to the umpire just before the game. The guide recommends asking your coach or manager for the line-up 30 minutes before game time, and no later than 15 minutes before.
• Before play, enter on the scoresheet the teams, venue, date, umpires' and scorers' names, both batting line-ups and benches, with fielding positions and uniform numbers. Use a black or blue pen for this. The same game details go on your league's game card.
• Players are listed in batting order 1 to 9 and that order stays in place for the whole game (rule 5.04).
• Fielding positions are numbers: 1 pitcher, 2 catcher, 3 first base, 4 second base, 5 third base, 6 shortstop, 7 left field, 8 centre field, 9 right field. Think in position numbers, not by the player who usually plays there, so the right player gets the put out or error after a position change.
• The official start time is when the umpire calls "Play". Record it, and record the time the umpire indicates the game has finished.

• Player substitution: write the new player's name in the line-up directly above the outgoing player, with fielding position, uniform number and the inning of entry (for example T8 for top of the 8th). Rule a line through the outgoing player's fielding and batting statistics columns, and write the new player's name vertically down the left side of the batter's square where he took over, even if he does not bat that inning.
• Fielding position change only: write the new fielding number above the old one and put the inning in the Ch column with T (top) or B (bottom). If the new fielder is a catcher, also enter him in the catchers' statistics.
• Pitcher: enter him in the line-up as for any change and in the pitchers' statistics. Write his name horizontally across the top of the next batter's square (the first batter he faces) and draw a vertical line through the fielding extensions and end-of-inning statistics to split the first pitcher's outs and stats from the second's.
• Pinch hitter: mark PH in the Pos column and the inning in Ch, with the name vertically up the left of the batting square. If he then takes the field, record another fielding change.
• Pinch runner: mark PR in the Pos column, and mark the batting square with a small coloured line at the base where the change occurred.

Leagues may adopt rules not covered by the Official Baseball Rules to suit local conditions such as time limits, player numbers or age and skill levels. They are set in the league's by-laws, state playing rules or tournament rules, and they can change individual and team statistics. The guide lists courtesy or designated runners, tenth (extra) batters, automatic outs, innings countback, the mercy rule and a maximum runs per inning (for example 6 across the plate).

• Courtesy runner (for the catcher): not a pinch runner substitution. The runner gets no participation or base-running statistics, even if he steals a base: the stats go to the catcher.
• Designated runner: gets participation and base-running statistics.
• Automatic out: a team with only 8 players may play with 8 batters and fielders rather than forfeit, and is given an automatic out when the 9th batter is due up. Score it as AO with the out number in the circle; it is just an out and no statistics apply.
• Designated hitter: where a league lets a DH bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers, write DH in the batting order with DH in the Pos column. Write the pitcher on the lines after the 9th batter so his fielding statistics count in the team totals, and also enter him in the pitchers' section.

Record every pitch to each batter in the pitch section at the base of the batter's square, using: a dot or mark for a ball, C for a called strike, S for a swinging strike and F for a foul.

• The guide suggests counting the play in the first base section as the last pitch: a ball if it is a BB or HPB, a strike if it is an out, hit or error. Some scorers instead record the last pitch in the pitch section. Whichever method you use, be 100% consistent.
• Keep a cumulative tally by totalling the pitches after each batter. At the end of each inning count balls and strikes separately, sum them, and add to the pitcher's cumulative total.
• When a pitcher is replaced, his tally and batters faced stop, and the new pitcher's tally starts again from zero.
• Left on base (LOB) is a team tally that runs uninterrupted all game and is not split by pitcher.
• If a pitcher changes mid-batter, mark a line after the previous pitcher's last pitch. Anything other than a BB always belongs to the new pitcher; a BB may belong to the new pitcher depending on the count at the change (rule 9.16(h)).
• If a walk is ordered by the manager (intentional walk), tally only the pitches actually thrown, which may be zero.

Hit (rule 9.05(a)): score a base hit when the batter reaches first or any later base safely on a fair ball that:

1. settles on the ground, touches a fence before a fielder touches it, or clears a fence;
2. is hit with such force, or so slowly, that no fielder has an opportunity to make a play;
3. takes an unnatural bounce, or touches the pitcher's plate or a base before a fielder touches it, so that a fielder cannot handle it with ordinary effort;
4. has not been touched by a fielder and is in fair territory when it reaches the outfield, unless it could have been handled with ordinary effort;
5. touches a runner (runner is out) or an umpire before a fielder touches it; or
6. is fielded and the fielder unsuccessfully tries to put out a preceding runner, when in the scorer's judgment the batter-runner would not have been out at first by ordinary effort.

Always give the batter the benefit of the doubt; a safe course is to score a hit when exceptionally good fielding fails to produce an out.

Error (rule 9.12): charge an error to a fielder whose misplay (fumble, muff or wild throw) prolongs a batter's time at bat, prolongs a runner's presence on the base, or lets a runner advance. Slow handling without a mechanical misplay is not an error, and mental mistakes or misjudgments are not errors unless a rule says so. A fielder need not touch the ball: a grounder through his legs, or a pop fly that falls untouched, is an error if he could have handled it with ordinary effort. A decisive error prolongs the batter's or runner's life when the player should have been out; write it in upper case red letters followed by the fielder's position number.

A fielder's choice is the act of a fielder who handles a fair grounder and, instead of throwing to first to put out the batter-runner, throws to another base to try to put out a preceding runner. Scorers also use the term for a batter-runner's extra bases when the fielder tries to put out a preceding runner, for a runner's advance (other than by stolen base or error) while a fielder tries to put out another runner, and for an advance made solely because of the defence's indifference.

Under rule 9.05(b), a fielder's choice is recorded on the batter when:

1. a runner is forced out by a batted ball, or would have been forced out except for a fielding error;
2. a forced runner fails to touch the base and is out on appeal;
3. an infielder handles the ball and puts out a preceding runner (not forced) who is trying to advance or return;
4. a fielder's attempt to put out a preceding runner fails and, in the scorer's judgment, the batter could have been put out at first (a mere feint or look toward another base does not count);
5. a runner is out for interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted ball, unless the batter-runner would still have been safe.

Write FC followed by the fielder's position number in the 1st base section of the batter's square, in pencil. The batter gets a plate appearance and an at bat, not a hit.

Under rule 9.08(d), score a sacrifice fly when, before 2 are out, the batter hits a ball in flight (fly or line drive) handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield that:

1. is caught, and a runner scores after the catch; or
2. is dropped and a runner scores, if in the scorer's judgment the runner could have scored after the catch had the fly been caught.

It is scored even if another runner is forced out because the batter became a runner (for example runners on 1st and 3rd, dropped sacrifice fly, runner thrown out at 2nd). A sacrifice foul fly is scored the same way when the fly is handled in foul territory and a runner scores after the catch. Record it by drawing an S in blue through the batter's square. The batter is credited with a plate appearance, a sacrifice fly and an RBI, and fielding statistics (assists, put outs and errors) still apply.

All three are written in the 1st base section of the batter's square, in blue.

• BB: an award of first base to a batter who receives 4 pitches outside the strike zone. Pitcher's statistics get 1 BB.
• IBB (rule 9.14): scored when the pitcher makes no attempt to throw the last pitch into the strike zone and purposely throws wide of the catcher's box. It is also scored when the defensive manager tells the umpire the team intends to walk the batter (the umpire signals with 4 fingers). Record and tally only the pitches actually thrown, which may be zero. The pitcher gets 1 BB plus a separate IBB tally in the game notes section.
• HPB: the batter is awarded first base when touched by a pitch he is not attempting to hit, so long as the pitch is outside the strike zone. If the ball hits the batter in the strike zone or in the act of swinging, or he makes no attempt to avoid it, it is a strike and a dead ball. Pitcher's statistics get 1 HPB.

Credited (rule 9.07): a stolen base goes to a runner who advances one base unaided by a hit, put out, error, force-out, fielder's choice, passed ball, wild pitch or balk. It also applies if:

• the runner starts for the next base before the pitch that would ordinarily be scored a passed ball or wild pitch;
• the catcher throws wild trying to stop the steal (if the runner takes an extra base on the throw, record the stolen base plus the error); or
• the runner evades a run-down and then advances without the aid of an error.

If all runners on a double or triple steal reach safely, each is credited with a stolen base (DSb or TSb). A delayed steal, such as runners on 1st and 3rd where the runner on 3rd waits for the catcher's throw to 2nd, is a double-steal attempt. The catcher's statistics get one SB for each stolen base.

Not credited:

• one runner is thrown out on a double or triple steal (record caught stealing, assist and put out, and advance the others on a fielder's choice);
• a runner is tagged out after over-sliding the base;
• the runner is safe only due to a muffed throw (record the assist, error and caught stealing); or
• the runner advances solely because of the defence's indifference (record as a fielder's choice).

Earned run (rule 9.16): a run the pitcher is held responsible for. Reconstruct the inning without errors (except catcher's interference) and passed balls, always giving the pitcher the benefit of the doubt on which bases would have been reached. An earned run is charged when a runner reaches home by the aid of a safe hit, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, stolen base, put out, fielder's choice, base on balls, hit batter, balk or wild pitch before fielding chances (outs or decisive errors) have been offered to put out the offensive team. Mark it by colouring the run circle green.

Unearned run: no run is earned when scored by a runner whose time at bat was prolonged by a muffed foul fly, who reached first through interference, obstruction or any error, or whose life on base was prolonged by an error when errorless play would have put him out. Mark it red.

Change of pitcher (9.16(g) and (i)): a relief pitcher is not charged with any run scored by a runner who was on base when he entered, or by a runner who reaches on a fielder's choice that puts out a runner left by the previous pitcher. A new pitcher inherits the outs but not the errors. Runs charged as earned against a reliever can sometimes be unearned against the team, shown by a half-red, half-green circle.

At the end of the game the scorer decides the winning and losing pitchers under Official Baseball Rule 9.17, and any save under rule 9.19. Points from the CABS study guide:

• A starting pitcher must pitch 5 innings to earn a win (4 innings in a 5-inning game). The "must pitch 5" condition applies only to starters: a relief pitcher can get a win after facing one batter.
• A loss can be charged to a starter who faces only one batter.
• When a game is tied, the contest for win and loss begins again.
• The key to finding the pitchers is to find the game-winning run. The guide suggests pencilling in W/L/S credits at each pitching change.
• A save is ordinarily given when a closing pitcher maintains a winning margin in a close game or pitches at least the final 3 innings. A save is not always applicable, and can apply even when a reliever enters with a lead of more than 3 runs, depending on inherited runners or closing the game with 3 or more innings in relief.
• Juniors do not ordinarily have winning or losing pitchers, but Under 18 may.

• Suspended or protested game: note the exact situation at that moment in the top margin of the scoresheet: both line-ups, the inning, the score, the number of outs, the position of any runners and the ball and strike count on the batter.
• Forfeited game: a forfeit is a game declared ended by the umpire-in-chief in favour of the offended team by 9-0 for a rules violation. The guide notes the score may not always be 9-0: if a regulation game has been played, the actions up to the forfeit can be included and all player statistics count, except the win, loss and save pitcher credits if the team ahead on runs loses by forfeit.
• Mercy rule: competition playing rules may allow shortened games in one-sided contests (for example a 10 run rule). Your league's own playing rules decide whether and how it applies.

The CABS study guide says the Council of Australian Baseball Scorers, working with the Australian Baseball Federation (Baseball Australia), built a national scoring accreditation system, implemented on 30 June 2003 and replacing all existing state systems. The levels are:

• Level O: orientation to T-ball, rookie ball and baseball scoring, run by the State or Territory Scoring Organisations. It is for people with no scoring background and prepares them to score a game at basic club level.
• Level 1: club and school level, up to but not including the top division or grade. Covers scoresheet competency, symbols, an introduction to colours and basic statistics, and interpretations such as wild pitch versus passed ball and hit versus error.
• Level 2: club level including the top division or grade and schoolboys and university competition. More complex scoring situations and statistics, plus an introduction to delivering Level O instruction.
• Level IT: club level and national IT scoring, for people with at least Level 2.
• Level 3: national competition. Holders can apply for national scoring appointments and facilitate Level O and 1 instruction.
• Level 4 and Level 4 IT: national coordination and international competition.

The study guide is written for the Level 1 and 2 clinics, which may run over 4 sessions followed by a practical and theory exam. You may complete the clinic and sit the exam after another season of scoring or another clinic.