Expert: Dennis Girardi - 6/13/2007

Question
Our church team is playing softball.  We have a guy who can hit the ball over the fence every time.  After one time at bat, the opposing team chose not to even pitch to him.  He was told to take a base.  This happened every time he got back up to bat for the rest of the game.  Is this legal?  And can they do this EVERY single time he gets up to bat?  Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hey T,

Since it is a church league, something I am very familar with. (I managed and played for our church team for over 10 years.) I think it is poor sportsmanship to do this with no one on base, and it's too bad that this is a problem.
The head commissioner would know if there is a rule against this. Some leagues allow you to intentionally walk a player only 2 times a game and some leagues allow a player to only hit X amount of home runs per a game as well. This seems to be the way to go.  This can't be too much fun for your power hitter either, and that's what it's all about.. If there is no rule, maybe you can call a meeting with the other managers and set a max amount of times he can walk per game in exchange for a max amount of home runs he is allowed to hit per game.  This would add to the stratagy too.  Good Luck and please let me know what happens. PLEASE!
Dennis