For Students>Scorekeeping>Play Ball

Once you are ready, you'll notice the home plate umpire is ready. He signals the begin of play with a hearty Play!.

Some scorers record every pitch in a game. For students and beginners, it is far easier to concentrate on the result of the play and not each pitch. Once you get the hang of it, however, practice recording each pitch. Learning to follow pitch counts and locations brings the scorer to a far deeper understanding of baseball.

Outs
Outs are the easiest (usually) plays to record. Let's assume the first batter up grounds the ball to the third baseman. The third baseman scoops the ball and fires it to the first baseman before the batter makes it to first. That is an out. We want to indicate that the ball was hit to the third baseman who then threw it to the first baseman. Remember, each player has a number assigned to him. We would record this as 5-3.

Notice the the number one with a circle about it. Each time an out is made, the scorer wants to record what number out it is in the half inning. There are three outs every half inning. The next out would have a two with a circle around it. The last out would have a three with a circle around it.

You also see a dot near third base. I like to record the location of where the ball was hit. A dot indicates where the ball was hit to.

Ground balls that result in outs can occur to at any position. If the play is at first base, they all are recorded similarly: 4-3; 6-3; 1-3, etc.

Sometimes instead of grounding the ball for an out, a batter will hit the ball in the air. If it is a fly ball to an outfielder, we use the letter F to indicate a fly ball and the number of the position of the player who caught the ball: F7, F8, F9. Notice the image shows a fly ball to right field and it is the second out of the inning.

Line drives can be marked with an L and the number of the fielder who caught the ball: L4 (line out to the second baseman).

If you are a Phillies fan, you'll need to know how to record foul outs. Scott Rolen does this frequently. If the ball is hit in the air and caught in foul territory, a scorer uses FO and the position number of the player who catches the ball: FO5 (foul out to the third baseman).

Strike outs are another frequent method of making an out. When the batter swings for the third strike, we record the play with a K. If the third strike is called, we record the out with a backwards K.

Scorekeeping>Hits