“Those Poor Kids” – Dropped Third Strike Rule in Baseball Becomes the Reason for a Young Team Winning a Championship, Enthralls Fans

A single swing of the bat can change the course of a game. Filled with many rules, baseball provides jam-packed entertainment for every fan of every age. And this is what happened in the championship game of two high school teams, Hornell and Palmyra-Macedon. A rule dropped on strike three became a reason for the Hornell High School team to lose the finals.

Thinking they had won, Hornell started celebrating their alleged win. But to their dismay, dropped on strike three rule gave a chance to the opponents to steal the win from Hornell’s hands like sand.

What is a dropped-on-strike three rule in baseball?

According to this rule, when the game is down to the third strike, and the catcher misses out on catching the ball, the hitter on the plate gets the chance to run and score one for the team. 

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Something like this was seen during the Section V Class B1 Baseball Championship final. In the seventh inning, two outs were already there, and it was down to the third strike. But then Hornell’s catcher dropped the ball, and according to the rule, the umpire did not call it a strike. But Hornell’s high school team did not take note of it and started to celebrate their win. On the other hand, the Pal-Mac batter rounded the bases to score the game-tying and go ahead and eventually took the win home.

Hornell’s catcher at first tried or thought of tagging the batter but didn’t go ahead with it. Instead, he met up with the pitcher on the mound and started to celebrate their win. However, a few of their team members can be seen realizing the rule and looking for the ball. But as it happened, the ball wasn’t found. Pal Mac’s batter scored, won, and left the Hornell team dumbfounded on the diamond.

The Hornell High School team did not expect a turn of the event

It was probably a mistake on the part of Hornell about not knowing a rule as important as this one. Because not knowing this rule eventually cost them the championship. Hence, baseball fans on Twitter sympathized with the Hornell team for losing the game as badly as they did.

Following are some of the fans’ reactions towards the dropped strike three happening in a High School final:

Over-excitement can be a mood killer, and it made the team lose!

Only a few realized, though!

Is all of it is catcher’s fault?

Great focus by the Pal-Mac, indeed!

Do you think players should know about this rule? Also, who do you think was in the right, the catcher who celebrated early or the hitter who ran the bases? Let us know in the comments below!

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