hit or error

Question
Line drive at the SS.  Ball has some top spin and begins to dive just before reaching the SS.  SS goes to his knees then lunges forward in an attempt to play the ball in the air.  Ball hits the ground in front of him, bounces over him and into the left/center gap.  Hitter ends up on second...

error or double?

Answer
Pat,

The rulebook states that an error should be charged if the play would have been made with 'ordinary effort.'  So basically it is the official scorer's judgement.  No way I can rule authoritatively on this.

However, kind of sounds like ordinary effort wouldn't have got this one done based on a terrible hop.  So I would likely give the batter a double.

Hope this helps!

Brian