pitch

Question
I was doing a game the other night and the pitcher went to pitch it and threw the ball straight down accidentally so it just  rolled a little into the infield grass. is the pitch a ball? if there were balks at the level I was doing woyld it be a balk?

Answer
Sarah,

In your situation, there are two outcomes of the pitch and the penalties for one depends on whether or not there are runners.

The first outcome is when the "pitch" does not cross a foul line (which I'm assuming in your situation). In this situation, it would be different if there were runners or not. If there were runners, the "pitch" would be a balk and the runners would advance a base. If there were not any runners, it would be a "no pitch."

The second outcome is when the pitch does cross a foul line. In this situation, the pitch is always a ball added to the count.