Posted on: Tuesday, May 22, 2001
Scoring change gives Campbell's Bailey no-hitter
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
The baseball season ended on a downer for O'ahu Interscholastic Association West champion Campbell when it failed to qualify for the state tournament, but one of the Sabers got some good news last week.
A scorer's rule of a hit against pitcher Chad Bailey was found to be in error and Bailey was credited with a no-hit effort against Waialua on May 7.
Bailey had walked a batter in the sixth inning, who was subsequently retired when the next batter hit the ball cleanly to center field, but center fielder Fred Donald came up with it quickly and threw to shortstop Bill Tennent at second base to force out the runner.
Waialua, the home team although the game was played at Campbell, gave the batter a hit —the only hit off Bailey. That was a wrong call.
Veteran O'ahu umpire Mike Evans explained the rule:
"If a runner on first base is forced to advance because the batter puts the ball into play, and a fielder — any fielder — throws the ball to second and it arrives before the runner, he is forced out. If the batter-runner reaches first safely, it is scored as a fielder's choice.
"It doesn't matter if the catcher, pitcher, shortstop, right fielder or all of them handle the ball or if it is hit off the outfield wall or the flag pole in fair territory — if the ball beats the runner from first to second, he is forced out and there is no way the batter-runner gets a hit. There is never a hit on a force-out."
Landon Newcomb pitched the seventh inning for Campbell so Bailey did not get a complete-game no-hitter. The Sabers won the game, 12-0. But Bailey already had one of those, against the same opponent last year.
He would have traded both of them to have pitched in the state tournament.
Next big days for Bailey will be major league baseball's amateur draft, June 5-7. Scouts have blanketed his games this spring.
Bailey also is an excellent student with several good college offers, coach Lane Watanuki said, and he will have to decide which way his future leads.
SOCCER • WSU for Taylor: First-team all-state girls soccer defender Tiffany Taylor of Punahou will sign a national letter of intent and scholarship agreement this week to attend Washington State.
Her visit to the small (8,000 pop.) college town in the southeastern corner of Washington sold Taylor. "I liked the town atmosphere, I liked the coaches and I liked the level of soccer they play," she said. The Cougars are in the Pac-10, which sent seven teams to the NCAA Championship Tournament last fall.
"I've been going through a lot of stress lately while I was deciding what college to go to," Taylor said, "and I am now 100 percent happy with my decision to attend Washington State. I chose it over Syracuse University in New York, and Boston University, along with offers from Tulane and Oregon State. I'm glad that it is over."
Taylor expects to be a pre-medicine major.
