Wheelchair Baseball
Wheelchair Baseball was started in Sioux Falls,Dakota in the early 1970's.The first ever wheelchair baseball team were known as "The Sioux wheelers". A player in wheelchair baseball can get out in many ways, some of the ways to be struck out are: The Strikeout:This is caused when a pitcher throws the ball to the hitter and the hitter misses the ball three times in succession and the ball ends up going through to the catcher. The Groundout:This is caused when a batter hits the ball into play and the fielder touches the base while holding the ball before the batter can reach the base is an out for the batting team. The Flyout:This occurs when the batter hits the ball into the air and is then caught by a fielder. This is the only time that a ball can be caught out of bounds and still result in a out for the batting team. The Tag Out:This occurs when the batter is tagged by an opposing player while the ball is in the catchers hand and before the batter gets to the base.
Baseball Field A wheelchair baseball field must be placed on a hard surface. The surfaces are either asphalt or concrete, they must also be free of obstruction.
Equipment The equipment needed for wheelchair baseball is pretty basic. A manual wheelchair is needed.A baseball bat and 16" balls are also needed. The wheelchair must also have foot rests. Baseball:The ball is bigger than an adults fist. it has either a rubber or cork centre wound in yarn and covered in cowhide with red stitching. Baseball Bat:The bat is traditionally made of a single piece of wood, althought in non professional other materials are used for the bat. The bat is 2.5 centimetres in diameter. This is used by the batting team. The Mitt/Glove:This is a fielding tool. It is used to aid in the catching of the ball. The glove is made of leather and has webbing between the fingers to the help the catcher get a better grip. Rules The rules of Wheelchair Baseball are as follows. The base runner must be seated in their wheelchair and may tag or make contact with the base using either their hand or with one or more of the wheels of their wheelchair. If a player is knocked out of their wheelchair, they may proceed to the next or previous base by any means necessary. The base runner may not hop, walk or run to the next base. When they get to either the next base or the previous base, they may make contact with the base with any part of their body. A fielder may not advance towards or play the ball with any lower limb in contact with the ground. A player may return to their chair and advance toward the ball. All wheelchair baseball teams must have a quadriplegic on their team. If a team doesn’t have a quadriplegic they must play the game a fielder short. When the team is hitting there must be a quadriplegic in the batting line-up and bat in the same position throughout the game. Failure to have a quadriplegic hit in position will be an automatic out. A team must have ten players with at least one paraplegic. The hitter cannot have a limb in contact with the ground, the ball is dead, and the batter is out, all base runners return to the previous base.
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