So the boy had been right and wrong.

Right as in, that the Umpire was an important 'player', in the game, but wrong as the Umpire wasn't a real Player-player.

However the next question played to the boy's solo knowledge of the Umpire. Raising his hand Patroclus smiled at Professor Zookara, "Yoooou're Out!" the boy bellowed again, beforing adding, "He can also say, Strike! and add a number, depending on his mood, STRIKE TEN!"

Seriously the boy had no idea about this game.

Louisa listened carefully as the teacher spoke. She wasn't very good at getting this baseball thing although she attended lots of games. She looked over at the two boys who discussed it very skillfuly and was impressed to see that Rex is one of them. Well it was more like a guys-sports anyways.

"He says 'Strike' and followed by a number. Which means that the batter is out, I guess." She answered after raising her hand.

Rex raises his hand. "Sir, if the batter fails to hit the ball, it is a strike." Rex told him. " now, of course, if the batter hits the ball to the left or right of a white line marked on the field, right of the right field line, left of the left line, these are called foul balls and still are strikes" Rex did more explaining more of the baseball term. " Now you get only three stikes if you miss the ball all three times , but you can hit a lot of fouls balls which two fouls are strikes and then until the batter swings and misses or the umpire thinks the pitcher throws a great pitch, then the umpire can call "Strike three- You are out" Rex said to the professor.

Ehhhh.

Professor Zooballoon didn't want to eat the walnut. Not that Destiny could blame him or anything. It was sitting on the floor and was just PULVERIZED by a, probably used, beater's bat. "Oh well." she said, glancing at the mess. She didn't have to clean up the mess, did she?

Handing the bat back, since she was done with it..unless the Professor had MORE walnuts in his pocket..she waited until he turned to address the class again before a smirk appeared on her face. Using her foot, she scooted the crushed walnut under his desk. Hehe. If one can't see it, it isn't real.

Like Thestrals.

Now that everything was done, was she supposed to go back to her seat? The Professor didn't tell her to, so she figured she was to stay up front. Hehe, the view from up front was not nice..having to look at Arya all the students all day..eww. Crossing her arms, she lent up a little to get a look at the picture being shown. She had no idea what those stick figure people were doing..looked like some weird, robotic dancing, until the Zooballoon started to explain.

Yeah..she still didn't get it.

What she did get was, that if this batter person didn't hit the ball, they had to hit something else. And what else was there to hit but the referee person themselves, RIGHT? Uncrossing her arms, she raised her hand even though she was standing behind the Professor, "The referee says 'That hurts!'"

Emmaleigh slid her hand into the air. She definitely knew the answer to this question. "The u-umpire would yell 'S-strike' if the batter swings and m-misses the ball. It means that it is the b-batter's fault. If the umpire yells 'ball' then it is the p-pitcher's fault for not throwing the b-ball over the plate. Three strikes means the b-batter is out, and four balls means the batter gets to w-walk to first base."

Professor, there can be bad pitches, four of them to be exact and the umpire will tell the batter to take first base. This is called a walk. Now there is an exception to the strike out rule, if there is no one on first base, the batter could strike out, but if the ball gets behind the catcher, the batter could run for first to be saf even though the batter strikes out. " now the catcher can throw to first base or tag the batter and h the batter still strikes out while being tagges or thrown out. If the batter runs to first base before the catcher throws him out on a strike out, the pitcheer is credited with a strikeout, the catcher will be charged with an error and the batter would be safe at first.

Wow, Rowan thought to herself. Baseball is much more confusing when your describing it to someone. I wonder if the Professor will let us watch a game.

Chloe was a bit familiar with baseball so she knew the two things he may say. Thus Chloe raised her hand high and said, "That would be strike or ball cause a strike is when the pitcher throws the ball perfectly at the mound and the batter misses it in mid swing or does not swing at all. A ball is called when the pitcher throws the ball toward the batter in such away that it is too far off the center for it to be called a fair ball that the batter can hit".

Again, so many with the right answer...or partly anyhow. But he was really glad that most of them had at least a little bit of background knowledge of baseball. This was going to make this a lot easier. "Yes, right, the umpire could say - among other words of course - ball or strike." Just as he was about to repeat what some of the students had said already concerning which was which, a few answers caught his attention.

Turning to Trent, Jeremy smiled and nodded approvingly, even though, 'out' was not one of the two words he wanted to hear. But it was correct nonetheless. The umpire COULD say 'You're out' too. Clever gir-

You suck?! He couldn't quite refrain from chuckling slightly upon hearing her second answer. "Well, I assume he could say that too. Though, unlike the two words I wanted to hear, this one probably won't show up on the scoreboard." Hopefully. Unless the person operating the scoreboard was trying to be funny.

He probably should have expected answers like these. Rubbing his forehead absentmindedly, Jeremy turned to grin at Evelyn before asking, "He COULD say that too, yes. But who would it be directed at?" Because that was the actual question there...whose fault it was when the batter missed the hit the ball.

WHOA! His head jerked into the direction where the loud sound had come from and Jeremy found himself staring at Patroclus who had apparently imitated the umpire during a match. "Absolutely correct, Patroclus. He could say 'You're out'. And of course 'Strike'." It was probably wrong to snort at a student's answer, right? But he very much felt the urge to. No, he couldn't. Cough!Snort. "Well, no, there's no Strike Ten. After the third Strike the player's out."

Jeremy almost wanted to say 'See? Destiny can be trusted.' to Arya but then again this might have suggested that he had doubted it so he refrained from doing so and simply took the bat back from her. "Trust me, there are easier ways to crack a walnut though." He said with an amused grin while placing the bat back on his desk.

Now, where was he? Failing to notice that Destiny had in fact NOT gone back to her seat Jeremy continued his lesson until he made the mistake to decide to turn around and walk back to his desk. Only there was something between him and the desk. Or rather someone. Someone who was raising their hand. Coming to a halt only a few inches from Destiny so as to not run smack into her, Jeremy blinked a few times. "Err...why would the referee say 'it hurts'?!" He took a step backwards to increase the distance between them again, before walking around the girl and back to his desk.

Why WOULD the referee say that? Unless he had like a cramp or something but...err...



"Anyway, as some of you have mentioned, the umpire would either say 'Ball' or 'Strike'. If he says 'Ball' then this means that the failed hit was the Pitcher's fault. The ball was thrown either too high, too low or too far left or right of the home plate and was therefore outside the so-called 'Strike Zone'. I won't go into detail how big the Strike Zone is exactly. You don't want to become professional Umpires after all." Or so he assumed. Hopefully. They would probably just go around telling people they fail and suck when they miss the ball. "If the Pitcher has missed the 'Strike Zone' four times, and therefore has four 'Balls' then the current Batter is allowed to go to the first base." He moved his finger across the drawing to indicate which way the batter would go.

Now, on to 'Strike'. "If the Umpire decides that the ball was indeed inside the 'Strike Zone' and the Batter still misses the ball, it is called a 'Strike'. After three 'Strikes' the current Batter is 'out', which is why the Umpire normally says 'Strike' plus how many strikes the current batter already has, for example 'Strike Two'." And not 'Strike Ten'. Cue small grin in Patroclus' direction.

"Different scenario now. Let's assume the Pitcher throws correctly and into the 'Strike Zone' and the Batter manages to hit the ball. What would he do?" Then to speed things up a little, he added, "And what would the currently Fielding Team do?"

OOC: Yes, I do know it's a little more complex than this but let's not confuse the poor magical Baseball-no0bs. ;]

"Well hit can mean it was hit into the inner or outer field in which case the the fielding team would either try to catch the ball if it's a high fly ball or throw it to one one of the bases to get a man out depending on how many bases are filled and where the ball is hit to", Chloe responded knowing that may have been a bit much on information, oh well.

Kurumi, not wanting to bring more attention to herself with her drawing still up on the board. Knowing how Hogwarts worked, the professor would probably charm the stick figures to animate his point. *shiver*

Instead, Kurumi wrote her answer down in her notes.
She put her quill down and waiting for others to answer. She wondered if there was going to be more cracking of walnuts or baseball debating between the guys again...

"The batter must drop the bat first, and immediately sprint to the first base and if he hasn't been 'put out' as he reaches first base, he is said to be safe. The batter may also proceed to second base and beyond as far as he is confident that he'll be able to reach the said bases safely," Cedric answered upon raising his hand, finally shaking the hush-hush out of him.

Recalling that the professor had a question about the fielding team, he continued, "... and the fielding team? They endeavour to prevent baserunners from scoring." He could had explained further about the mentioned team, but didn't bother to do so.

Laziness, boredom... please go away... ?

What would he do? What WOULD he do? Hmmm. Rack your brain, Sarah, and try to remember from when you watched it on tv.

Screwing her eyes up, she visualized a play, and what exactly the batter and fielders do. Hand shooting up, to be polite as always, she went off on her own explanation. "It all depends on where the batter hits the ball, sir. If it's out of the ground or into the stands that makes it a home run, and he can drop his bat and run around all the bases to make it back home." At least she thought that was the term for it. "But if it's not far, and goes into the infield or outfield, the fielders themselves can try and catch him out, or scoop up the ball and throw it to whichever base the batter is running at. If it gets to base before the batter does, he's out." Yeah. Right? "Of course it's not just the person that hits the ball that could be out. If one of the base riders, I think they're called, runs at the same time, he could be out too, if he doesn't make it to the next base before the ball does."

Wow.

She really needed to stop watching so much sports on tv.

"Well the batter will attempt to make it to first base, before someone in the outfield grabs the ball and throws it to the other outfielder at first base. If the outfielder can tap the base while holding the ball before the batter gets there, then the batter is out." Alice wasn't sure if that's what he was aiming for or not....

Steam was practically rising from Rubiey's pen as she copied down EVERYTHING Professor Zookara said. She wasn't a baseball wiz, that much was obvious, but she thought she should have a go. "Umm, wouldn't the batter try to run to first base before the outfield team got them out? By, like touching the base thing?" She said. It made sense, but having never even picked up one of these bat things, she didn't really have a clue. Rubiey had known coming to Muggles Studies would be worth it; she was ACTUALLY learning stuff about the Muggle world, despite having lived in it for 11 years.

Ugh..

Fee hated muggle sports. But school was school.

Raising her hand she spoke.

"The batter will try to get to the first base, before someone in the outfield gets the ball and has the chance to throw it to his partner. If the outfielder can touch the base while holding the ball before the batter gets there, then the batter is out."
She took a deep breath.
"The fielding team will try to avoid the others score."

Daisy raised her hand, "The batter would run as fast as he can as many bases as he can and the Fielding team would try to tag him or the base with the ball to get him out or return the ball to the pitcher."

Emmaleigh raised her hand and said, "The b-batter would run to first b-base while the fielding team w-would try to get him out. to get the batter out, the f-fielding team would have to c-catch the ball before it hits the g-ground, or they would have to tag the batter or the b-base with the ball before he m-made it to the base." Was that it? yeah maybe. Baseball confused Emmaleigh.

Blink.

Whaaaa?

Nevermind, though cuz... SHE KNEW THIS ONE!

"Ruuuuuun!" Ellie said, quite loudly in her excitement. But. It's true. They did run. She sawwww it on her grandpa's tv.

"The batter would run for first base as fas as he coud ,the feilding team would catch the ball if they catch it befor it hits the ground the batter is out and the next batter would take his turn ,if the ball hits the ground the feilding team must get the ball to one of their players standing on first base befor the batter reaches it or tag the batter with the ball befor he reaches it" short and sweet

No Strick Ten?

Professor Zookara, needed to double-check his notes, Patroclus was 200% sure that there was a Strick 10!!........or perhaps that was golf......golf?

Patroclus listened to the next question, taking mental notes of what the others were saving. "The batter runs, and then does a huge dive-slide where they just make it to the cushion and the crowd goes wild!" Yep yep, they do! "And the Fielders, run around with their Engorgio'ed hands in the air and try and catch the ball!"

Thats what happened in movies anyway.

"Run like the wind." Salander grinned "When the Batter hits the ball he runs to first base with the purpose of touching base before the ball is caught by the 1st baseman. But if the batter hits the ball real strong, sending the ball deep into the stands or even 'outta the ballpark' then he can try to go for the home run."

"The Fielding team's purpose is keeping the batters from advancing through the bases. They do that by catching or grabbing the ball that was just hit by the batter, then tossing it to the baseman that can most likely take that batter out."

Trent laughed a little at the thought of 'You Suck' appearing on the scoreboard. "Well... It would be true if they didn't do their job..." Trent voiced quietly, rolling her eyes as she failed to see the point of having a batter who couldn't bat. Explain?

As she sighed, she grinned a little at Salander who had chuckled at her response. It wasn't her fault she had no clue about this... base-ball Zookara was talking about was it?



Sighing, Parker moved to rest her chin in her hand as she waited for the next question to be answered. It seemed that everyone knew more about base-ball than she did and she didn't like it. However, she just simply couldn't understand the need for sports on the ground with no magic... so she wouldn't be educating herself in advance for this class. The sports were just so... boring.

Yup.

As the Professor explained the true answers, she made small notes on her pad in front of her and then when he asked the next question she grinned. "Do their job to prove that they are better than the batter's that suck."

She had NO idea what their job was, or what the batter had to do after they had hit the ball... but she knew that the "fielding" team had to prove that they were better. They were trying to win against a team that couldn't hit the ball... So it shouldn't be too difficult.

Right?

Ahhhh, Treyen sort of knew this. The boy raised his hand, "Professor, if it is a hit, meaning the ball is inside the field, then the batter would run with all his mighty strength towards the first base, the fielding team would be trying to catch the ball and out the batter" he said, with a nod, "If the batter hit the ball but it was a foul, then he has to try again, and the pitcher...er, pitches again..." yeah, that, the never ending circle, but Treyen wasn't done..."If the batter hit a home run, then he still needs to run, but he has to go through all the bases and get to home again....the fielding team gets upset" and maybe curses a little.

He straightened himself in the chair, squeezing the ducky pillow even more.

Are they going to play? Grin.

" First off, the batter would run to first if the ball goes into the outfield and for no sake of argument he is safe at the base. " The fielding team would try to get the ball and in this case, again for sake of argument, the outfielder throws it tto second to stop him. " Now on the other hand ,again for sake of argument, he hits grounder or a pop-up to one of theinfielders the batter should be out. The infielder would grab the ground ball and throw it to first base for the out. The pop- up goes high in the air and than one of the infielders could catch it for an out. Now there could a be a flyball to one of the outfielders and again for sake of argument, he catches the ball, he is out.
So in the first part ,the batter would be called safe by the umpire, then in the other two, the umpire would call the batter out. now if the ball is dropped by one of the infielders or outfielders, it would be called an error, but the batter would be calle safe by the umpire.