by UmpSteve » Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:15 am
There are two parts to the infield fly rule. One part is rule; when it applies, when it doesn't. One part is judgment; if the catch can be made by an infielder with ordinary effort.
The part that is rule is like every other rule; if misapplied, it can and should be corrected. If you declare an infield fly with a runner just on 1st, if the ball is uncaught, you cannot declare the batter out. If you fail to call an infield fly because you thought there were two outs when there was only one, or didn't realize there were runners on 1st and 2nd, you must apply the rule correctly.
The part that is judgment is like every other judgment call. If you are willing to reconsider and then possibly overturn your own judgment calls (and deal with the sure-to-follow $hit storm), have at it. Be prepared to be asked to reconsider EVERY judgment call that follows, solely on the basis that they disagree. You can; there is no rule that says you cannot, just that your partner cannot. And there may be a case where you KNOW you missed something so egregiously that you need to. But, I don't think this is that case.
When you declared the infield fly, you assumed the judgment that the ball could be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort. Leave it there.
Edited to add: Ruling above applies to ASA and NFHS. NCAA does NOT allow an undeclared infield fly to be applied after the fact; it does provide to fix the misapplied rule only if declared and could not be by rule.