How to Keep Score at a Youth Game
A step-by-step guide for parents and volunteers: set up a scorebook, learn the position numbers and the common symbols, follow a worked inning, handle judgment calls and check your math.
Every youth baseball league eventually asks a parent to keep the book. The request usually comes ten minutes before the first pitch, along with a pencil and a binder that looks like a spreadsheet drawn by a committee. Scorekeeping is learnable in one afternoon. It uses a small set of numbers and abbreviations, a diamond in each box and a few habits, and once you have them, you can record most plays you will see on a youth field.
A scorebook is useful in more ways than it first appears. It gives the coach an accurate record of who batted when, who pitched how many innings and how many pitches each pitcher threw. It settles arguments about the score and the count. It lets families see a child's season in real numbers, and it hands the league the information it needs for pitching limits. A pencil, an eraser and a little care are all that it takes.
This guide covers what you need, how to set up the page, the numbers and symbols that cover most plays, a worked inning, the judgment calls that trip up new scorers, a few features that are specific to youth games and a way to prove that your totals are right. The scoring system is the same one used at every level, so the skill carries over to high school, college and the major leagues. Your league may have its own rules about who the official scorer is and how pitch counts are recorded, so ask before the first game.
What you need before the first pitch
Bring a pencil with a good eraser, a spare pencil, a scorebook or a printed scoresheet, a clipboard if you will be standing, and both teams' lineup cards. If you are the home team's scorer, ask the visiting coach for his batting order and each player's number. If you can, sit where you can see the field and the scoreboard, with a clear view of the plate, the bases and the defensive alignment.
A scorebook page is a grid. Down the left side is the batting order, with spaces for the player's name, uniform number and position. Across the top are the innings. Each box at the intersection of a batter and an inning has a small diamond, which stands for the bases, and extra room for notes. At the bottom of each inning is a place for runs, hits, errors and runners left on base. On the back or on a separate section is the pitching record, with columns for innings pitched, hits, runs, earned runs, walks and strikeouts. Many leagues add a column for pitches.
If you would rather practice before game day, try the site's scoresheet page and score a game you watch on television.
Set up the page
Before the game starts, fill in the lineup. Write each player's name in batting order, then his number, then his position as a number (the numbers are in the next section). If your league uses free substitution or a continuous batting order, in which every player present bats, you will have more names than fielders. List everyone in order, and mark who is in the field at the start.
Record the date, the teams, the field, the umpire if your league assigns one, and the starting pitcher for each side. Leave space beside the starting pitcher to write the number of pitches if the league tracks that.
One habit helps more than any other: write a small legend on the first page with the symbols you plan to use. If the scorebook gets passed to another parent in the fourth inning, the new scorer can read your marks without guessing.
The position numbers
Every position has a number, and the numbers are used in every play. A ground ball to the shortstop who throws to the first baseman is written 6-3, with no letters.
| Number | Position |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pitcher |
| 2 | Catcher |
| 3 | First base |
| 4 | Second base |
| 5 | Third base |
| 6 | Shortstop |
| 7 | Left field |
| 8 | Center field |
| 9 | Right field |
Numbers 1 and 2 are the battery, 3 through 6 run around the infield from first base to shortstop, and 7 through 9 are the outfielders from left to right. A few minutes spent memorizing them will pay off in the first inning.
The symbols you will use most
The marks go inside the batter's box on the scoresheet, and each describes how the batter reached base or made an out. There are many abbreviations in use, but a short list covers most youth games. These are the standard ones.
| What happened | Common mark |
|---|---|
| Single, double, triple, home run | 1B, 2B, 3B, HR |
| Walk | BB |
| Hit by pitch | HBP |
| Strikeout swinging | K |
| Strikeout looking | A backward K (or "Kl") |
| Ground out, shortstop to first base | 6-3 |
| Fly out to center field | F8 |
| Line out to second base | L4 |
| Pop-up to third base | P5 |
| Unassisted ground out by the first baseman | 3U (or 3-U) |
| Error by the shortstop | E6 |
| Fielder's choice | FC |
| Sacrifice bunt | SAC |
| Sacrifice fly | SF |
| Double play, shortstop to second to first | DP 6-4-3 |
| Stolen base | SB |
| Caught stealing | CS (with the throw, such as 2-6) |
| Wild pitch, passed ball | WP, PB |
| Balk | BK |
When a runner advances on something other than the batter's own hit, write the reason beside the base, such as SB, WP or E5. Doing so gives you the information you need later, when you add up stolen bases and errors.
A worked inning, batter by batter
The best way to learn is to score an imaginary inning. Here is the top of the first. Follow the marks in the table, and draw the paths on a sample page if you can.
| Batter | What happened | Mark | Outs after the play |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Line drive single to left field | 1B | 0 |
| 2 | Grounder to short, throw to first; runner moves to second | 6-3 | 1 |
| 3 | Strikes out, never swings | Backward K | 2 |
| 4 | Four balls; runner stays at second, batter takes first | BB | 2 |
| 5 | Single to center; runner from second scores, runner from first goes to third | 1B | 2 |
| 6 | Pop-up to second baseman | P4 | 3 |
Walk through it in order. Batter 1's single goes in his box as 1B, with a line drawn from home to first on the diamond. Batter 2 makes an out, so you write 6-3 in his box and circle a 1 to show the first out. Batter 1's diamond now gets a line to second, with a note if you want it. Batter 3 strikes out looking, you write a backward K and circle a 2.
Batter 4 walks. His diamond gets a line to first and the letters BB. The runner at second is not forced, so he stays. Batter 5 singles to center: his box shows 1B and a line to first, the runner from second scores (fill in that runner's diamond completely and note the batter who drove him in), and the runner on first moves to third. Batter 6 pops out, which you write as P4 and circle a 3. Draw a line under the inning.
At the bottom of the inning, write the totals: one run, two hits, no errors and two runners left on base, the players who ended the inning on third and first. The run belongs to batter 1, who scored, and the run batted in belongs to batter 5. You can check the run total by counting the diamonds you filled in.
Runners, outs, runs and the end of the inning
Three habits keep an inning clean. First, mark each out the moment it happens, with a circled number in that batter's box. The third circled number ends the inning. Second, follow every runner on the diamond. When a runner advances, draw the line to the new base and write the reason. When he scores, fill in the diamond. Third, count the outs from the scorebook and the field at the same time, because disagreements between your book and the umpire's count are a reliable sign of a missed play.
If a runner is put out on the bases, such as being thrown out stealing or tagged out between bases, write the out as a circled number in the batter's box of the player who was running, not the one at the plate, and mark the play with CS or the fielders' numbers, such as 2-6. When a force play or a tag retires a runner while the batter reaches first, write FC in the batter's box.
At the end of the half-inning, tally the runs, hits, errors and runners left on base. Runners left on base are runners who were on base when the third out was made and who did not score. They are a useful number for reconciling the book, as the last section explains.
Judgment calls: hit or error, wild pitch or passed ball
Youth games produce many close calls, and the scorer is the person who makes them. A few rules of thumb cover most of them.
Hit versus error. A hit is a ball put in play that the fielders could not turn into an out with ordinary effort. An error is a misplay that allows a batter or runner to reach or advance when ordinary effort would have prevented it. Many youth leagues ask scorers to judge ordinary effort for the age group, so expect more errors than in a professional game, and still score a hit when a ball is hit too hard or too far to handle. Ask your league what it expects. A long-standing scoring principle is to give the batter the benefit of the doubt. If you cannot decide, score a hit.
Wild pitch versus passed ball. If the pitch was so far off line that an ordinary catcher could not have been expected to stop it, charge a wild pitch to the pitcher. If the pitch was catchable and the catcher missed it, charge a passed ball to the catcher. Neither is an error.
Fielder's choice. When a fielder chooses to retire a lead runner and the batter reaches first because of it, the batter does not get a hit. He gets a plate appearance and an at-bat. Write FC and the fielders' numbers for the out.
Stolen base. A runner who advances without the help of a hit, an error, a wild pitch or a passed ball is credited with a stolen base. If the throw is wild and the runner takes an extra base, the first base is usually the steal and the extra base is credited to the error.
Dropped third strike. In leagues that use the rule, a batter may run to first if the catcher fails to hold the third strike when first base is open or there are two outs. Score the strikeout with a K for the pitcher and record how the batter reached or was retired: K and the throw 2-3 if he is thrown out, or K-WP or K-PB if he reaches.
If your league has an official scorer, the person in that role makes the final calls, and the home team's scorebook is often the official one. Ask the coach who decides in your league.
Features that are specific to youth games
Several things about youth games differ from the major leagues, and they change how the book is kept.
- Continuous batting orders and free substitution. Many leagues let every player bat. Add the extra names to the bottom of the order, and mark each player's defensive position by inning in the position column.
- Substitutions. When a player is replaced, draw a line across his box at the point of the change and write the new player's name beneath, with the inning. Pinch hitters are marked PH and pinch runners PR.
- Run limits and time limits. Some leagues limit runs per inning or end a game after a set time. Note the stopping point so that the totals make sense.
- Pitch counts. Many leagues use pitch limits and rest days to protect young arms. If you are asked to count pitches, make a tally on the pitching line for each pitcher and total it at the end of each inning. Check your league's published pitching rules for the limits, and ask a doctor or a qualified coach if you have questions about a child's arm.
- Courtesy runners. Some leagues allow a substitute runner for the catcher or the pitcher after he reaches base. Note it and record who was replaced.
Proof the book: do the totals add up?
A scorebook has a built-in way to check itself. For the home or visiting team, the number of batters who came to the plate must equal the runs scored, plus the runners left on base, plus the total outs. In symbols, plate appearances equals R plus LOB plus outs.
Here is an example. Suppose a team scored 4 runs, left 5 runners on base and made 18 outs in a six-inning game. The team had 4 + 5 + 18 = 27 plate appearances. The plate appearances also equal at-bats plus walks plus hit batters plus sacrifices plus any catcher interference. If your individual lines add up to 27 on the plate-appearance side and to 4, 5 and 18 on the other, the book is correct. If they do not, find the inning where the sum fails by checking each inning's runs, left on base and outs. The mistake is nearly always one missing runner or one miscounted out.
Also check that each side's pitchers' innings add up to the innings played, that the runs charged to a team's pitchers equal the other team's runs, and that the hits and walks on the pitching lines match the batting lines. When all of those match, you have a book you can trust.
Common questions
What is the difference between an at-bat and a plate appearance? A plate appearance is every trip to the plate. An at-bat leaves out walks, hit batters, sacrifices and catcher interference. Batting average is hits divided by at-bats.
What if I miss a play? Ask the coach or the nearest parent right away, write a note and fix it before the next play. A book with a gap is better than a book with a guess, and you can fill in the details after the inning.
Do I have to score errors? Yes. Errors are part of the record and affect earned runs and the fielding totals.
Can I keep score without knowing the rules well? You can learn them as you go. Pairing with someone who knows the game, or reading about umpiring youth baseball, will explain many of the situations.
What does LOB mean? Runners left on base: the runners who were on base when the third out was made and who did not score. They are the key to the proof in the previous section, and sportsmanship matters more than any number in the book.
Where to go next
When you want to see how a major league record reads, the guide to reading a box score shows the same marks in summary form. If your child is moving up from a local league, read about American Legion, Babe Ruth and PONY baseball, and the youth section of this site lists programs and resources. The scoresheet tool is a good place to practice.