Over-the-line is a game related to baseball and softball. Like those games, you have the batter, pitcher, and fielders. Because a game requires only three people per team, it's considerably easier to get a good informal game going. Gameplay, however, is very different.

An over-the-line court is made up of a rope triangle staked out on sand. Two parallel ropes extend out from one side of the triangle. That side is called "The Line". Between the parallel ropes is fair territory, which extends to infinity.

Unlike in softball, the batter and pitcher are on the same team. The batter stands at "home", which is the point on the triangle opposite The Line. The pitcher stands anywhere in front of The Line. Fielders (the other team) stands in back of the line, that is, between the parallels.

A hit is made when the ball is knocked over the line into fair territory and hits the ground without being caught. A hit may also be made when the ball is caught, but the fielder who did so crosses over the line or the parallels or drops the ball. Three hits in one inning scores one run. No bases are physically run, however. A fly ball hit past (not necessarily over his head, just past) the last player in fair territory without him touching it counts as a "home run". This will score at least one run plus however many hits have been made. The hit count is then set back to zero.

Over-the-line was invented on the beaches of San Diego.

External link

• Old Mission Beach Athletic Club's Over The Line Website