inside fly ball

Question
My grand-daughter played softball last night and the empire called the runner out on a fly ball that was not caught, but the bases were loaded and the ball did not go to the outfield but stayed inside.  He said it was an inside fly ball rule.

Answer
Hi Margaret,

it's called the "infield fly rule" and it's meant to protect the offense from cheap double or triple plays.  By calling the batter out you remove all the forces at all the bases.

Here's the rule, the batter is out when a fair fly ball, not including a line drive or an attempted bunt which can be caught by an infielder, pitcher or catcher with ordinary effort when first and second or first, second and third bases are occupied with less than two outs.

Mark