halfinning

Half inning, or halfinning in Swedish, is a division of an inning in baseball and softball. In each inning, one team is on offense (batting) while the other is on defense (fielding). The inning is split into two halves: the top half, when the visiting team bats, and the bottom half, when the home team bats. A half-inning ends after the defense records three outs. After three outs, the teams switch roles and the next half-inning begins.

Outs can be achieved in several ways, including strikeouts, force outs, tag outs, and flyouts. Runners advance and may score by crossing home plate; runs credited in the half-inning increase the team’s score. The score is tracked by inning and by half-inning, and the game continues with successive half-innings until a winner is determined.

In most leagues, the bottom half of the ninth inning (or later) is not played if the home team is already ahead after the top half, since the outcome is decided. If the score is tied after the standard nine innings, extra innings are played, with additional top and bottom halves until a team holds the lead at the end of a completed half-inning.

Variations exist between leagues, such as changes to designated hitter rules or mercy-rule implementations, but the basic concept of dividing each inning into a top and bottom half remains common to both baseball and softball.