dAImond Inning

Scorekeeping guide

Keep score in one inning

Every box on a scorecard is a tiny diamond. Trace the batter around the bases, jot what happened, and shade it in when they score. Learn the five marks below and you can score a whole game with a single pen.

Watch the inning See every play Fielders 1–9 →
Example baseball and softball scorecard

Animated tutorial

Coach Chalk's play lab

Pick a play, watch it happen on the little field, then see exactly what the coach draws on the scorecard box.

Lesson 1 - The empty box 01:02
Every batter gets one little diamond.

Step 1 of 6

Start with a blank box.

Every batter gets one square. You only need to track what happened, how far the runner advanced, and whether the inning gained a run, hit, or out.

1B home 1st 2nd 3rd

One box, one plate appearance

The grid is players down the side, innings across the top. Where a row meets a column is one batter's turn — and inside it is a little diamond shaped just like the field.

  1. Write what happened in the middle (a hit, an out, a walk).
  2. Darken each base path as the runner advances — even later, on someone else's at-bat.
  3. Shade the diamond solid the moment they cross home plate. A filled diamond = a run.

Step 1 · Learn the fielders, 1–9

Outs are written with the numbers of the fielders who made the play — never their names. Memorize these once and the rest is easy. A ground ball from short to first is just 6–3.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  • 1 Pitcher
  • 2 Catcher
  • 3 First base
  • 4 Second base
  • 5 Third base
  • 6 Shortstop
  • 7 Left field
  • 8 Center field
  • 9 Right field

Step 2 · The marks for every play

A lit base path means the batter reached; an empty diamond with a mark means an out. That contrast is the whole language — here it is, play by play.

Score in the style you already use. Every scorekeeper has habits — a backward K, just the fielder's number, two slashes for a double. dAImond Inning is trained on the common variants, so you don't have to relearn a thing. Each card shows the main mark plus the other forms the reader accepts (the also row). One clear, common mark per box is all it needs.

Reached base

1B
Single · 1BReached first. Darken home → first.
S–
2B
Double · 2BTwo bases. Light the path to second.
D=
3B
Triple · 3BAll the way to third.
T≡
HR
Home run · HRScored on the swing — fill it solid.
4B★
BB
Walk · BBFour balls. To first without a hit.
W
IBB
Intentional walk · IBBWaved to first on purpose.
IW
HBP
Hit by pitch · HBPPlunked. Also a free base.
HP
E5
Error · E5Safe on a fielder's miss — the number is the fielder who erred.
E-5E6
FC
Fielder's choice · FCSafe, but a runner was put out instead.
FC6-4

Hits can be lines, too. One line for a single, two for a double, three for a triple — drawn right on the diamond's base lines, or tucked just outside it (usually the bottom-right corner). The reader catches both.

2B
On the base linesTwo darkened legs = a double.
or
Just outsideTwo tally lines in the corner = a double.

Made an out

K
Strikeout · KSwinging. A backward K means called.
KSO
F8
Flyout · F8Caught on the fly by center field (8).
8F-8
6–3
Groundout · 6–3Short fielded it, threw to first.
63G6-3
L7
Lineout · L7Lined right to left field (7).
7LD7
6–4–3 DP
Double play · 6–4–3Two outs on one ball: short → second → first.
DP4-6-3
SAC
Sacrifice · SACOut on purpose to move a runner up.
SHSF

Step 3 · Read a real inning

Now watch four boxes tell a story. The trick beginners miss: when a later batter drives someone in, you go back to that runner's box and finish their trip around the bases.

1B
1 Singles — then comes around to score, so the box gets filled in.
K
2 Strikes out. 1 out.
2B RBI
3 Doubles and drives in runner 1. 1 run.
6–3
4 Grounds out. 2 outs, runner still on second.

End of the frame so far: 1 run, 2 hits, 2 outs. Tally runs and hits in the little boxes at the bottom of each inning column, and your scorecard adds up the whole game for you.

Step 4 · Plot hits on the spray chart

The little field in the corner of the scorebook is a spray chart — drop a dot where each batted ball lands. One extra habit turns it into data dAImond Inning can read back automatically: number your hits.

400 375 375 330 330 1 2 3 4
  1. Dot where it lands. Mark the spot on the field for every hit. (Outs in play can get a dot too — they just don't need a number.)
  2. Number each hit in order. First hit of the game is 1, the next is 2, and so on — one running count.
  3. Repeat the number in the play cell. The same number in both places is the only link the scanner needs to pin that hit to its location.

Strikeouts, walks, and hit-by-pitches never get a dot — the ball never reached the field. Keep each team on its own dot color, just like the visitor / home dots you already use.

2B 2
In the play cellTuck the number in a corner so it isn't mistaken for the play.
same number →
2
On the spray chartSame number beside the dot where the ball landed.

Scoring for a clean scan

dAImond Inning reads your paper scorebook into stats. A few habits make the read near-perfect.

1

Use dark ink

Blue or black pen reads better than pencil, especially under stadium lights.

2

Keep rows clean

Crossouts are fine — just don't write names into the inning header or summary columns.

3

Shoot the full page

All four corners in frame, camera square to the sheet, no shadow over the lineup.

Ready to digitize one?

Upload a scorecard and review the flagged cells before exporting stats.

Upload scorecard