The Utley Play

It depends who is throwing the ball. I can beat Wossa's throws anyday.

Seriously...good point

 

Perspective:
How often does a runner advance from first to third on a Hit & Run?

Answer: Rarely, even with great speed. Most, if not all will be thrown out at third (by an 83-85 mph IF arm) Also, consider; the runner has a jump- stealing second.

Please note that I am not bashing BMAC; It is the correct move on the softball diamond. It would be extremely difficult to throw out a runner going 1st to 3rd, or second to home on a ground out (especially if stealing)

 

BMAC is very knowledgeable and he has my respect, but I didn't read your response (bashing) to be that way at all.

 

And in this case we are comparing a major league arm throwing a baseball 127 feet versus a high school girl throwing a softball 85 feet.


If the MLB player throws the baseball at 80 MPH from second (127ft) it arrives to the plate in 1.08 sec. If a softball player throws the softball at 50 MPH from second (85ft) it arrives in 1.16.

So even though the throw may be longer, because of the size of the ball and arm strength, the baseball arrives significantly sooner, about at tenth of a second which equates into about 5 feet for a base runner.

If you are out by 5 feet most of us would call that a base running error.

 

~Shaking Head~ Leave it to mincmi to come up with the facts to arrive at the correct answer. I'm glad he rarely takes me to task for some of the outrageous things I say.

 

Missing The Point

I think you guys are missing a major part of the point here. The two base thing should be done only with two outs.

How many time have you seen a play in (baseball or softball) with a runner on 2nd, two outs, a grounder hit to short, and for whatever reason, SS short hops or throws wide to 1b or there is a bobble. By the time the 1b looks for the call or gets his foot back on the bag, the runner going from second thinking the out was going to be routine at first, then 1B misplays the ball or it is thrown wide. But because he/she wasn't running hard, they could have gone home on the misplayed ball. But they ended up staying at third with the 1b showing the ball to the ump or trying to find the bag or whatever. If the base runner would have been running all out, they would be close to home and many time the 1b wouldn't or couldn't attempt the throw. Many time 1b is surprised to see the runner going home anyway. Run scored!

The runner could do the same even from first, going to third. Again, two outs is the key here.

FYI, before I got involved with softball, I umpired HS and college baseball for 15 years. I never saw a runner thrown out by going 2 bases with 2 outs. Also, in college softball, they preach 2 bases with two outs.