One More...you make the call

On Friday at a college conference tournament this situation took place...let's see who can get this one right.

Runner on first base, hard ground ball to the second baseman...second baseman runs toward the runner from first to tag her out, runner back pedals to first...first base ump calls the runner out without a tag being made. Second baseman throws the ball to first baseman and gets the batter out before she reaches the bag. Double play, right?

Correct call or not?

 

Doesn't seems like a double play to me...

Batter is out because it was a force at first.

The girl running from first to second would not be out if she did not go out of the baseline and was not tagged. She should still be a live runner and should be able to try to go for second. If a throw is made to second, they would have to tag her out because the force is off since the batter was forced at first.

Did I win a cookie?

 

I'll lob this one up.....

.....I'm gonna agree with JavCat, and add that if a batter hits a ball and on her way to 1st back peddles then she's immediately out. She can stop and force the defense to come to her for an out but can't retreat. As for this thread, I'd figure that an official baserunner, 1b, 2b, 3b, and her progress or retreat is ruled differently.

 

Agreed! Runner at first is out. Runner going to second must be tagged. she can retreat back and forth as much as she likes as long as she remains in the base lines and will remain a live runner until she is tagged or ball is thrown to bag.

 

Good Job!

You guys have a future in umpiring! After 10 minutes of conversation between the umpires on the field, they came to the Umpire in charge in the stands and asked for help. The way that they explained the ruling was the girl could back up to avoid the tag, but when the umpire called her out, incorrectly, his call put her in jeopardy and she was awarded the last base that she earned, which was first base. Had the second baseman not thrown the ball to first for the out, everyone would have been safe and the runner at first would have been awarded second base. Potential double play then turns into runners on first and second with no outs.

We have discussed on here the importance of umpires knowing the rules...in this case it could have cost the team the game by allowing both runners to remain on base safely. By the way...the runner from first did try to advance to second and was tagged, but she had already been declared dead at that point because of the bad call. I expect calls like this at the high school level, but not in a D1 game!!

 

Cougar Coach

Please tell me in what D1 conference tournament game this occurred in. This is something that we will address immediately for the future.