Runner tag-up after Infield Fly?

[Thatkgb]

Hi, my DD's 12U rec team played a game yesterday where an IFF situation came up and an interchange between the PU, a fan and a coach got me confused. I've spent a couple hours now reading some rules and other IFF threads, but I haven't found something that exactly clears my confusion.

Here's the situation:

--Rec ball game, 1 umpire (PU) (aside: weather was cold and drizzly)
--Bases loaded, no outs
--Pitch is thrown, all runners take a lead off their bases
--Batter hits a medium pop-up (about 30 feet in the air) that is falling between F1 and F2 slightly closer to F2 (about 2/5 the way from home to pitching plate).
--F1 & F2 charge the ball, and F2 basket catches it without turning around (i.e., still facing the circle, not home plate with shoulders squared).
--After the catch, PU yells "Infield Fly"
--BR has run almost all the way to 1B.
--All runners are still off their bases, especially R3 on 1B.
--F2 sees R3 far off base and F3 covering the base and throws to F3 who catches it with a foot on the bag.
--After the throw to 1B, PU is making the out sign (fist pump in the air). BR is still along the baseline in the vicinity of 1B, and it could be interpreted as ambiguous as to whether the out sign was for BR or R3.
--R3 leaves the base towards dugout.
--A fan yells, "Stay there! Stay on the base! She can't be doubled up on an infield fly!", and R3 just about enters the dugout.
--At this point the offensive coach yells a protest to the PU.
--PU replies, "She's already in the dugout, she's out."
--No further discussion happens and the game continues with 2 outs with R1 on 3B and R2 on 2B.

Here's my confusion: do the runners have to stay on the base for a tag-up just like a standard fly ball when IFF is called? Or do runners who took a lead and didn't go immediately back to tag up get to return to base without liability to be put out? I thought they could be put out by not tagging up after the caught fly ball, even when IFF is called. But when the PU said she's already in the dugout to justify R3 being out instead of her being put out by not tagging up, that confused me. I was talking with my DD afterwards when we watched the video (that's how I got the gory details written above, but I can post it if interested), and she said maybe he was just saying that to avoid any further argument and to get the situation behind him.

Could the esteemed folks here put my mind to rest on this?

(Full disclosure: I'm an assistant coach on my DD's team who was on defense for this play. Just trying to learn this correctly.)

[Edited to add some detail on where BR was at the time PU gave out sign.]

 

[Comp]

Infield fly is no different than any other fly ball other than the batter is automatically out. If the ball is caught the runners must tag up before trying to advance. If it is not caught the runners are free to advance at their own risk.

 

[Dabears17]

Remember there was a single umpire at a 12u rec game. Around me, infield fly is only in effect for 12u and above rec. He is likely a newer umpire and you need to experience a situation live, then go home and look up the rule or ask on a forum somewhere, before you fully understand it. That is how my learning process works.

I‘ve only done about 7 high school games so far this year because of all the rain and wet fields. Only two of them were with highly skilled teams. I had my first infield fly this week and had a brain fade about whether or not they had to tag up. My brain said yes, but I was only about 80pct sure.

After Covid, after not doing a game with infield fly in effect for over 2 years, I missed an infield fly in a 12u rec game. The defensive coach asked me about it after the play. My response was, do you want 1 out runners 2nd and 3rd, or 1 out runners, 1st and 2nd?

 

[CoachCeetar]

the actual call of infield fly by an ump just calls the batter out and removes the force. That's the purpose. The runners should've immediately gotten back once it was clearly a pop-up, though granted if the umpire hasn't called the out, they're left in limbo of the risk of the fielders letting it drop and them being 60 feet from where they're forced to be. which is why the rule exists.

You can't call it AFTER the catch. That doesn't do anything.

Seems like a textbook example of why the rule was created in the first place.

 

[CHSUmp97]

First off, one of the criterion for the Infield Fly to be called is that the umpire must judge that the ball can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort. I'm surprised a 12U catcher was able to make a basket catch with her back to the plate. I might not have judged that ball was catchable with ordinary effort and not call an Infield Fly, but since your umpire did albeit a little late, the batter is immediately out on the call and the runners are no longer forced to advance to their next bases.

Since the ball was caught, any runner off of their base is subject to an appeal for an out if a fielder with the ball tags that runner or their time-of-pitch base before they get back to it, just like with any other caught fly ball. So the out at first base in your game stands as called because the runner failed to tag-up properly.

The fan who yelled, "Stay there! Stay on the base! She can't be doubled up on an infield fly!" doesn't know what they're talking about. What the Infield Fly rule provides is that should the ball NOT be caught by an infielder, the runners who would have been forced are no longer forced and don't have to leave their bases. Chaos usually ensues at the lower levels (and even in some higher-level games I've seen) when Infield Fly is called, the defense fails to catch the ball, and the runners unnecessarily take off for their next bases. THAT's when everyone should be yelling, "Stay there! Stay on your base!!"

 

[canyonjoe]

I think every coach and fans should have to take a 30 minute class on the IFF and D3K before they are allowed in the stands.

 

[The Man In Blue]

A's-Rangers Double Play - Infield Fly or Ordinary Effort?

All about MLB umpires, ejections, Replay Review decisions, close and controversial calls. Detailed rules and sports officiating analysis.

www.closecallsports.com

(FWIW, I have an IFF call on this play.)

 

[ksc11]

You can't call it AFTER the catch. That doesn't do anything.

This isn't true. NFHS at least (which our rec league plays by, as it defers to MSHSAA, which defers to NFHS) specifically says that an IFF that is missed can be corrected and put in place any time before the next pitch.

Section 2 - Batter-Runner is out when...
Art. 9 - ...the batter-runner hits an infield fly
Art 9 NOTE: When an infield fly is not initially called, the batter-runner is declared out if brought to the umpire's attention before the next pitch.

 

[CoachCeetar]

This isn't true. NFHS at least (which our rec league plays by, as it defers to MSHSAA, which defers to NFHS) specifically says that an IFF that is missed can be corrected and put in place any time before the next pitch.

Section 2 - Batter-Runner is out when...
Art. 9 - ...the batter-runner hits an infield fly
Art 9 NOTE: When an infield fly is not initially called, the batter-runner is declared out if brought to the umpire's attention before the next pitch.

right, but that's after a _missed_ catch. In this example the fielder caught it. The only thing the umpire yelling "infield fly!" does has already happened via the fielder catching the ball. Batter-runner out, runners are not forced to advance.

 

[The Man In Blue]

You can't call it AFTER the catch. That doesn't do anything.

You can. But you are right, there is no point.