Overthrown Ball and Tagging Up

[fusionmom]

Good morning ~

R1 on 1st, B2 hits line shot to F5 which is caught. R1 starts to go back to first to tag and F5 overthrows first into dead ball territory trying to throw her out. What is the correct base award? Argument over whether it should be 2nd (as she was retreating to 1st) or 3rd (as she had already achieved 2nd). Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[BretMan]

Correct base award is two bases (forward) from whever the runner was when the throw left the fielder's hand. In this case, that would be third base. (I assume the runner was between first and second base when the throw was made).

Since the runner left early on a caught ball, she's still required to re-touch first before taking her base award. If she doesn't, then she could be called out on an appeal by the defense.

Counting the base she's going back to as one of the awarded bases used to be the rule in some baseball rule sets decades ago. It's still the rule in USSSA slow pitch softball. But I'm not aware of any fastpitch rule set that uses that.

 

[fusionmom]

Thank you for the information! Yes ~ she was between 1st and 2nd. I apologize for the confusion on that.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Correct base award is two bases (forward) from whever the runner was when the throw left the fielder's hand. In this case, that would be third base. (I assume the runner was between first and second base when the throw was made).

Since the runner left early on a caught ball, she's still required to re-touch first before taking her base award. If she doesn't, then she could be called out on an appeal by the defense.

Counting the base she's going back to as one of the awarded bases used to be the rule in some baseball rule sets decades ago. It's still the rule in USSSA slow pitch softball. But I'm not aware of any fastpitch rule set that uses that.

How does this work if the runner hasn't re-touched the base before dead ball call is called? Once DB is called, isn't time out and the runner needs to re-touch during live play? So play has to be resumed by umpire, runner re-touch, and 2-base award?

 

[BretMan]

How does this work if the runner hasn't re-touched the base before dead ball call is called? Once DB is called, isn't time out and the runner needs to re-touch during live play? So play has to be resumed by umpire, runner re-touch, and 2-base award?

The rules say that the runner can still tag up when the ball is dead.

The reasoning would be that you don't want to deprive a runner of her right to re-touch the base because of something the defense did (threw the ball out of play).

If that wasn't the rule, then the defense could purposely throw the ball out of play to prevent the runner from tagging up!

 

[Comp]

Nothing requires bases to only be touched during live play. It is perfectly legal for the runner to go back and retouch 1st prior to taking the base award during the dead ball. What they can't do is return to retouch after advancing to the next awarded base.