Larry in TN

What rule gives the runners a one-base award? (Asking, not disagreeing)

Our league has been playing "Majors" (11-12 yrs) on a 50/70 field with open bases for some time. Not sure why they don't just call it Intermediate. 13 yr olds are playing on the 60/90 field in the Junior division. Our "Majors" players all-star team is doing well. They won the district tournament and have now won their first two games in the state tournament even though they don't have any 13 yr olds, as all of ours played Junior in the regular season. The teams that they're facing int he tournament are predominately 13 year olds. I'm a bit surprised at their success as I don't think that they're all that good. With the Intermediate division being new, the competition has just been worse. Lots of errors, not great pitching, etc.

I still don't understand how the mitt got out in front of the ball before the ball was hit.

2.00 INTERFERENCE (b) Defensive interference is an act by a fielder which hinders or prevents a batter from hitting a pitch. Not sure I understand how the bat hits the ball first and the mitt later. Wouldn't the mitt then have to be way out over the plate with the ball already past the mitt?

Yeah, i don't like the print-outs, either.

A bit of a tangent here... As a scorer, I use my score book to keep track of substitutions and who's still on the bench. How the heck do you umpires keep that info on the relatively small score cards? What do you actually right down when a sub comes in? On my score book I use the unused lines below the 9-man roster (the system-17 books I use have seventeen slots with room for three names in each slot). I'll start the game with the number/last name of each substitute written starting at the first line in #11 batter's slot. When a sub comes I write him in the 2nd line of the batter's slot that he's taking, draw a single line through his name on my "bench" list and put the exiting starter at the bottom of the bench list. A vertical line between innings (columns) on the batter's position records when the sub took place. This way I always have who's int he game (in the first 9 slots) and who's on the bench. I also have the record of when each player went in/out of the game in case there is an appeal regarding minimum play requirements (LL).

Who is B3? Third-base umpire. (What's the abbreviation for that? U3? BU3?)

7.08 doesn't seem to address a case where an umpire mistakenly calls and signals that a base-runner is out. If the umpire hasn't made an incorrect call, R2 never would have abandoned the bases.

Okay, more info in another thread. R2 was out for abandonment but how can he be when B3 incorrectly told him he was already out? Seem like it should be BR out on the tag, R1 and R2 safe on their advances.

3:19 including the delay that this play called. This was a LL District double-elimination tournament with only three teams participating. I was a spectator for Game 1 and the official scorer for games 2 through 4. Scores/times were: Game 1: 18-8, Team N over Team A (Scorer didn't keep time) Game 2: 15-14, Team G over Team N (3:00) Game 3: 14-12, Team A over Team N (3:22) Game 4: 26-17, Team G over Team A (3:19) The State tournament is suppose to start today with six teams in the Intermediate division. Not sure if they'll get to play with all the rain we've had/are having, though. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a very short tournament for our winner, Team G, based on the play I saw last weekend from all three teams.

What happened there? Why was the BR called out? INT? Tag? Once the BR was out, that removed any force so how did they get the second out?

They sure don't. I keep a print out of 10.00 in my scoring bag, though. I need to look up that particular INT rule, though, to make sure I understand the distinction correctly. Thanks...

Okay, thanks. I'll have to look that up and compare OBR to LL as LL is what I score and my son plays.

The protesting manager didn't know the rule either so he didn't understand what was wrong with the ruling to make a proper protest. He was focused on the call of "INT" being wrong, not how the aftermath of the INT was being applied. There was a single then a walk after the INT call and before the HR. The only runner who didn't score, but should have, was the BR on the INT play who was called out of 1B but should have been awarded 1B after the dead-ball INT. The HR was still a grand-slam. That last out stranded two but that should have only been the second out so no way to know how many more might have scored. That whole inning was a train wreck. Here's how it went. B1 - Single -- (R1) B2 - Single -- (R2, R1) B3 - Single -- (R3, R2, R1) B4 - R2 out on INT at F6, R3 scored, BR out on the 6-3 -- (R2, 2 Outs) B5 - Single -- (R2, R1) B6 - Walk -- (R3, R2, R1) B7 - Grand Slam B8 - Single -- (R1) B9 - Double -- (R3, R1) B10 - Strikeout -- (3 Outs) Actually, the whole game was a train wreck. How else would you have a 26-17 final in 7 innings?

Let says that you have a similar situation but the infielders are in hoping to make a play at home. The ball is hit hard down the third-base line and passes F5 well before reaching, and hitting, R3 who is standing on the base in fair territory. If I understand this correctly, I have R3 safe, and free to attempt to score at his own risk, and the ball is in play. Is that correct?

Oh, yeah... Next inning, Interference by R2 at F6 again. That time PU put R3 back on 3B.

Oh, so you want the rest of the story? PU allowed play to continue instead of calling the dead ball on the interference and F6 was able to complete the 6-3 play on the BR. Umpires and TD settled on "7.08(b)(NOTE:)" which has R2 out but doesn't mention the dead ball or the runners being returned to their respective bases at the time the interference occurred. The double-play (R2 & BR) was allowed, R3 was allowed to score, and R1 advanced to 2B. The OT Manager's protest was on the Interference call itself. He kept saying, "How can it be interference if he (F6) made the out on the BR?" There was a homerun three batters later that made R3 scoring moot but they lost the run that the BR would have scored and, of course, the extra out ended the inning earlier than it should have ended with two runners stranded (R2 & R3). In the end, the final score was 26-17 with the protesting team losing. The nine-run final deficit kinda took the wind out of their protest sails. (Might have helped their cause more if they hadn't walked 8 of the first 9 batters in the 11-run first inning. One of their pitchers walked 7 of the 8 batters he faced with the 8th reaching on a fielders-choice which did not result in a put-out. That pitcher was the manager's son.) Here's the final line-score from the game. Game time was 3:19! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E 1 0 0 5 0 2 8 26 15 8 3 4 0 5 5 0 0 17 16 5

Very cool! Still a lot of results for "interference" but it makes it so much easier to search through and find the information you need quickly. (In this case, we needed the "ball dead" and "runners return") I also like how it lists the rule number so you can find it quickly in the book for more details. Is there an iOS version?

Thanks...

My mistake. I had my BU/PU backwards in the original post which I've now fixed. The PU called the interference on R2. The BU called the BR out at 1B on an apparent 6-3 ground-out. To get the two outs (R2 and BR) does the interference have to be intentionally? Can you point me toward the rule that would apply in that situation? The PU ruled that the interference was unintentional. The umpires, tournament director, and league president were all trying to look up the applicable rule (OT manager was protesting). I was the official scorer. There are 13 separate cites for offensive interference in the LL rule book index. Not easy to find the correct one with all the chaos. Several of the OT parents/spectators were begging to have their participation in the evenings festivities brought to a early end though their tickets were never punched.

LL Intermediate (50/70) tournament. Bases loaded, no outs. BR hits a hard grounder to F6. R2 interferes with F6 attempting to field the batted ball. PU calls interference on R2 but play continues. F6 bobbles the ball but gets the handle on it in time to throw to F3 before BR reaches 1B. BU calls the BR out. R1 has progressed to 2B. R3 has gone home. What's the correct call? What happens to the BR, R1, and R3?

Oh, well that's easy. Thanks! So there's no penalty for a manager who doesn't follow the proper procedure for notifying the PU?

Situation is a LL Int 50/70 district tournament game. Substitutes have been put in and have fulfilled their minimum play requirements. Manager puts starters back in but DOES NOT inform the PU or official scorer (there are no facilities available to have the substitution announced). 1. Since the starter had not been properly substituted back into the game, is he an improper batter under rule 6.07? 2. If yes, does the starter's un-appealed completed plate appearance now make the substitution legitimate per 6.07( c )? "6.07( c ) When an improper better becomes a runner or is retired, and a pitch is made to the next better of either team before an appeal is made, the improper batter thereby becomes the proper batter, and the results of such time at bat become legal." 3. If no, is there a different rule that applies when a substitute enters the game unannounced? Thanks...

He should have had them throw to 3B, 2B, then 1B to have all the "bases" covered.

I'm official scorer for a LL Intermediate 50/70 game yesterday afternoon. PU is doing a very good job, IMO, Great mechanics on an infield fly call to short RF (loud "IF" call immediately after F3 set up under the ball) then a great, loud, dead ball illegal action call when a batter steps out of the box while hitting his bunt. Most of our umpires are a bit too casual with this stuff (in my opinion) but this guy was really working hard. Then comes a foul-tip with R1 stealing 2B and he sends R1 back to 1B. I was going to ask him about it after the game but he was long gone by the time I had finished the paperwork. Oh, well... Maybe I need to hand out cards with this sites URL on them. At least the coach-induced drama was at a minimum. The losing coach (15-14 in 7 innings) was complaining a good bit about the other teams chanting from the dugout. Was trying to come up with rules that prohibited it. After the game, the best I could find was LL 4.06. Pretty much leaves it as a judgement call and he wasn't able to convince either umpire that it was unsportsmanlike.