Batter touches live ball

[Briab]

What happens when a runner leaves 2nd base in an attempt to steal, but about 1/4 of the way to third base the batter picks up the live ball that got behind the catcher and caromed off the backstop? The umpire said the runner was entitled to keep running to third. I said, it was immediately a dead ball ( interference) and the runner had to go back to 2nd base. It makes zero sense to me, that the catcher couldn’t be allowed to pick up the ball to throw the runner out after the batter picked up the ball. I let the umpire win the argument but think that I know better? 

[Richvee]

Batter interference. Batter is out, if it’s not the third out, runner returned to 2B. 

[MadMax]

2 hours ago, Briab said:

I said, it was immediately a dead ball ( interference) and the runner had to go back to 2nd base. It makes zero sense to me…

Who are you in the this situation? 

2 hours ago, Briab said:

The umpire said the runner was entitled to keep running to third.

What level of game is this fellow an “umpire” of?

1 hour ago, Richvee said:

Batter interference.

@Richvee has your answer. 

[Briab]

I’m a coach of the defensive team. It’s a club level (7-10 year old) players. The female umpire kept trying to tell me that since the runner broke for 2nd, they were entitled! Instead of creating a scene, I let it go.

[MadMax]

5 minutes ago, Briab said:

I’m a coach of the defensive team. It’s a club level (7-10 year old) players. The female umpire kept trying to tell me that since the runner broke for 2nd, they were entitled! Instead of creating a scene, I let it go.

Ah, I see. 

Solo umpire, I presume? 

As a coach, you are allowed to lodge a Protest (uppercase P). Since you didn’t use the magic words “Little League”, I don’t know what formal levels of supervision that league of yours has. While I commend you on not causing “a scene”, amateur umpires only really learn when prompted to with a “crisis of knowledge” – ie. what they think they know is either validated (confirmed) or invalidated (by a colleague or a formal authority). Coaches cannot be that invalidation; however, a coach bringing it up to that colleague or formal authority gets those wheels turning, so to speak. 

A Protest is one of those “crisis of knowledge” moments. 

Granted, 7-10 year olds is such a… chaotic environment in which to call someone to the carpet, but hey, ya gotta learn sometime. 

[maven]

11 hours ago, Briab said:

Instead of creating a scene, I let it go.

Best advice from a coach ever.

[Vegas_Ump]

Once the ball gets past the catcher, you can't have batter interference.  Rather, you have definitional Offensive Interference where a runner can be called out for actions of the Offensive team that interfere with a play.

Mike

Las Vegas

[beerguy55]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:12 PM, Briab said:

The female umpire kept trying to tell me that since the runner broke for 2nd, they were entitled!

Fixed the post for you - that word is completely irrelevant to this conversation...in fact, most conversations about the umpire.  There is no logical reason for you to feel the need to tell us the umpire was female.

[Tog Gee]

I assume not, but just curious, if a batter touches a live ball like this and the runner has already settled at 2 (or there's clearly no play to be made) is it ever a no call? I mean in the case that he didn't actually interfere with anything? In some cases the batter might actually assist the catcher...

For context I am often doing 10U/12U under FED.

 

Toggy

[beerguy55]

3 minutes ago, Tog Gee said:

I assume not, but just curious, if a batter touches a live ball like this and the runner has already settled at 2 (or there's clearly no play to be made) is it ever a no call? I mean in the case that he didn't actually interfere with anything? In some cases the batter might actually assist the catcher...

For context I am often doing 10U/12U under FED.

 

Toggy

It can be a "don't do that" - if there's nothing to hinder there's no INT.  Same with ODB picking up a wild pitch for F2.