I saw the weirdest play at my sons tournament this weekend. I will tell you what happened (I will not tell you what the coaches were instructing the kids to do - but it was all contradiction anyway) and you tell me what the proper ruling on the field was.
OK Bases are loaded. There is one out. The batter is called out on a 3rd strike. The ball gets away from the catcher. The batter hesitates and then starts running for first and all the runners start running towards the next base.
The catcher comes up with the ball and runs to the plate, gets there before the runner coming from 3rd. He chases him back toward third and then throws to the 3rd basemen. The third basemen catches the ball and tags 3rd, but not the runner coming back. The runner coming from 2nd had held up before touching third when he saw the runner coming back - then he hads back to 2nd without being tagged.
The 3rd basemen then throws the ball to first and the first basemen tags first but the batter has already crossed first base. However he tags the runner that is now heading back from 2nd.
What is your call on this? Don't cheat. Decide and then go below:
Normally when a 3rd strike gets passed the catcher the batter can try to go to first as if he got a hit. However, when the bases are loaded and there is less than 2 outs the batter is just out. He cannot try get to first. There was no force on any of the bases. The runner coming back from 2nd to first was tagged out. Two outs and inning is over!
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