Dropped 3rd strike Train Wreck

[softball0123]

10U Tournament Bases loaded, 1 out. 1-2 count. Batter swings andmisses, their coach is yelling for her to go. Catcher blocked ball in front of her; picked it up and tagged home plate. The umpire hasn't said a word. The catcher hears the other coach yelling go, go, so she gets confused and throws to first. The throw pulls F3 off the bag who immediatley throws back home trying to get the runner. F2 throws down to 2nd base to try to get the batter/runner out.(this is the girl who struck out) Two runs scored.

After all the commotion the umpire calls the girl standing at 2nd out, but the two runs remained in the book.

I thought the runners should have been put back on base and removed from the score book. Bases loaded 2 outs or at most 1 run scored. Wouldn't the 2nd out be catcher stepping on home plate. Wouldn't the batter running on the basepaths be considered an illegal runner. Would that be intereference? What's your call

[ajaywill]

Train Wreck sounds like an accurate description....

With only one out and bases loaded, all you have here is a strikeout. The batter cannot advance to first on the dropped third strike since first base is occupied with less than two outs. Since the batter can't run, the other base runners are not forced to go anywhere, so the catcher stepping on the plate means nothing.

It is still a live ball, however and the baserunners may attempt to advance at their own risk.

The only wrinkle here is that the retired batter continued to run to second base and the defense played on her. This could be considered interference, dead ball, runner closest to home is out , all other runners returned to the last base touched when the interference was called. It's also on the defense and the defensive coaches to know the game situation and know that the batter is out and no throws are necessary. You did, however, state that this was 10u and it is very possible that the players and/or the coaching staff was not the most experienced.

It's up to the umpire to judge the interference, and it appears that this umpire did not judge that interference occurred.

It's difficult to give you an accurate answer of what should have happened without seeing the play, but I could support either what the umpire did in allowing the runs to score or an interference call and outcome of that.

[tcannizzo]

The only wrinkle here is that the retired batter continued to run to second base and the defense played on her. This could be considered interference...It's up to the umpire to judge the interference, and it appears that this umpire did not judge that interference occurred.

Ummm, not in ASA. It is still DMC.

[MTR]

The only wrinkle here is that the retired batter continued to run to second base and the defense played on her. This could be considered interference...It's up to the umpire to judge the interference, and it appears that this umpire did not judge that interference occurred.

Ummm, not in ASA. It is still DMC.

Why not?

[softball0123]

Sorry I'm not an umpire. I am a parent trying to understand the rules. What do you mean by DMC?
I think this was a Pony tournament.

[MTR]

Sorry I'm not an umpire. I am a parent trying to understand the rules. What do you mean by DMC?
I think this was a Pony tournament.

Dumb Move Catcher

[AlwaysImprove]

This should be left as Dumb Move Catcher. Getting umps involved with an interference call, only takes away from the teaching opportunity.

[tcannizzo]

The only wrinkle here is that the retired batter continued to run to second base and the defense played on her. This could be considered interference...It's up to the umpire to judge the interference, and it appears that this umpire did not judge that interference occurred.

Ummm, not in ASA. It is still DMC.

Why not?

Why would continuation 2B be handled differently than running to 1B?

[softball0123]

Absolutely it was a dumb move by the catcher. Guess it a good learning experience for the players and coaches. With all the yelling from the coaches and fans it was hard to hear if the ump said anything at all. We all know D3K with less than 2 outs and 1st base occupied - girl should is out immediately. I'm just shocked that ump did not stop the play after catcher tug home as this was what our coaches told her to do, instead she got confused as batter ran to 1rst. Maybe I was looking for the ump to say something to the 1rst base coach who continued to yell at batter to hustle. Then the BU allowed this girl to run the bases to confuse defense even more. She should have never been on the base path.
So you are saying retired batters/runners are allowed to run anywhere. I thought an out is an out and she would have been considered an illegal baserunner - any play made towards her should not count. I'm amazed there is no rule against that - why don't I see this more often. if there's an out at 2nd or 3rd instead of girl getting up and walking to dugout she should get up and beeline it to the next base to try to get defense to throw the ball around.
Sorry this is all new to me and felt cheated as the coach of the other team knew exactly what they were doing - confusing lil 10 yr old girls. Now our team and coaches know not to fall for that again.

[Whoop]

How do you know the other coaches did this intentionally? There has been more than once where I have lost the number of outs and yelled for the batter to run.