[greymule]

Your quote is from a paragraph addressing runners in general, not batter-runners.

Here's the paragraph, with my quote in bold:

"If a runner is moving toward a base, other than 1B, when the pitcher receives the ball in the circle, that runner must continue toward that base or be called out. [My edit: This statement is patently false. She is allowed a stop, after which she can proceed non-stop either way.] When returning to 1B after overrunning on a base on balls, the runner can stop as many times as needed as long as they [sic] do not attempt to go to 2B. Making an attempt or fake will justify the runner being called out. If, after the pitcher has the ball within the circle, the runner starts back to the original base or forward to another base and then stops or reverses direction, the runner is out, unless the pitcher makes a play on the runner. When a play is made on a runner, they may stop or reverse direction."

The second sentence above refers to the runner who has overrun on a base on balls, and clearly the third does as well. I thought the sentence is bold did also, but it does mention "original base" and "another base," so maybe it doesn't. But in that case the flow of logic in the paragraph is faulty. After all, the fourth sentence says "the runner"; it has not switched to "a runner."

But the POE is peripheral to my problem with Part c.

All this rule is doing is permitting the stop which all other runners are allowed, it just isn't giving the batter-runner the option of changing their mind.

It is hard to believe that there is just this one instance, to the exclusion of all others, in which a runner is allowed to stop between bases but cannot go either way.