[Jake26]

NFHS Rules.

There is a runner on third base. Her teammate strikes out for the second out of the inning, and the ball is returned to the pitcher. The runner thinks this is the third out and takes four or five steps toward her first base dugout before she realizes her mistake and scampers back to third base with no play being made on her.

From the 2019 Rules-

Rule 8-7 on Page 71:

Article 2 uses the verbiage "... must immediately return to the base or attempt to advance to the next base" which suggests to me that the LBR is intended for between-bases running.

However, Article 3 says "stops at a base ... will be declared out if she leaves the base." Here only one base is explicitly mentioned. There is no "leaving to advance" or "leaving to return" to some other base. Implicitly there seems to be another base, but the Rule does not say so.

Then we have Rule 8-6-19 on Page 70:

The verbiage is "abandons a base by entering dead-ball territory." Here the path is clearly from a base to the dugout, and no other base is involved.

So what is your understanding in the above scenario? Does the LBR apply and she is Out? Or is she abandoning a base, and the LBR does not apply, and she has to be tagged Out?