[greymule]

I'd let her return slowly, too. And I'd apply the same criterion to her as to any other returning runner: only an obvious complete stop makes me call her out. I would not be looking to stretch my interpretation of a stop simply to make an out call because I didn't like what she was doing.

Frankly, I'm surprised we don't see more of this kind of thing. I suspect that if many coaches decide to employ such a strategy, ASA will come up with a ruling to deal with it.

This brings up a similar play: the BR who, with runners on let's say 2B and 3B, gets a base on balls and proceeds very slowly to 1B, allowing the two runners ample time to dance around and play games.

Technically, however, a BR or runner could maintain a continuous motion yet proceed so slowly that it would take 10 minutes to get to the next base. Obviously, we can't let that happen. Would that be USC? Or would it be a form of abandonment of effort, since normal effort requires normal, not abnormal, time?