[David B]

Originally posted by dpr528
I had two sort of strange plays last night in a 14 year old game. This league is pretty much just a league so the kids can play(everybody bats whether playing the field or not, unlimited free substitution, etc). The first play runner on 2nd is stealing 3rd. Batter swings and misses, but on his backswing hits the ball which had popped out of the catchers mitt and back towards the batter. Ball pretty much just went straight down, and the catcher had no chance for a play at 3rd anyway. I had a bit of a brain fart and just let the play stand. In retrospect I believe this is a foul ball, but wanted some confirmation.

The second play was a dropped 3rd strike which popped out in front of the plate. As the batter was running to first, after first taking a couple steps toward his dugout, he ran between the catcher and the ball which was about 3 or 4 feet in front of the plate. There was a little contact(incidental and completely unintentional), but not much and the catcher then picked up the ball and threw him out anyway. The catch is that there was a runner on 2nd when this happened(less than 2 outs though) and he advanced to 3rd on the throw to first. Is the batter immediately out and the runner remains at 2nd, a delayed dead ball where the fielding team can take either the result of the play, or the batter being out, or just let them play. I just let them play but wonder if I did the right thing. Thanks.

You did the right thing.

Baseball sometimes is a contact sport.

Thanks
David