"Then I would ask him/her what s/he was doing out near the SS's position"
Where should I be? Foul territory? Inside the diamond? Closer to 3B or 2B? Pitcher's circle?
"PU placed himself inside the diamond and possibly in the middle of the play"
There was no one on base; if caught we have routine out. Otherwise assume a double and ball returned to 2B. What allowed the runner to continue so far was (a) speed, (b) very high hit, (c) deep - near 250'(way over the fence on normal women's field), and (d) a little extra time for F7 to find and p/u ball after F8 fell on it.
"it was noted that the BU and PU ended up standing next to each other"
Not true. I was near the baseline; BU was 10' - 12' inside base line moving towards 3B. Note that I said that I
yelled at him to go home. Had I tried to back-peddle I would have been chasing a runner that is way faster than me.
It is interesting that my partner and I were OK with the play, and other umpires on this board have applauded. But two UIC's have been critical. You guys sure are hard to please.
WMB