[Danny R]

I've read through the 2002 LL rulebook a couple of times so far and I don't recall anything about stealing being forbidden. I do recall the rulebook saying a runner cannot leave base until the ball reaches the batter. I agree that if it were up to me to make the rules, there would be no steals in this league. With 8-yr-olds, there are a lot of walks already. That, combined with allowing steals and a 5-run limit per inning (local rule) means there isn't a whole lot of action for fielders. But I don't make the rules; kids in the league I'm umping (my son's league) can run for another base as soon as the ball reaches the batter, and they do it all the time as you can imagine.

Anyway, the way for the kids to deal with this (IMO) is for the catcher to take a step or 2 in front of home plate and towards third, for the pitcher to take 1 or 2 steps in from the rubber, and for them to make an easy toss. One poor kid, though, had his mother in the stands screaming instructions to him while he was playing catcher. This had him so shaken the boy was making bad throws. In fact, several times the boy would turn around to listen to his mother and the runners would all start running to the next base. The mother would then yell for him to throw the ball to whichever base. The poor kid was so confused he didn't know what to do. After awhile one of the coaches asked her not to coach him from the stands, as he couldn't hear his own coaches over her. I wanted to tell her to knock it off, but didn't think I had the authority. I did tell them I thought their shouted instructions were confusing the player. The the mother kept it up.

Thanks for all the advice. This forum is a great resource.