[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by danreeves1973

12U league, Dixie league Rules, which are modified OBR.

Ball hit to right field, bobbled, runner has wheels, makes it to third and starts to advance as throw comes in. Pitcher gets the ball and walks him back. Third base coach is telling his guy to go every time the pitcher starts to move back toward the mound, pitcher finally camps out in the third base line, five-ten ft away, ball in glove ready to tag.

My question: any rule I can use to break this standoff? I've looked and cannot find one. Runner was not going to simply stay and let pitcher return, pitcher was not going to let runner move and I'm not going to let us stand here all night. I'm also not going to coach the pitcher and catcher on how to handle this.

I solved it after about 20 seconds by calling time, pulled both coaches to the middle of the field and told them I was not going to let them turn this into a "mockery of a game" and if a standoff occured I was killing it from this point on. They said fine and we went on. I would just like to know if i solved it right and if not, what is the best way to handle this?

Flame away...

The worst think you could have done was to call time and tell the coaches that you weren't going to let them turn this into a "mockery of a game." The word "mockery" in the rules book refers to running the bases in reverse order. What the pitcher and runner were doing may have been exsaperating to you but it was legal. The ball was live and the runner was trying to advance while the pitcher was trying to keeping him from advancing. It was especially wrong to call time when the base runner was not in contact with third base: runner off base with a live ball, do not call time for any reason except a possible injury or the ball becoming dead because a play made it become dead.

MTD, Sr.