[AtlUmpSteve]

Here's my opinion; probably no better than anyone else's.

I don't believe any brand would want, desire, or allow the farce of making the ball live again, without a batter, to complete a play that was incomplete. The PU erred by calling time; now rule on the result of the play that was negated.

I am willing to bet the official NFHS ruling is to simply declare the out. That is consistent with the case play ruling that during live play, if two runners are standing on the same base, and the defense refuses to make a play, that you simply declare an out. There is no exact rules basis for that, either (since the remedy in the rules is that the defense must tag the trail runner); but, it is, at least in my mind consistent. It would appear that the NFHS remedy for the offense failing to advance or return when necessary to continue play is to simply declare the out.

ASA is a bit more complicated; in the live play situation, as an umpire you must simply wait and force the defense to make a play, because 1) the ball is live, 2) you cannot have a next pitch with two runners on a base, 3) the runners cannot legally leave the base without violating the lookback rule, ergo, 4) the defense must go get the out.

And, if our PU had his head in the game, that is what would happen here; time never granted, so make someone do something. No abandonment in live ball territory, but we cannot have a next pitch (or the time of a next pitch). However, the ASA 10.3-c grants an added authority, to rectify any situation where a delay in making a call puts a team in jeopardy.

In my judgment, once the PU called time, and the BR did not complete running responsibilities, the team placed in the greater jeopardy by not ruling on the live play still unresolved is the defense. It is apparent to me, at least, that once the count is announced, repeated, whatever needed to wake them up, that the defense had a greater opportunity to get the out to retire the BR than the offense had to safely advance; and it could be argued that the offense failed to advance, and that calling time is what cost the defense the opportunity to make the out.

So, in ASA, absent a specific ruling to the contrary from the NUS, I would rule under 10.3-c that the BR is out; and no run can score.