[so cal lurker]

This is a play that happened in a minors little league game, and I don't understand what the rule is -- the ump we had was very good and clearly knowledgeable, so I assume he got it right.

Right handed batter, runner at second. C drops the pitch, and runner goes. Batter stays in the box, catcher tries to throw, but batter is in way. Tries to get around batter, finally throws, too late. If the batter was not in the way, the throw probably would have been in time to get the out. (It's minors --probably always comes with a few grains of salt . . . .)

What's the rule on this play? Does the batter have any obligation to get out of the way? Or is it only a problem if the batter intentionally does something to get *in* the way? I'd like to understand this rule so I can explain to batters what they need to do and to the catchers on what they can expect.

thx