I don't want to hijack the thread, but I think Bret Mans' play mirrors one I had last year. I believe I talked about it on this forum, but I definitely had conversations about it with my state Fed rules interpreter.
USSSA game. Almost all rules mirror Fed. Ground ball hit to F6. BR is very slow. The throw to F3 is very high, causing her to jump up off the white bag, catch the ball, but land completely on orange. Slow runner finally gets to 1st and runs through the bag, touching both white and orange. I rule safe because of F3 being on only orange. Offensive coach says this qualifies as an errant throw(8-10-2-b). Super veteran
plate partner adamently agrees with coach, feeling this qualifies as an errant throw and runner should be out. He clearly states (in a private conversation by the way) that I should reverse my decision. I feel I'm right and stick with the call. Game and life goes on.
In the subsequent days I ask my Utrip interpreter as well as my state Fed interpretor (who also works lots of Utrip with me)to ask the national Fed office for clarification of what it means to be an errant throw. They say that the play as I described it
does count as an errant throw, meaning the fielder could use either bag. I believe someone on this group said ASA has in the past ruled this is not an errant throw.
I think this play has a lot of similarities to the original post. This has become my pain in the behind issue over the last year. It seems that we're rewarding the defense for a poor throw. When I get home I'll search a little more to see if I can find the original thread.