[greymule]

I posed the same question last year, and I thought "initiating a return" was the key. Example: Abel on 1B, no outs. Baker hits a long drive to center.

Play A:

Abel runs on the batted ball and rounds 2B. F8 makes a diving catch. Abel continues to 3B, and the throw to 1B to double up Abel goes into the dugout.

Abel is awarded home, and the defense must appeal to put him out. In Fed, Abel could not return to touch 1B, since when the ball became dead he was on or beyond the next base after the one where he committed the infraction. In OBR, he could return, since he did not advance to another base after the ball became dead.

Play B:

Abel tags up on Baker's drive to center. Abel leaves 1B too soon on F8's diving catch, but nobody seems to notice the infraction. Abel touches 2B and keeps running. He slides safely into 3B, and the throw goes into the dugout.

Abel is awarded home, same as above. The degree of obviousness of the infraction is irrelevant.

Play C:

Abel runs on Baker's blast. Abel is almost to 3B when F8 makes the diving catch. Abel initiates a return, and the throw to double him at 1B goes into the dugout.

In this case, Abel gets only 3B, since he attempted to return to 1B. In OBR, his return is legal. In Fed, unless he had retouched 2B and was between 2B and 1B when the ball became dead, his return is not legal.

In all cases, the defense would still have to appeal the out. The ump does not say, "Abel, you can't return."

Not sure, but I thought NCAA followed OBR on this.

Interesting wrinkle:

Play D:

Abel tags up on Baker's drive. Abel touches 2B and is almost to 3B when the defensive coach screams, "Appeal 1B. He left way too soon." Even though he tagged up properly, Abel still initiates a return and has not yet made it back to 2B when the ball becomes dead.

Do we award the 2 bases from 1B or 2B?

Freix: In your Fed tourney play, by giving the runner only 3B, you announced that he had left 1B too soon, even though everybody already knew it. That would be my problem with awarding only 3B in Play B above.

[Edited by greymule on Feb 28th, 2003 at 11:02 AM]