[greymule]

Once the award is announced and the runner touches the next base, that runner has now forfeited their right to return and retouch any base left too soon or missed.

This of course is true, but the message I got from the meeting was that the runner was restricted even further. They said that if, after we have waited and watched and made the award, the runner has not begun to return and is on or beyond the first base after the one missed or left too soon, he cannot then return legally. Apparently initiating a return is the key.

Let's get the obvious play out of the way first: Ground ball to F6, who throws the ball into DBT but BR misses 1B. We award 2B. If BR proceeds to touch 2B, he cannot return to 1B. Fine.

But then there's the play where the runner is one base (or even two bases) past the one missed/left too soon when the ball goes into DBT:

BR hits a ball off the LF fence, misses 1B, touches and rounds 2B. Then BR sees F7 firing the ball toward 3B, so BR stops 20 feet off 2B. The ball sails into DBT. BR starts for 3B, so we make the award: home. As BR is approching 3B, the coach says, "Go back and touch 1B." The message I got was that since, at the time of the award, BR was on or beyond the first base of the award (2B) and had not initiated a return, he could not legally return to touch 1B. I thought he could still return until the moment he touched 3B. Now maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to know for sure one way or the other. They also said that once a runner crosses the plate, he cannot return, even if 3B was the base he missed or left too soon.

Does anyone know for certain what the correct ruling is?