Neighborhood Play

[Mark Dexter]

I'm a longtime member who often posts on the basketball board, but had a Little League question.

I was asked to help out on the bases, and was at A. Ground ball was hit to the left side, and F3 straddled the bag waiting for the throw. He caught the ball (feet still to either side of 1st base) and held it for a few seconds (probably just seemed that long to me) before finally touching a foot to the base just before the batter touched.

Thankfully, the kid finally touched the bag, so I had an easy out call (and some quick advice to stretch out and keep a foot on the base). If, however, he never touched, or touched after the runner reached the base, would you call the runner out? (The ball arrived well before the batter.) I'm familiar with the neighborhood play concept (and the need for it) at 2nd, but was unsure if this philosophy applied to any other bases.