LLUmps: Special Pinch Runner

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by Dave Hensley

That's not what happened, Ace. What happened is what CoachTex said - a player in the lineup batted and scored. The manager wanted to then remove him from the lineup (in the 9 hole) and have him SPR for the runner who had just reached base. It was not a second SPR, it was a first SPR. The LLWS scorer, just as he had done the previous day when another manager tried the same maneuver, prohibited it.

Here's the problem - there is no Little League rule, and no published interpretation, that prohibits the maneuver. Many people, including most of the officials in the Eastern Region, want to layer in their interpretation of the NFHS "projected substitution" rule to prohibit making an offensive substitution when that particular slot in the order is not at bat at that moment. This, however, is a ruling that is being pulled right out from the nether regions, because there is no official interpretation to support it.

It's yet another example of Little League making a rule and then just sort of being AWOL when legitimate questions about its enforcement come up. The issue has now occurred twice that I know of in the LLWS, and both times the coaches have been prohibited from doing something they were probably doing routinely at lower levels of the tournament, and now they can't just because it's a different guy keeping the book.

This specific situation may not be in the LL rule book, but I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that this manuever can't be permitted. The SPR is supposed to be someone who is not in the game, meaning he isn't on offense or defense. A person who has batted and scored is "in the game" for purposes of this rule if he has already batted and/or been a runner on the bases. Allowing him to then be a SPR would be impermissible, also violating what is known as "common sense and fair play."