LL Rules - batted ball contacts runner

[MD Longhorn]

Posting here for clarification - Umpire who made the call on this disagrees with me. Little League rules.

R1 on first, bouncing ball goes untouched over the pitcher (who would have had a play if he'd timed his jump better), bounces again and hits R1 in front of the second baseman, who was in position to field the ball. Ruling?

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Posting here for clarification - Umpire who made the call on this disagrees with me. Little League rules.

R1 on first, bouncing ball goes untouched over the pitcher (who would have had a play if he'd timed his jump better), bounces again and hits R1 in front of the second baseman, who was in position to field the ball. Ruling?

Runner is out.

Ball is dead.

BR to 1B

7.08-- Any runner is out when -

(f) Touched by a fair ball in fair territory before the ball has touched or passed an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, no runners advance, except runners forced to advance;
EXCEPTION: If a runner is touching a base when touched by an Infield Fly, that runner is not out, although the batter is out.
NOTE 1: If a runner is touched by an Infield Fly when not touching a base, both the runner and batter are out.
NOTE 2: If two runners are touched by the same fair ball, only the first one is out because the ball is instantly dead.

[bob jenkins]

I agree with Rich.

[MD Longhorn]

So do I. However, when presented with this rule, the umpire pointed out that the ball HAD passed an infielder - the pitcher.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

So do I. However, when presented with this rule, the umpire pointed out that the ball HAD passed an infielder - the pitcher.

1) "Passed" means within reach. He didn't reach it.

2) It doesn't matter anyhow because the runner was not immediately behind the "infielder".

3) Which really doesn't matter because the pitcher doesn't count as an infielder for this rule - unless he deflects the ball.

But your guy isn't going to believe this anyhow.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

1) "Passed" means within reach. He didn't reach it.

2) It doesn't matter anyhow because the runner was not immediately behind the "infielder".

3) Which really doesn't matter because the pitcher doesn't count as an infielder for this rule - unless he deflects the ball.

But your guy isn't going to believe this anyhow.

I don't want you to get the impression this umpire is an idiot. He's not. This situation bothered him enough to go digging in the book, and when he, independently, found rules to back up what he thought was right, he asked me about it.

I told him (3) - but could not back it up using the LL book (at least not in the 10 minutes I had with him). I mentioned (2) as well with similar results. I'm not sure I agree with you on (1). He DIDN'T reach it, but not because it was not within reach - just bad timing.

I confess that my knowledge of all the other rulesets is far better than my knowledge of LL rules (I only work them 1 week a year - my knowledge of their rules is mostly from this forum, tbh). In every other ruleset I could point you to the exact rule that leads you to (2) or (3). Just wondering how to show that to him in the LL book.