best way to handle a check swing

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Scooby

Sit: runner in 1st, 3-0 count, the pitch is out of the zone and called a ball. the runner advances and the catcher asks if she swung. HOw do you handle this ? And if your base umpire judges a swing, do you bring the runner back from second?

How quickly do you call the pitch? There should be about one second between the ball hitting the glove and your call. If you delay sufficiently, the catcher should have already released the ball (or be most of the way through her throwing motion) to have any possibility of retiring a runner attempting to steal. In that case, there should be no doubt that if the catcher did not throw, it was because she was not going to throw whatever your call was.