Look back rule stoppage

[greymule]

it is my belief that the Look Back should be abandoned and just have the umpire(s) kill the ball when it is obvious that all play is finished

Amen.

Doing an 18u tourney two weekends ago. Runner overruns 1B toward RF and starts back toward 1B. F1 gets the ball and stands motionless in the circle. Runner continues a couple of steps toward 1B and then breaks for 2B.

I call her out.

Coach goes nuts. "We've used that play a dozen times in the ASA nationals! It doesn't matter that the ball is in the circle. The runner's not committed to 1B until she actually retouches it. She can break for 2B any time before she reaches 1B." Etc., etc.

Coach goes into his dugout and I see him searching for his rule book. He finds it, and whatever he reads, he keeps quiet the rest of the game.

Then I remembered where I had seen that coach before. It was in a showcase tourney four months earlier... where I had called one of his girls out for the same offense.