Need your opinion
 

Doing a JV game by myself, no outs. B1 on 2B, B2 on 1B. B3 hits a line drive to right field. B1 holds up on 2B to see if ball is caught, however B2 runs toward 2B. Ball is short hopped (not caught on fly) and RF throws to F4.

B1 stays on 2B!
B3 (BR) now on 1B
B2 is hung up between 1B & 2B
F4 (instead of tagging B1 and stepping on 2B for a double play, tries to tag B2 who now tries to return to 1B (which is occupied by BR).

I’m not sure I made the right call but when B2 turned and started to run back to 1B, I called interference, dead ball, B2 is out, leaving B1 on 2B and B3 on 1B. My thinking was that if a BR is out for interference if they reverse course while running to 1B from home that it must also be interference if they are forced to a base and attempt to return to a base which is legally occupied.

The coach argued that B2 had to be tagged to be out and the ball should have remained live.

Not a close game so just looking to get it right.

Coach was right, you were wrong. Chalk it up to live and learn.

Where the heck do you see an interference?
There is a difference between a BR and a runner...check the rule book under "A runner is out when", you see nothing about retreating to the base they last touched!

I undestand your thought process, but a BR can only be put out between home and 1B if the BR is trying to avoid being tagged out by the defense.

The retreat to the previous base (1B), as you describe, is allowed, and the rule mentioned above does not apply.

I learned it a few years ago when I had a game with R1 on 2B and R2 on 1B no outs. BR3 hit a grounder to F5 who scooped it up and started to run at R1 who was halfway between 2B and 3B. R1 started to retreat toward 2B, and I called R2 out for retreating, just like you also thought. I looked it up after the game and wrote about it here, and learned that I had it wrong.

See my nomenclature corrections...

Anyway, coach was correct. That out for reversing toward home only applies to a BR and only if to avoid a tag. Any other runner can reverse how ever they want - you see it all the time in a run down situation.

At the time you killed the play, you still had no outs and a live ball. The defense still had to record some outs before the offense got everyone safely somewhere. It is possible that during the attempt to retire R2 that R1 would have tried for 3B, or any number of other possibilities.

The coach that argued may have been the one that got the break. Had anyone gotten the defensive player's attention, he could have thrown to F6, who could have tagged R1 first, and then stepped on the bag for a double play.

I was just fixin' to do that myself!

Picky, picky ! :p

Maybe, but I had to change it myself just to keep the situation straight as I was reading it. Too many batters!