Legal play
 

This question is from one of my Umpires that does softball games for the
league I assign for.

Today I had a walk with a runner on second. The runner on second stole third while the batter was walking to first.Now I'm not positive of where the ball was, but I know it did not get past the catcher, and I'm pretty sure it was about in the pitchers circle by the time the girl reached third safely. The coaches of course were asking about it, and I ended up sending her back to second. Was this the right move, because I've never came across it playing softball and it just didn't seem right...?

Thanks,
Brian in MI

Not sure what rules you use, but in ASA and Federation, the look back rule does not come into play until the batter-runner has reached first base. So, if the runner on 2nd stole third "while" the batter-runner was "still" walking to 1B, then it would be legal.

Serg

Even then it wouldn't make a difference since R1 left 2B before the ball was returned to the circle.

This is a clean stolen base.

.... and if you claim that she left after pitcher had ball in circle AND after BR reached 1B (LBR is in effect), R1 would be out.

Since ball is still live, your only options are R1 got a clean steal (which it seems like) or R1 out by LBR.

lancer - do you assign, or do you also umpire?

To answer the OP - this is like any other pitch. Of course they can steal 3rd, whether catcher catches the ball or not.

No. This wasn't the right move, as has already been answered. The runner should have been left on third, as this was a legal steal. You can share with this umpire that there will probably be a lot that they "didn't see" while playing softball, because now they are an umpire entrusted with seeing everything that happens on the field, and if the "softball" they played was of the slow pitch variety, then fastpitch is a very different game.

I've been waiting to hear the obvious (at least to me) question. Realizing that the OP never said, is this fastpitch or slow pitch? If slow pitch, is it slow pitch with stealing?

While not definitive, the OP referred to the runner as "the girl", which most took to imply fastpitch. Good Q, though.