Overrun of 1st

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by greymule

Be careful on this one, though. In general, you can go by intent, but if the BR overruns 1B and from the line takes two steps out into the field, he's in jeopardy. I admit it's a HTBT, but lack of intent can be overridden by just plain dumb running.

Don't confuse "intent" with "attempt". While intent to advance is not required, a valid attempt is for the BR to be placed into jeopardy. Every good runner makes an attempt when they round 1B with absolutely no intention of advancing unless there is a misplay by the defense. That doesn't mean the runner in not in jeopardy.

Rule specifically notes there must be an attempt. I don't care if the BR runs out and high-fives the RF, if there was no attempt (and yes, I know this is a judgement call) to advance to 2B, they shouldn't be ruled out.

I had a play in a men's game where the BR was obviously not intending to advance to 2B, but he did take a walking two steps toward 2B after touching 1B (sort of a walking turn at 1B). The defense tagged him and I called him out. The offensive coach started talking about intent, but this was just careless running, not a normal overrun.

If you make the comment openingly that you made in the first sentence, you may lose a protest with some people. However, leave that part of the sentence out, and I don't think there would be any queston of an out call.

I had another case in a girls' FP game in which the BR overran 1B by about 8 steps and did not make any kind of attempt but instead simply turned around quickly to see whether the ball had been overthrown. The defensive coach told F3 to "tag her." When F3 reached out to tag the returning runner, the runner tried to avoid the tag by running around F3 several steps into fair territory. When the chasing F3 made the tag, I felt I had no choice but to call the runner out.

While this is more difficult, I still wouldn't call the runner out in this situation. The runner simply reacted to the defense's play that shouldn't have happened. If this were allowed, F3 would chase every BR which overran 1B and expect an out call if the runner made any attempt to avoid the inappropriate tag.