Catcher not returning ball to pitcher

[Dholloway1962]

The batter is supposed to keep one foot in the batter's box between pitches, with a few exceptions. Losing track of the count is not an exception. On a 2-1 count, if the runner takes off for 1B on strike 2 (swinging on pitch in dirt), thinking it is a D3K, I have strike 3 and batter is out.

That is as absurd as calling ball 4 on the 3-1 count scenario in this posting.

Dave, don't make the ball 4 call. Use common sense like you are trying to do, call nothing (other than bringing the batter back) and play on.