Also, on the play I mentioned, there was really more along the lines of a 6 or 8 count. After a moment of my pitcher and the runner staring at each other, I looked back and forth to the field ump, then the plate ump to see which one of them was going to call it. When I realized neither one of them was going to I threw up my hands and hollered "BLUE! Doesn't she have to go one way or the other?" at which point the runner went back to the base.

It really wasn't even close.

However, since this is a judgement call, the only question I had initially was whether or not they saw the runner standing there. Once we established that they agreed that the runner stood there for several seconds, then I questioned the interpretation of the rule, and got a lecture from the plate umpire *lol*

Again, thanks for the responses. You all are awesome.

You're right, it is a judgment call when the umpire determines whether the runner "immediately" returned to the base or attempted to advance.

Once the umpire said that the runner could "freeze," then you would have grounds for a protest.

Too fast for the circumstance. It is NOT a "gotcha" rule.

C'mon CecilUno, how do you know exactly how long he is talking about?

I can say it fast or slow.


Although I'm more of a "gut man" myself on the look back call, I do sometimes count when I find it necessary to enforce a batter or pitcher's timing.
In those cases, I'm a Chimpanzee guy - as in

1 Chimpanzie, 2 Champanzies, 3 Chimpanzies, ............

:D

10 little, 9 little, 8 little Indians could work too.:cool:

He's from Atlanta...

Wuuuuuunnnnn thouuuuusssuuuuunnnnd wun, wuuuuuuuunnnnnn thouuuuussssuuuuunnnnd daaaud bawl...

:)

I'll respond when you also translate Cecil. :p :D

The PC version would be even longer...

"10 small in stature indigenous persons..."

And I'm from Wiscooooooonsin, so... ;)

Sorry, I just finished working down south :D:D:D

Comments welcome.

ASA 16U. R1 on 3B, 1 out.

Batter fouls out to F5.

For some reason, everyone is confused about how many outs there were. F5 started walking the ball back to the infield.

3B coach turns and heads toward the dugout on the 3B side of the field. R1 is confused and about 8 feet off the base, wondering what to do.

Without all of the body language going on, F5 could have easily stepped on 3B for a DP. But for some reason, threw it back to the pitcher, who I assume was in the circle, but my focus was on the runner.

I'm waiting for R1 to do something, when somebody on the defense yells, throw it to third. At this point, R1 gets the clue and hustles back to the bag before a throw is made.

Now D coach is yelling about a lookback violation, because the ball was in the circle.

Did I miss the out?

Thanx.

When the pitcher had the ball in the circle, what was the runner doing? Was she stopped? If so, for how long? Or was she still moving?

I cannot say for certain if the pitcher was in the circle. She may have started over toward the line when the batter hit the popup that ended up foul about 15' off the line and 10' past 3B.

The runner came off the bag with the pitch and got a secondary lead when the ball was hit. She watched the catch and basically stood there. So F5 took a few steps back toward the infield, threw the ball to F1 [in or out of circle?], then someone yelled for the ball to go to third.

I guess the key would be how long did the pitcher have the ball before someone yelled and the runner moved back. Two seconds, 5 seconds?

Runner certainly didn't move toward home after the catch, but didn't immediately return to third due to the confusion on the outs.

Without that piece, you cannot rule a lookback violation. You may have missed one, but you cannot guess it, either.

All else is rhetorical.

That's how I saw it. The pitcher in the circle was hearsay evidence to me so since I couldn't confirm that, I wasn't about to invoke LB rule. Guess I was more concerned with the runner tagging or not in the event the ball did get away on the throw back from F5. Should have taken a quick glance.

I guess what I got from the coach could be termed rhetoric.

Thanx.