I screwed up ... how to fix it?

[MD Longhorn]

I concur. Forget your instructions to the player - it doesn't sound like she did anything wrong - even if you both DID see the ball in the circle. After listening to coach and thinking through the situation slowly, I would have asked him what part of the LBR he thought she violated.

Question - exactly where was she when you reiterated your call to her? What was the sequence of events (i.e. in what order did the following items occur: You speaking to player, out at first, ball returned to pitcher, player touches 2nd, coach comes out)

Also - the other consideration here is that you gave instructions to the player. Technically it's not a dead ball when you do so - but I think you can rationalize it that way.