Detachable base ruling and over thrown ball

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by BillM.

I thought that in ASA, if a ball is thrown into a dead ball area, on an errant throw, only the base the runner was on the way to, plus one was awarded?

Don't think of it as "base on the way to, plus one". It's two bases from the time of the throw. The only consideration is the location of the runner at the time of the throw leaves the thrower's hand.

If the BR has not yet reached 1B then the award would be two bases: 1B and 2B.

If the BR has rounded 1B (and had now become a runner) and defense throws trying to get her moving back to 1B the award is still two bases. Since this runner was past 1B when the throw was released the two bases awarded are 2B and 3B.

Nobody will say a word about the first example but many people will squeal in the second example.. you will hear "one base on an overthrow blue!" which is of course one of the famous softball myths.