Player Leaving first base

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by outathm

I often tell other umpires that the teams have someone allowed to stand on the field of play to tell them what to do. We are not responsible for their actions. When a coach tells his player to return to the Plate, the umpire is not in any way responsible to tell her otherwise. When the coach tells a girl to steal, it is not my responsibility to tell her that she isn't fast enough.

I watched the play until the ball was in the circle and the runner returned to 1B. The runner took a roundabout route back to 1B, but at no time did she run out of the base line to avoid a tag, and she was not off the bag and not moving when the ball was in the circle. I cannot think of a way to get an out, no matter how hard I tried. Please trust me, in a 15-1 ball game in the third inning, I was trying to find a way to get an out!

OK, but you failed to explain the questions we have on this play.

1) What made the fair/foul call questionable?
2) How could the ball be both with F1 (LBR) and F2 (pickoff from catcher).