how many outs do you have?

[Manny A]

In reality, though, unless you have a three-man crew, and/or the BR's dugout is on the third base side, who will likely see the sequence of events here?

No outs, runner on 3rd, 3-2 count on batter, on the pitch R1 at 3 steals for home, strike 3 is dropped by F2,* R1 sees she will be put out at home runs back to 3rd and gets caught in a run-down, Batter enters the dugout, R1 is then tagged out by F5.

Both umpires' attention will be on the rundown, looking for the tag, possible obstruction, a possible three-foot violation, etc. Who is going to see the BR enter her dugout at first base and immediately kill play? Good luck with that!

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Manny A

In reality, though, unless you have a three-man crew, and/or the BR's dugout is on the third base side, who will likely see the sequence of events here?

A fair point, and you're probably right. BU should have an eye partially on BR - he's still responsible for possible OBS and the touch at first base. I'd hope that he would notice, at some point, that BR was not where he thought he should be and would then try to peripherally locate him.

But yeah - his primary focus will be on his end of the rundown, so this could get missed.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

A fair point, and you're probably right. BU should have an eye partially on BR - he's still responsible for possible OBS and the touch at first base. I'd hope that he would notice, at some point, that BR was not where he thought he should be and would then try to peripherally locate him.

But yeah - his primary focus will be on his end of the rundown, so this could get missed.

Situations like this are where I disagree with bracketing rundowns in the 2 umpire system. With multiple runners, one umpire has to be responsible for the trailing runners.

In this specific situation, the PU would have the entire rundown between third and home as that is the lead runner and the BU would have the batter-runner.

Communication between the two umpires is the key here.