Game Situation: Out of Play


Runners on first and second, no outs. The batter grounds to the third baseman, who fields the ball, and runs to third base to tag the base for a force out. The third baseman then looks to second, but the runner from first is already at second base, so he throws over to first, but over the head and past the first baseman and out of play.

A) Where do you place the runner and the batter-runner?

Call
The first play in this situation is the 3rd baseman's put-out of the runner that is moving from 2nd to 3rd base. The second play is the over-throw to first, so the penalty for the overthrow is to place the runners from the time of the throw. The runner originating at second was put out. The runner originating at first had achieved 2nd base at the time of the throw, so he is awarded home. The batter-runner had not achieved 1st base at the time of the throw, so he is awarded 2nd base.


B) Where would you place the runners if the third baseman just watched the runner going to third, then looked at the runner that had already arrived at second, and then thrown the ball out of play at first? This could happen if there were two outs and the play at first would have ended the inning.

Call
After the 3rd baseman fielded the ball he glanced at 3rd and at 2nd, but these are not considered plays. His first play is his over-throw to first -- therefore, the runners are awarded two bases from the time of the pitch. This scores the runner that originated at 2nd. The runner that originated at 1st is awarded 3rd and the batter-runner is awarded 2nd.