Little League Umpire - Batter/Runner Interference

Runners on 1st and 2nd, 0 outs. Batter bunts. Batter beats catcher's throw to 1st and ball gets away. R2 then scores, and R1 is thrown out trying to get to 3rd base. After the play, umpires rule Batter interfered with the catcher's throw to 1st base. What's the ruling....who's out, and where do the runners go?

(see below)

Batter is out. R1 & R2 must return to their original bases.

[brandonjohnson]

Great job by the third base coach. He asked what happened to be there for his team, but then accepted the call. He made sure it was a teaching moment for his player. Great job coach

[ClintonCountyDroneGuy]

Announcers were all over the place. First said the runners should go back. Then said they should advance one base.

[maxbosoxfan]

YES took awhile but FINALLY got call right !! BR is out der interference & no runners can advance for offensive infraction

[jumperguy]

Correct call. Immediately upon the interference it is a dead bal. All runners return to the previously touched base. No one scores, no one advances. Batter/runner is out for interference.

[blueloraine]

Runner's lane interference is an immediate dead ball. Batter's out and runners may not advance. So, it took some time, a meeting of the committee and a phone call but they got it right in the end.

[tracyyeary]

The plate umpire should have called dead ball right away and called batter runner out and runners have go back and not able to advance

[williammize]

He was not in the baseline the whole way to 1st base it was the correct call

[Glock]

For all the people that are saying that it is a simple error on 1st baseman and no interference did it occur to you that the reason he dropped it was because he was having trouble seeing the ball because the runner was where he was not supposed to be and in his way?

[stump]

Correct call, but the throw from the catcher, unless on purpose, should have been further into fair territory with the 1st baseman more properly set up.

[cloudwatcher]

hard to tell, but it APPEARS as though (at 0:07) that the batter/runner's right foot touches the baseline on his last step toward first base. IF that were the case, then that is sufficient compliance for the runner's lane interference requirement ("...either foot touching or inside the baseline..."). also at 0:07, i REALLY would have liked to see the plate umpire get farther down the first baseline, especially since the catcher is so far in front of home plate fielding the bunt and there will be no immediate play at the plate. if the plate umpire gets down the baseline, this would allow him better visibility of the play and he could immediately make (and just as importantly, SELL) the RLI violation, if in fact it occurs. yes, kudos to the crew for "huddling" and getting the call "right"; but a confident, well-placed plate umpire would have looked a whole lot better.

[MaydayAggro]

R2 might have been on third at the time of the interference. R1 was 1 step shy of second, but R2 was running faster than R1. The rule states that runners are returned to the base they last legally touched at the time of the interference, not at the time of the pitch or at the time of the batted ball.

[dahillbillynews]

The LL rule reads that if you are on the line you are in the box the first part of the lane he was outside the last part he was in, bottom line if he wasn't in all the way he was outside the lane. RIGHT CALL!

[Famijoly]

The call was correct. But the umpires should have known that on any interference, the ball is dead and bases can't be run. The exasperating part of watching this was the time it took to finally place the runners correctly.

[Sean-etrf]

Runnner on second base also left the base early before the ball crossed the plate on the pitch b

[allenjpl]

Right call. The batter/runner was in-between the throw and the 1B fielding the throw, making it harder for the 1B to field the throw. So that's interference, plain and simple. If he had been in the runner's lane (both feet inside), he would have been protected from the interference call, but he wasn't. Rule 6.05(j). Note: The commenters in the broadcast are morons. The batter is absolutely allowed to run inside the foul line, "in the field of play, " he just isn't protected from an interference call if he does. Ultimately, the batter was lucky he didn't get drilled in back. Then you get both an interference call and a painful lesson.

[garykain]

Batter can't run a straight line to first, because of where the ball drops after he bunts it.

[jimcerda]

Last base touched, the runner from 1st touched 2nd before intfr, br is out and runners stay at 2nd and third, rule say last base "touched", not occupied or original base. wording is important here

[umpireva]

Correct call, however to slow in calling it

[publishedPhysicist]

Why does LL implement these dumb rules? If you draw a straight line from the RH batters box to first base its in the field of play all the way down. The batter doesnt deviate from that line except to avoid contact with the ball. This penalizes RH batters because the field is small and the batters boxes extend way too far into the field of play

[jlg]

It was a correct call . However, they need to teach the first basemen how to create a throwing lane for the catcher