I would’ve gone with A fwiw
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Seems like a dumb rule. Just don’t allow any steals at that age.
(Unless it is some National/Area-level Rule, in which the league winners would play other league winners and it’s best if all leagues played under the same rules.)
However, if the field had a PA system, a booming, authoritative voice from above could easily explain it.
And, yes, A is preferred.
First post: Can’t the batter just come up and wildly swing and miss the first 3 pitches with his teammates on base remaining on base regardless of plays by catcher/pitcher?
Second post: I agree with you unless the wild throw that went to CF was an actual play on R1 stealing 2nd. Though in my grandson’s league, I believe R3 can only advance to home if the other team makes a play on him. So even if they attempt to get the out at 2nd, R3 cannot advance on that play.
@dr_t_non-fan - regional tournament rule. every town might use a different one but the org that runs the tourneys and state has this as the standard. I saw 0 runners retired on steals (except for the kid who didn’t slide and over-ran 2nd and was tagged trying to get back). Coaches are all told the rule at signup, at checkin, and at the home plate conference (in my games). Do they remember? I guess not. Bc if there’s only one runner (R1 at 1st) they could run all the way around and score on a steal bc they didn’t start the play on 3rd. That brings a source of confusion and limits a developmental aspect bc it isn’t worth it to try and throw someone out bc it is nearly futile and most runners can just keep going.
First post - the team forfeiting outs is worried about time limit exhausting. Pitcher delays, mound visits, pitching change shoe tying, errant throwbacks, etc. 3 pitches can easily take the last 2 minutes or more. But yes, swing at everything for 3 in a row and sprint to the dugout after the 3rd (in case it bounced so the put out is delayed).
2nd post - play was on R1. R3 only live if they play on R3. This was not that.
I assume there is some reason for this rule?
They are trying to cut the baby in half. And imo getting it wrong.
The u9 pitchers & catchers stink and they dont want walks to become runs semi-automatically w passed balls.
If it was me writing the rule, i would only allow scoring through action involving the batter. Hit, error on batted ball, walk, hbp, etc. So one can steal 2nd or 3rd. But advancement home has to come from something other than a steal/passed ball. My rule would encourage stealing/alert baserunning and encourage catchers theowing to catch a thief.
Yeah, but that originally was a bluff. The mothers are not supposed to call the bluff. One is supposed to give up their argument, so that the baby can live.
If the pitchers and catchers stink this much, then no stealing at all.
At “All-Star” Level, with advanced pitchers and catchers, they can add stealing, and not half-way.
Wait, they can’t steal home unless played on but they can attempt 1st base on a dropped 3rd strike? Our league didn’t allow either of those.
Dropped 3rd at this age is always an out but ball is live. U12 is when that changes where i am
I recall when I was growing up that the top-level U10 division allowed steals, but the two lower levels did not.
Yeah, three whole divisions of teams in a 15,000-population (plus exurbs) town.
I’m too old to remember what the rules were when I played. We had 8&9 Mustang, 10&11 Bronco, 12-14 (ircc) Pony and 15-18 corresponding to HS was American Legion.
You would think I would remember since at 9 I was catcher and after that I was either 2nd or catcher until HS (catcher and outfield) when I should have quit but was too invested. I don’t remember a no stealing rule but I think in Mustang league you couldn’t lead off the base so there might have been other rules that only applied to that league (no infield fly rule? probably).
Local rules here… 9u local leagues, runner on third can only score on a batter action, team has to earn home. Field has a deep back stop and there’s maybe 2 decent catchers in a league of 6 teams. Travel ball, can steal home all day. Once we get up to 10u they can steal home in both local/travel. Personally I like it.
same here.
Saw a reel from an umpire who said he saw something for the first time in a U13 game he was doing. After punching a batter out on a called third strike that he said started off looking like it was going to be well inside but then curved over the plate, the batter tapped his helmet like batters in MLB do to challenge the call.
He said he went over to the coach and told him about it and said if any other players did that they would be immediately tossed from the game.
What do you all think of that? Is that disrepectful enough to get a player tossed?
Well, he didn’t toss the batter. He was just warning the bench not to do it anymore. Had your fun, now let’s move on.
He could also just ignore it, since the action officially doesn’t mean anything. If the batter didn’t leave the plate area and kept tapping his head, then yes. That is essentially arguing balls and strikes.
If the batter was just playing around, I’d smile and tell him to go back to the dugout.
I’ve heard of youth soccer coaches doing the TV outline move, which is officially a caution. But the referee understood it was in jest, ran over to check an imaginary monitor, and confirmed her call, in on the joke.
Note to coaches, players, and spectators: THE GAME IS NOT THAT FUCKING IMPORTANT!!!
If you have Facebook, check the “Offside” account. Has videos of idiots assuming the game is important and taking action accordingly when a “wrong” has been committed. Happens in all youth sports. The acvount holder tracks down the idiots and helps the umpires and refrerees press charges.
For me, it depends on the personality of the kid / how he’d been reacting so far. I knew kids who would have done it simply because they’d seen MLBers do it and it’s semi-instinctual; that’s a “pull the coaches over, explain why you can’t do that, let’s not do it again” thing. I also knew kids who were little assholes who would have done it as a sign of disrespect and then stood there waiting; that would have been “both coaches over, instructions given, kid is explicitly warned any hint of further disrespect will be an automatic ejection.”
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My state HS league has pushed out that tapping the helmet is emphatically a disrespectful act and an overt one.
Bench warning on first episode. Second would generate coach and player ejections
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my kid was umpiring a u11 game this weekend and a player did the head tap…TWICE. after the 2nd, kid told someone who asked “if she would allow that” that it doesn’t bother her bc the kid is 11 and likely doesn’t understand the implication, but she did explain to the kid that other games, the umpire will come down w both feet. then coach heard what was going on (and apparently hadn’t seen either tap) and started in on the kid.
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Players were warned around here that if you tap, you’re going to get tossed. They have fun with it in practice when the coaches are calling balls and strikes and I haven’t seen it once in a game yet (although I’ve heard about kids doing it with junior umpires).
