Learned something last night

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blouderback
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Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:18 am

Learned something last night

Post by blouderback »

I learned something last night as a scorekeeper.

Situation:
1 out, runners on first and 3rd. Batter hits a fly ball to left field, runner on 3rd tags up and scores. Runner on 1st had gone half-way to 2nd on the hit, and was returning to first when the throw came to first base and the defender stepped on 1st before the runner was able to tag up.

I always assumed this was a force out, and even though the runner at 3rd scored before the 1st baseman tug the bag, since it was a force out the run doesn't score.

IN FACT, a "force out" is defined as "a situation when a baserunner is compelled (or forced) to vacate his time-of-pitch base—and thus try to advance to the next base", and "A force on a runner is "removed" when the batter or a following runner is put out." So, the play at first is not a force out!

Luckily, I was encouraged to look up the rule, which I did, and correctly awarded the run to the team. You're never too old to learn something!
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