question

Question
Hey,
  I'm a little league umpire, and this play did not happen as the runner was tagged but if it did I always wanted to know.  With a runner on first, a ground ball is hit to the second baseman and the runner breaks for second and then all of a sudden turns around and goes back to first (in the game he was tagged), but if he wasn't tagged can he be called out for retreating back.  One coach said yes and one coach said no.  At first I thought he could be called out, but now I think that this is legal and the second baseman must either catch up to him and tag him, go to second, or go to first.  Can you help out and give the ruling on this?
  The only reason that I thought he might be out is I've always seen the MLB players just stop and try to duck, never actually start running backwards.  Thanks for all your time, I really appreciate it!!
Sincerely,
Chris

Answer
I apologize for my late response, I've been out celebrating my birthday for the past two days.

In baseball, there is no automatic out for retreating back to first. However, for the runner it is not smart to do so. It would be very easy to get the force out at first then go for the tag on the runner who held up.