Non-Dropped 3rd Strike

Question
We've had this situation happen in each of our last 10u ASA games. Runner on 3rd with one out. Batter has one strike. Next pitch is a strike, but catcher drops it. The batter runs to first, thinking it was a dropped third strike. Runner on 3rd comes home and scores. In the previous game, the runner was told to go back to 3rd because the catcher was distracted by the batter that should not have gone to 1st. In today's game, the run was allowed because the catcher basically threw the ball away when she threw it to 1st.

Although both calls went against us (Thursday we were batting; today we were on the field), I'm pretty sure that the call today was correct.

Can you please clarify?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Ed,

especially at this level many local orgs have rules to regulate this so it's important to know if that's the situation.

However in strict ASA play even though it is not a true D3K and the batter runs, the ball remains live and the defense is responsible for what they do with it.  In your case R1 would score and we bring the batter back to finish their at bat w/out penalty.

Mark