halfway lines for 10u girls

Question
We had a scenario last night where there was runners on 2b and 3b. The ball was hit to the pitcher. 3b coach held the 3b runner aand the 2b runner made it 3/4 down the baseline. The pitcher never threw the ball newhere. She fielded it and stood in the circle looking around. The umpire ruled that the 2b runner had to advance do to being past the halfway line which in turn means the 3b runner had to advance. The 3b runner got called out while running home due to being chased outta the baseline. Is this correct?? Didnt know if the halfway lines were only for stealing or for live play. Thank you

Answer
Hi Brady,

Thank you for your question; it was a challenging one!  I'm sorry to say that I can't ensure the accuracy of my answer, as you didn't mention the governing body of your league.  Do you play ASA?  Well, there's nothing in the 2011 ASA Rules Book, which fully covers 10U play, about halfway lines.  I'm supposedly a softball "expert," but I sheepishly admit that I had never even heard of halfway lines until I opened up your question!  So I revved up the search engines and found that halfway lines are actually used all over the country in leagues with young players.  There are many versions of the use of halfway lines.  I sincerely hope that the Broken Arrow Girls Softball League doesn't mind that I chose their version to copy and paste into my answer.  It seemed like a very comprehensive one and I hope that it turns out to help me correctly answer your question!

If I read between the lines correctly, it seems that in your scenario, while the ball was still live, right in the middle of active play, the umpire instructed the runner who was being held on 3B to advance just because the runner who was on 2B had crossed the halfway line.  She was subsequently called out by running out of the base path, which is a live ball out.  This was a blown call by the umpire.  First, the umpire should never instruct the runners what to do.  Second, neither of the two runners were forced to advance as the result of a ground ball to the pitcher.  They had no base running obligations until the batter-runner reached 1B, at which time the Look Back Rule goes into effect.  Third, the halfway lines only come into play after the ball is dead, not while a fielder is holding a live ball.  So, based on part 3 of BAGSL's version of the halfway lines, when the play ended and the ball became dead, the runner who was on 2B should have retreated to it and the runner who was on 3B should have been allowed to remain there.  This was a "protestable" ruling by the umpire, subject to rectification.

1.  If a runner and/or batter is less than halfway to Second or Third base (in the judgment of the umpire), when time out / dead ball is declared, that runner must return to the base they were coming from.

2.  If a runner and/or batter runner is more than halfway to Second or Third base (in the judgment of the umpire), when time out / dead ball is declared, the runner will be awarded the base they are running to.

3.  If a runner is more than halfway to the base when time out / dead ball is declared and there is a runner already on that base, they must retreat to the base they last touched unless there is a force play and they must advance.

4.  If a runner is not more than halfway to a base when time out / dead ball is declared and there is a runner on the base they last touched, then they must advance to the base they were running to.

Scott Kelly