dropped second strike.

Question
Girl's 10U fastpitch softball.  Two outs.  R1 on 3B and R2 on 2B. The coach on 1B is yelling at his batter to RUN, RUN, RUN, after the catcher drops the second (yes, the second) strike.  The catcher throws down to 1B and the girl is forced out.  The first baseman tosses the ball on the ground into the circle and the defense runs off the field.  The runners on second and third run to home to score runs.  What would be the proper call.  I am guessing the batter-runner is not out and returns home to finish her batting.  The runs score and the defense needs to return to the field. This happened in a game this weekend and we are wondering if the right call was made.  The PU put the runners back to 3B and 2B.  Is that correct and if so, why?

Answer
Hi Doug,

I'm surprised the PU is not yelling "STRIKE 2", "STRIKE 2" etc. and this proceeded as far as it did. It was also a dumb move by the catcher to throw the ball to 1st since they should know the count as should the pitcher who could have helped out here.


Since the ball continued to be live, I have R1 and R2 scoring, bring the batter and the defense back and play on.

Now the PU might have felt they put the defense at risk, and if so they can correct that, it might be a HTBT situation to appreciate the entire scenario but just from your description that wouldn't be my call.  The players and coaches have a responsibility to know the situation.

Mark