stealing 2nd after walk

Question
QUESTION: my daughter plays 12u fastpitch, and last week we had a call that was questionable. we know that a runner can steal 2nd base after a walk. but our question is this: if the runner rounds 1st base, can she come back to 1st or is she out?

ANSWER: Hi Heather,

A walk is treated exactly the same as a batted ball.  If the pitcher has the ball in the circle the batter may "round" 1st, stop once and immediately advance or retreat.

If she "overruns" 1st toward right field then a number of other rules come into play.

mark

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for getting back to me so quickly. but i'm still confused. we had the same situation in a previous game: the walked batter rounded first, stopped, then returned to first. the ump said the batter committed so she had to go to 2nd or she would be out.

another team and game, same situation except the pitcher was in the circle with the ball. the batter stole 2nd on a walk. ump said pitcher wasn't paying attention so the batter was allowed to do this.

we play by "ohio high school rules". how would one find those rules? my daughter is quite serious about fastpitch (she plays on teams), so i would like to learn as much as i can.

Answer
Hi Heather,

I READ THIS QUESTION WRONG!!!!! ON 2 I READ IT AS THE B-R WASN'T ALLOWED TO STEAL 2ND BECAUSE THE PITCHER WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION AND UPON RE-READING I SEE SHE WAS, AS IS CORRECT WHETHER THE PITCHER IS PAYING ATTENTION OR NOT.  I APOLOGIZE FOR READING THE QUESTION WRONG AND FOR MY INITIAL ANSWER TO 2.

it looks like you had 2 situations where the umpire doesn't understand the look back rule

1 as I said before the b-r is allowed to round 1st, stop once and then immediately advance to 2nd or return to 1st.  She cannot "fake" "juke" etc.  I guess my question to the umpire is what committed to 2nd if she did not move toward 2nd after the stop.

2  that is just wrong.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the pitcher paying attention or not, that's just a stupid ruling and a stupid umpire.  BTW under the LBR you are either on the base you advanced to or declared out, we don't make you go back to a base.

you probably play by Fed rules but I believe ASA and Fed rules are the same on the LBR.  Look up the national federation of high schools web site and see about purchasing a rule book.


mark