International Tie Breaker 12U

Question
In the international tie breaker, can the opposite team sub for the runner on 2nd base? If the last known batter was pitcher or catcher, what is the since of placing the last known batter of record? Teams can have an advantage of utilizing their pinch runner or faster runner in this ITB.
Please make sense of the rule.

Answer
Paul,

I am not sure if you are going to like my answer, but here it goes.  

First, just the answer.  The substitution rules don't go away with the ITB.  Courtesy runners and subs can be used.

Having the batter who is scheduled to bat last during the inning placed on second is just a way of defining who runs.  It is not designed to place a team at an advantage or disadvantage, the rest of the rules don't go away.

With this said, this is where smart coaching comes into play.  This isn't limited to the ITB.  If I have a runner on late in a close game that could be clocked with a calendar, I had better have saved some speed on the bench.  If I was smart enough to do this, there is no penalty for doing it with the ITB.

Tom