Leaving A Base Early In Little League
Dave Mangin from Fortuna, CA asks:
In little league, if a runner leaves the base early, are the umpires supposed to have a flag to drop to signal that runner left to soon?
Yes. When a runner leaves his base in Little League before the ball has reached the batter the umpire should throw the red base runner's violation flag but should not call time until the play is done. If the ball is not hit by the batter and the catcher throws out the base stealer then then base stealer is out. If the base stealer is safe then he will be sent back to the base he occupied before the pitch.
If the batter hits the ball and reaches base safely then, if the runner who left early was not put out on the play, the runner needs to return to the base closest to the one he occupied before the pitch.
Answered by: Jonathan Bravo
Keywords: Umpiring