Expert: Andrew Senger - 6/9/2010

Question
This happened in our little league game yesterday.  Two outs, runner on third.  Ground ball to shortstop, slow batter, fast runner on third.  The ball was thrown to first base but tailed towards home.  The runner was slow, and as the first baseman caught the ball, he was off the base, and ended up colliding with the batter/runner.  But the runner from third scored first, and the batter was called out by being tagged by the first baseman a split second later.  Does the run count? (No one was hurt!)

Thank you.

Answer
Bud,

The run would not count. I do not have the Little League rules, but I know they closely follow OBR (Official Baseball Rules). In the rules, it states: "A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made by the batter-runner before he touches first base" (4.09(a)(EXCEPTION)(1)).

Since the third out was made on the batter-runner before he reached first base, the run would not count.