RJM posted:I was once tossed from a LL game. An arrogant umpire (who thought he knew the rules and made great calls) made two horrible calls. When he screwed up a ruling (called a runner out for not sliding when there wasn’t a play on him) I calmly walked out to explain there has to be a play for “must slide.” A pitcher running in front of the runner trying to score on a wild pitch doesn’t have anything to do with must slide.
The rule is really must avoid contact. In this case the pitcher created the contact by obstructing the runner.
There is no rule requiring a runner to slide in LL baseball. The runner is out if they "do not slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make a tag". But there is no "must slide" rule. The only sliding rule is regarding headfirst slides, and players can only do that when returning to a base. If they headfirst slide at any other time they are out.