Foul tip

Yes, a foul tip......is a live ball and the runner can advance.

You can find this in the rule book under the definition of foul tip.

NFHS Rule 2 section 16

A foul tip is a batted ball that goes directly to the catchers hands and is legally caught by any fielder. it shall be called a strike and the ball is in play (live)

Not sure of what level of play you are talking about, this is a commonly known rule at most levels....if this was a very young age league and the runner was lured away from his base by the actions of the defense or an unwitting umpire or coach, I can see leaving him at second (good opportunity to teach the players the difference between foul ball and foul tip).........but at any serious level of baseball, the players are expected to know the rules and if he left the base and was tagged the out would stand...

Isn't a foul tip caught by the catcher technically the same as any foul ball caught by a fielder, in which case it is live ball and OK for runners to advance?

(The only difference being a caught foul tip is not an out unless there were two strikes.)

A foul tip caught by a catcher is not the same as a foul ball caught by fielder. One is a foul tip and the other is a foul ball, they are distintively different.

On a foul ball caught by a fielder, the runner would have to tag up before he can advance, on a foul tip the runner can steal as if it was a strike.

The difference is that on a foul ball the runner bust tag up before he can advance. On a foul tip (which is caught by the catcher) the runners don't have to tag the base they were on before they can advance. This just happend on a tournament here in Rochester with 13 year olds. I called a foul tip and signaled it. A base runner had taken third base and his coach told him to go back, while on his way back he was tagged out. I called him out and then explained the rule to the coach.

Thanks for the responses. It was a LL major game and wasn't a factor in the outcome. Just curious. I played fastpitch through college and was never told that. Now I know and can hopefully use it to our advantage some day.