Got a issue I can't figure out that has happened several times in our little league. We play with Pony league rules and have 70 foot bases and 48 foot mound in our 11-12 year old Bronco division. We basically go strictly off of MLB rules. Here is the situation-
With the good teams, they are constantly stealing runners from first to second often when they have a runner on third as insurance against any throwdowns from the catcher to second. Last night we had a situation where the opposing pitcher felt more comfortable pitching from the windup. We had a runner on first and third. As soon as our runner recognized the pitcher in his windup he breaks for second and gets there before the pitch is even 1/3 the way to the batter. The batter hits a pop-up and they catch it in the infield and then throw over to first to double up the stolen base-runner who just stole second.
The question I have is at what point does the runner legally aquire second base, or does he never aquire it at all? I argued that because the runner stole second and legally aquired it before the ball was put in play with the pop-up that he doesn't have to tag up at first, just at second. The umpire didn't know either.
Here is the second scenerio we have-
Same thing as the first but instead of hitting the ball into fair territory the batter hits it foul over the fence. Can the runner stealing second legally aquire second if he does so before the ball gets hit foul, or must he return?
Third scenerio-
Same thing as before, 1 out runners on first and third with an 0-2 count on batter. Runner at first gets a crazy lead and breaks for second and reaches second before the pitch is even halfway to the plate. Batter swings missing the ball and the catcher drops the strike. Is he automatically out because first base was occupied or did the runner steal in time that it would make the vacated base unoccupied at the strike three call?
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