Dear dimwit on the phone

I'll take a stab at it.
Runners on second and third. Batter hits a grounder to the second baseman, who throws to first for out No. 1. Runner on third hesitates, starts home, then heads back to third -- thus forcing the runner on second to retreat. First baseman throws to the shortstop covering second. Before he can get his guy in a rundown, the man on third breaks for home. Shortstop throws to the catcher, who tags out that runner to complete the double play.
It'd take a baserunning clusterfuck that would make a coach's head explode, but I've seen dumber things happen. I was even the man on second once in a similar situation in little league.

 

I was thinking runners on first and second, sharp liner to second, throw to first to double off runner there, runner from second tries to advance to third, shortstop covering misses tag, muffs throw or there's an overthrow and runner thrown out trying to go home.

I did mention it was small school high school softball, right? I double-checked the email and it didn't mention how many were on.

 

my initial thought was, runners on first and second, ball hit to the second basemen's left. 2B throws to first, not knowing how many outs there were or that there was a chance to get the double play, but it doesn't matter because the runner who was on first is incredibly slow and the first basemen throws to the shortstop for the out. the runner from second gets greedy and tries to score, allowing the shortstop to throw that runner out at the plate

 

Chaos theory.

I can go days and days at this time of year without a "live" phone call at my desk from a civilian.

I must have gotten a dozen of them today. None were complaining about anything in Tuesday's paper, just a series of little things - a calendar announcement, an inquiry about a photo, a guy calling from Florida about a job reference, etc., etc.

Just a little peculiar.

 

I'll try it:

Bases loaded: Liner to second baseman for one out. She throws to first to double off the runner there. First baseman sees runner on second heading back to the bag and throws to short. Runner beats throw and is safe. Runner on third sees the play at second, decides to try to steal a run at home. After some yelling at the shortstop, she throws home in time to get the runner.

 

My initial thought on the play was very similar to Baron's.

 

I misread that before offering my original hypothesis. Thought it was a double play. As a triple play, Baron's explanation makes more sense.
Triple plays can be weird, though. Damn near anything is possible. I saw one once in a youth game where two of the three outs came on rundowns. Scored something like 4-3-6-5-6-2-5-1-6. Another one was a fly ball to center field, runner doubled up at second, third out at home as that runner tried to tag. That one went 8-4-2.

Another possibility for the 4-3-6-2: Pop up into no-man's land behind first base. Second baseman makes a diving/sliding catch. He's out of position, so he flips to the first baseman standing nearby. First baseman throws to the shortstop covering second to double up a runner for out No. 2. Shortstop throws home to get the tagging runner for out No. 3.

 

For those of you scoring at home, tonight's high school softball game featured a 3-1-9 fielders' choice. Have at it.

 

Ground ball up the first base line.

First baseman fields it, throws to pitcher, who fumbles it into foul territory.

Right fielder covers first base while pitcher retrieves ball.

Batter pulls a hamstring running to first and crumples in a heap.

Pitcher recovers ball and throws to right fielder covering bag for the putout.

 

Fake bunt, hard slap to right side that bounces off first baseman to pitcher, who throws to right fielder who was charging on in bunt attempt?

 

Had the hostile caller tonight bitching about a story that wasn't in the paper, until I started reading it to him. He apologized, I took the high road, and after I hung up, I walked to an empty corner of the room where I proceeded to run off a string of f-bombs.

 

But if the out's at first base, it's not a fielder's choice, right? The out would have to be at any base BUT first. So was the right fielder covering second?