[Vandelay]

ESPN has the video clip of the rundown play on their site.  I've watched it about 20 times.  It was, unfortunately, a textbook case of what not to do in execution of a rundown.  Two major mistakes were made.  The shortstop chased the runner with the ball in her glove.  Best practice is to chase the runner with ball in throwing hand, arm raised and ready to throw immediately when the runner commits.  It appeared that the shortstop thought that she could catch the Texas runner and, by the time she decided otherwise, it was too late.  The second major mistake on this play was that there appeared to be a moment of confusion at home plate over whether the catcher or 1B should be covering the plate.  The catcher opted out and let the 1B cover home plate when, in my opinion, there was no reason to do that.  You always want your catcher covering home plate since catchers know how to block the plate with their feet and bodies whereas position players generally don't know how to do that.  The 1B was too far back and did not block the plate at all, allowing the Texas runner to beat the tag by mere inches.  Also, in a rundown, you really don't want to put yourself in a position where the tag is being made at home plate. You want to pinch in the runner with the goal of making the tag further away from home plate. I imagine that Coach Allister will be having the team practice that play a lot before next season.  It's a bang-bang play and there is no time to think.  Everyone has to know what their role is and what to do.

[Vandelay]

ESPN has the video clip of the rundown play on their site.  I've watched it about 20 times.  It was, unfortunately, a textbook case of what not to do in execution of a rundown.  Two major mistakes were made.  The shortstop chased the runner with the ball in her glove.  Best practice is to chase the runner with ball in throwing hand, arm raised and ready to throw immediately when the runner commits.  It appeared that the shortstop thought that she could catch the Texas runner and, by the time she decided otherwise, it was too late.  The second major mistake on this play was that there appeared to be a moment of confusion at home plate over whether the catcher or 1B should be covering the plate.  The catcher opted out and let the 1B cover home plate when, in my opinion, there was no reason to do that.  You always want your catcher covering home plate since catchers know how to block the plate with their feet and bodies whereas position players generally don't know how to do that.  The 1B was too far back and did not block the plate at all, allowing the Texas runner to beat the tag by mere inches.  Also, in a rundown, you really don't want to put yourself in a position where the tag is being made at home plate. You want to pinch in the runner with the goal of making the tag further away from home plate. I imagine that Coach Allister will be having the team practice that play a lot before next season.  It's a bang-bang play and there is no time to think.  Everyone has to know what their role is and what to do.