Rules question

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Just to make something clear,
Runner in this case, ran to white bag, not orange bag. She was clearly in the lane of the throw from catcher. And yes, catcher did throw off, instead she threw down the LINE but fielder caught the ball in FAIR territory.
Get rid of the Orange bags!! The use of them isn't worth the umpires time, and a waste of any coach time. To teach the use of them other than to have a runner, run straight down the line and make the catcher hit her with ball, or make her throw the ball away.
It's in favor of the runner straddling the line as explained, NO running LANE IN FOUL TERRITORY will be enforced

 

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But if the fielder is pulled into the runner's path at the last moment...it doesn't matter if you had one base, a double base or even a triple base! You would still have a fielder in the runner's path.

Witness Albert Pujols and his broken wrist on a play at first last month...

Was waiting for someone to say this, thank you Bretman. We are going to have collisions at first, from bad throws, bad technique and bad base running. If the double bag prevents just a few collisions then in my opinion it is worth having there. The only confusion I could see is if the fielder decides to use the orange bag on a dropped third strike that rolls into foul territory, then the runner might not know which bag to tag and that my fellow coaches would be on us for not educating our players.

 

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Here is the coach's educational task.

Basic Rule
The fielder has the white bag and the runner has the orange bag on the initial hit. Then the orange bag turns off for the rest of the runners time at first base.

EXCEPT
When the ball is in first base side foul territory and the fielder can then take the orange bag and the runner can take the white bag (remember that the runner has no eyes in the back of her head to know where the ball is at any given time)

So now you have the fielder calmly taking the orange bag and the runner beat-feet down the line IN THE LANE to get to the orange bag. she has no idea where the ball is and who is throwing it. Full body contact will result every time.

EXCPET
When the runner under some conditions takes the white bag and the fielder then takes the orange bag. (Results will be the same as above)

REMEMBER
That all the rules of the running lane still apply except when they don't.


Coaches Solution
Try to explain this to a group of intelligent 12 year olds. It will sound something like this.
'If the ball is on the ground run like h--- down the line and get to first. Try to use the lane and the orange bag but try to avoid contact with the first baseman (so the runner doesn't get hurt) The umpires and the coaches will then attempt to sort out the results.


This rule has come to us from an era when girls didn't play hard and it gives everyone a false sense of safety. Not even Little League requires a double base for safety reasons and it is still optional in most softball venues.

For safety's sake I still say get rid of it. It doesn't reduce collisions but gives our players a way to take a shot at the first baseman that they wouldn't have under the current running lane rules