You never know what you'll see at a Little League baseball game. Batters busting dance moves in the box. Third basemen making diving plays. Runners trucking catchers like they're in the big leagues.
Every once in a while, baseball fans come across one of those incredible plays on social media. In Sherman Oaks, California, one youth baseball player defied gravity by leaping over the catcher and scoring a run.
Little Leaguer Leaps Over Catcher
Hey @espn this is definitely a #sctop10 pic.twitter.com/wC5X1dGpWt
— Chad Lurie (@chadlurie) April 19, 2021
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Let's break this clip down:
First of all, every single Little League across the country needs a camera filming games from behind home plate like Sherman Oaks Little League. The amount of preposterous incidents between players, coaches and umpires that would get caught would be staggering.
No. 22 for the team up to bat slaps a ball the other way. The first baseman drifts way too far off the base fielding it and can't get back to the bag in time for the out (the pitcher clearly hasn't learned his PFPs, also known as pitchers' fielding practice).
The play scores the runner on third. The kid on second decides to test his luck and races home, too. The first baseman fires home and the ball beats the runner in time for what should be an easy tag out.
The catcher even squats on home plate like a mother hen protecting her eggs. That leaves our runner with no choice but to completely leap over him and sneak his hand in safely behind the confused defender.
The only problem? The umpire called him out. He couldn't see the kid's hand graze home plate. He should have asked from help from his fellow field umpire, who had a much better angle. If you ask me, he was safe.
Controversial call aside, that's one of the more athletic plays from a Little Leaguer I've ever seen. To have that sort of awareness and jumping ability at 11 years old is pretty awesome.
