Confusion Over Tournament Tie-Breaker: How Should “Common Opponents – Runs Allowed” Be Applied?

A youth baseball tournament’s three-way tie in pool play sparked debate over how to apply a listed tie-breaker: “common opponents – runs allowed.” With teams beating each other and all finishing 3-1, the group used runs allowed only from games against the other two teams, leading to complaints that the wording implied all pool-play runs allowed should count and changed the seeding outcome.