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The batter hits a long fly ball down the line near the foul pole. The left fielder comes over to catch the ball right in front of the foul pole where the ball hits his glove in fair territory and deflects over the fence on the FOUL side of the foul pole. Is this a home run or 2 base award? Or what??

We discussed this play at the Wendelstedt SoCal Classic over the weekend, and it occurred to me that we can easily compartmentalize this play to make it easier to call on the field. Here is the play: Batter pops up into the infield near the foul line. A runner (R1 or R3 - doesn't matter) interferes with the fielder attempting to make the catch. I don't want to introduce willful and deliberate interference into this first post, but we can discuss it if there are questions. We have 4 possible situations: 1. IFF is not possible (situation doesn't warrant it), batted ball is fair. 2. IFF is not possible (situation doesn't warrant it), batted ball is foul (caught or not). 3. IFF, batted ball is fair. 4. IFF, batted ball is foul (caught or not). In ALL cases, the runner who interferes is OUT. There are no exceptions. Now, how we treat the batter-runner for each of the 4 situations will be as follows: 1. Batter-runner is awarded first. 2. Return batter-runner to bat. Add a strike to the count unless there are already 2 strikes. 3. Batter-runner is out on the IFF. 4. Return batter-runner to bat. Add a strike to the count unless there are already 2 strikes. The mechanic should be as follows: When the umpire sees the interference, he points to the infraction and declares, "That's interference!" While time is normally called on interference, in this case we wait to observe the fair/foul status of the batted ball. Once the status is determined, we then call time, and enforce the play as the situation dictates.

Colleagues, Don't know where I saw it--might even be mis-remembering. USSSA 8U, One-man crew. Batted ball bounding slowly down the 3rd baseline. Two bounces fair and begins to spin foul in the air. 3B, with both feet in fair territory reaches over the baseline into foul territory snatching the ball in the air about 10 feet before the bag. Wheels to first and throws. I call fair. No one bats an eye. Was I right? A subsequent conversation makes it seem like I'm wrong.