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So this play left me with a bunch of questions. High School Varsity game, bases loaded with 1 out. I'm working the plate with a very experienced umpire on the bases. The batter hits a bounding ball directly at the short stop. R2 takes one step and then stands directly in front of short and turns to face the ball with arms at the sides and hands at hips in a position I can only describe as "Jazz Hands". Just as the ball arrives, R2 steps out of the way and short gets hit right in the nuts. My partner signals "that's nothing". The short stop picks up the ball which is at his feet and throws to 1st to get the BR. Then he crumples into a fetal position and the other runners advance. After the play, the defensive coach comes out to talk to my partner. My partner comes in and asks me if I thought it was interference. He didn't call it because the runner hadn't contacted the ball or the fielder. I said I thought that was probably the most flagrant and intentional interference that I had ever seen so we decided to call it. We called R2 out on the interference but let the out at 1st stand, R3's score was taken off the board. So here are the questions: 1) Was this really interference or just really smart base running? 2) When we decided to make the call in our little conference, who should have annouced it? Were we overturning my partner's non-call or was I now the calling umpire? 3) If I thought it was interference at the time, should I have called it then even though my partner had just signaled "that's nothing"? 4) Should the ball have simply been dead at the time of the interference and the throw from short never happened? (1 out only and BR gets 1st) 5) We were thinking that without the interference short would have had time to throw home or initiate a double play, but he didn't attempt either of those things so was his play really interfered with at all? Let me know what y'all think