Obstruction at First Base

[Wesley]

11U, LL 50-70.  No runners.  D3K, ball rolls behind LH batters box, B1 takes off.  I bust in from A and get a 90 angle, about 12-15 feet fair.  F2 picks up the ball, and instead of throwing immediately, he moves back to the foul line and then throws.  B1 was not a ball of fire (nor F2), as he was coming up the line I was filing my nails waiting and I noticed that B1 was in the lane at 2/3 up the line (PU call, I know). 

 

Here's the point: F3 set up on the middle of the bag to receive the throw.  A split second before the ball arrived, B1 must have seen F3's glove come up to catch the ball (or he has eyes in the back of his head), because he just barely ducked, and his last step before the ball arrived just barely slowed down.  No collision, but B1 stopped after F3 caught the ball (hard to say if it was due to lack of motivation or to avoid a near miss).  B1 was about 6 feet short of the bag when F3 received the ball.  Out by a mile; I rung him up.

 

(This was a mentoring game for me under UIC PU).  After the inning was over at our training meeting there was no comment on the play.  OT HC approached PU and asked about possible OBS.  PU "No OBS, there must be contact". (?)

 

Maybe I've read too much Papa C, "If he's gonna be out, he's gonna be out" and "Don't make an unusual call on a routine play", etc., but I want to own the call and get it right.  Did I kick the OBS call?

 

(I've learned a lot from this site, thanks)

 

Flame on

[noumpere]

There needn't be contact, but I likely don't have OBS in your play -- especially if it's OBR. 

[maven]

Why would it be OBS? The BR hindered himself.

If he just runs and the throw hits him in the back in the lane, whatya got?

[MB_Ump]

If he is out by 6' then the 1/2 step made no difference. Even if the play was close it sounds like he still had plenty of bag to get to.

[Wesley]

(The way I understand it)

 

The RLI rule protects the defense from the BR interfering with a throw from behind him if he is outside of the lane.  If the ball hits him in the back while he's legally in the lane, I got nothing - BR safe at first.

 

On the other side of the coin, if F3 gets between BR and the bag without possession of the ball (yet), could there be a potential for type A obstruction?  If so, on a play like this with the ball thrown from behind and the runner in the lane, what am I looking for to call OBS on F3?

[grayhawk]

(The way I understand it)

 

The RLI rule protects the defense from the BR interfering with a throw from behind him if he is outside of the lane.  If the ball hits him in the back while he's legally in the lane, I got nothing - BR safe at first.

 

On the other side of the coin, if F3 gets between BR and the bag without possession of the ball (yet), could there be a potential for type A obstruction?  If so, on a play like this with the ball thrown from behind and the runner in the lane, what am I looking for to call OBS on F3?

 

Correct on the first one.

 

As to your question - Yes, there could be potential for Type A Obstruction.  The element that you need that was missing, IMO, from your original play was the BR actually being obstructed.  If the runner slows down, adjusts his path, stops, etc because the fielder was set up in his path to the bag without possession of the ball, then call it.  In Little League, while they follow OBR for most things, the "in the act of fielding" the ball was removed from the obstruction rule.  However, their Rule Instruction Manual (RIM) still describes "train wrecks":

 

Train wrecks are still going to happen and are not to be considered as obstruction. Example: Throw from the shortstop to the 1st baseman in an attempt to get a batter-runner out pulls the 1st baseman down the line toward home plate and the 1st baseman and the batter-runner collide. This is a train wreck because the defensive player is doing what he/she should be doing (fielding the ball) and the batter-runner is doing what he/she should be doing (running the bases).

 

IMO, if F3 is already set up in the BR's path, and the BR does something to suggest that he's obstructed, then call it.  If F3 is set up properly, and the throw takes him into the BR's path, then more leeway should be given to the defense.

[Rich Ives]

Were you really at a chartered LL?  LL Intermediate is for 11-13, not 11U.

[Wesley]

Chartered, yes.  I guess I was shortcutting saying 11U.  I know some of the kids playing and they all happen to be 11.  Guilty as charged.