Interference Play

[HuskerUmp22]

High School Freshman game (Fed Rules). I have the dish. Runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs. Batter hits ground ball to F5, R2 aggressively moves to left of his base lane to avoid but F5 also comes in to charge ball. F5 fields the grounder misses the ball and then R2 collides with F5 after the fielder made a play on the ball. My partner calles R2 out for interference. OHC did not like the call.  

 

What do you guys have here? I honestly didn't know what to call when it happened. The reasoning my partner gave me after the game was that it was so obvious I have to call something. There was definitely no interference on the initial play, but the question is after the play happened they collided.

 

Thoughts?

[grayhawk]

If R2 didn't hinder F5 on the play, and then F5 misplays the ball and then there's a collision, it sounds like obstruction to me.

[ricka56]

If the ball was well past F5 before the collision, then the call that he should have obviously made would have been obstruction. But if the interference happened before the attempted play on the batted ball, then interference may have been correct.  HTBT

[noumpere]

I agree with the above but will add that since F5 is given absolute protection to field the ball, once he misses it he must get out of the way immediately.

 

Contrast that wioth a fielder who misses a thorwn bal.  Contact immediately after is likely a train wreck.

[ElkOil]

I'm awarding at least 3B to R2 for OBS.

[HuskerUmp22]

Makes sense. If we would have called obstruction that would have been interesting. It was a strange play.

[BuckeyeMike]

HTBT, but from the sounds of it, unless R2 was getting played on at 3B, I'm ruling this a play on.....he's should reach 3B without peril.

If R2 IS getting played on at 3B, it's obstruction and he gets that base.

 

In NCAA the rule protects a fielder with a step and a reach, not so in FED.   Those NCAA guys will be along shortly to confirm.

[grayhawk]

The one thing this CAN'T be is nothing.

[BuckeyeMike]

I politely disagree.    In my mind,  If F5 made a play on the ball, missed it and got run over, but the ball is now in short LF and F7 is there to scoop it up, that is a "Nothing". 

 

If you rule obstruction, he's still going to get 3B, which is where he's standing (probably) when this play is over.   

 

I agree that there are all kinds of situations and what-if's......wasn't going to go there.

[grayhawk]

Nope. F5 lost his protection and hindered the runner. It simply can't be nothing.

Essentially, F5 has to disappear once he misplayed the ball.

[ElkOil]

Nope. F5 lost his protection and hindered the runner. It simply can't be nothing.

Essentially, F5 has to disappear once he misplayed the ball.

 

I agree, @grayhawk, but let me ask... In a case where you judged R2 wouldn't have advanced past 3B without OBS, do you call it, and just award the base he already acquired?  How does that work if you don't think the runners were particularly disadvantaged by the OBS?

[ricka56]

I politely disagree.    In my mind,  If F5 made a play on the ball, missed it and got run over, but the ball is now in short LF and F7 is there to scoop it up, that is a "Nothing". 

 

If you rule obstruction, he's still going to get 3B, which is where he's standing (probably) when this play is over.   

 

I agree that there are all kinds of situations and what-if's......wasn't going to go there.

 

You have to go there. It is not nothing. If the OP partner had anything right, it was this:

 

The reasoning my partner gave me after the game was that it was so obvious I have to call something.

 

It was something. If it was not interference, then it was obstruction for the reasons grawhawk gave.

[maven]

Nope. F5 lost his protection and hindered the runner. It simply can't be nothing.

Essentially, F5 has to disappear once he misplayed the ball.

I agree, @grayhawk, but let me ask... In a case where you judged R2 wouldn't have advanced past 3B without OBS, do you call it, and just award the base he already acquired? How does that work if you don't think the runners were particularly disadvantaged by the OBS?

That's right. Call the OBS and protect him as far as you need to in order to nullify the OBS. That might be only the next base.

It's an infraction. Call it, and penalize it. The penalty might make no significant difference, in which case we should conclude that it wasn't a major infraction, not that it wasn't an infraction.

[noumpere]

 

In NCAA the rule protects a fielder with a step and a reach, not so in FED.   Those NCAA guys will be along shortly to confirm.

Didn't see this part answered below -- the "step and a reach" is for a mis-played ball (a ball that bounces off the chest or glove).  I don't think it's applicalbe in this threead (at least as I'm envisioning the play).

 

Amd, I agree with the other answers on OBS and awards.

[zoops]

Makes sense. If we would have called obstruction that would have been interesting. It was a strange play.

Had a play like this last spring and called obstruction.  Ended up having to eject the defensive coach.  No doubt a weird play.

[jjskitours]

HTBT, but from the sounds of it, unless R2 was getting played on at 3B, I'm ruling this a play on.....he's should reach 3B without peril.

If R2 IS getting played on at 3B, it's obstruction and he gets that base.

 

In NCAA the rule protects a fielder with a step and a reach, not so in FED.   Those NCAA guys will be along shortly to confirm.

Can anyone confirm if that is correct that FED doesn't protect a fielder within a step and a reach if ball is initially misplayed. I would have thought otherwise. Fed rule reference?

[maven]

FED 8-4-2g is substantially the same: the fielder loses protection if he "has to move from his original location." In practice, that is more than a step and a reach.

[Mick]

HuskerUmp22:  When you say he "missed it", exactly how did he miss it?  If it went through the wickets and into LF, was R2 right on top of him, so to speak?  Did F5 have any chance at all of moving?  Or... did it boot off his glove, giving him some chance of retrieving it?  If either of these were the case, I'd have trouble with an obstruction call.

[HuskerUmp22]

HuskerUmp22:  When you say he "missed it", exactly how did he miss it?  If it went through the wickets and into LF, was R2 right on top of him, so to speak?  Did F5 have any chance at all of moving?  Or... did it boot off his glove, giving him some chance of retrieving it?  If either of these were the case, I'd have trouble with an obstruction call.

​The ball basically deflected off his glove about between him and the shortstop. The ball did not go to LF, it deflected off his glove to his left. F5 did not have much of a chance to move, from what I remember, right after he booted it R2 ran into him. 

[Welpe]

Sounds like you probably had obstruction protecting the runner to third then.