Defense Obstruction

[Guest john]

Pony League U14, OBR rules.

Runners on first and third, no outs. Batter hits ball to F5 runner and third breaks for home and a pickle ensues. F2 and F5 have runner caught in a run down. At one point F5 throws to F2 just as runner turns back to third. At this point, F5 no longer has ball and the runner runs right into him. Ump calls obstruction and gives the runner home. The other two runners are standing on second and first. They were not awarded any bases. I assume that is correct but just thought I would ask.

[pnewton]

As long as the runner didn't go out of his way to run into the fielder (very rare and would need to be blatent) this is the correct call. Because there was a play being made on the obstructed runner he is awarded at least the next base. All other runners should be placed where they would have been had obstruction not occurred. Assuming those two runner weren't moving during the run down, they aren't going anywhere on the obstruction.

[Guest]

Sorry....I had a couple of grammar errors in there....Here is the fixed question:

Pony League U14, OBR rules.

Runners on first and third, no outs. Batter hits ball to F5 and runner on third breaks for home and a pickle ensues. F2 and F5 have runner caught in a run down. At one point F5 throws to F2 just as runner turns back to third. At this point, F5 no longer has ball and the runner runs right into him. Ump calls obstruction and gives the runner home. The other two runners are standing on second and first. They were not awarded any bases. I assume that is correct but just thought I would ask.

[maven]

Agree with pnewton. If F5 was approximately between the runner and the base, then it's OBS (type A in OBR, which carries a minimum 1 base award). Following runners would not be affected (but they should have moved up during the pickle, so their coach should be on them).