Interference

[Guest Mike]

There are no outs and runners on first and second.

A ball is hit to the shortstop, but the runner going to third collides with the shortstop while she is making the play.  I belive there is an immediate dead ball and that runner is out. What happens to the runners going to second and first?

[kylehutson]

Caveat: I *think* softball is the same as baseball, but I'm no expert on that. (You didn't say, specifically, but the use of "she" makes that a likelihood.)

Batter-runner gets first base. All other runners go back to the base they occupied at the time of the pitch, unless forced by the runner getting first base.

So in your case, the batter-runner would go to first. R1 (the runner that started on first base) gets second.

But if you had a runner on third, also, that runner would return to third.

[beerguy55]

16 minutes ago, Guest Mike said:

There are no outs and runners on first and second.

A ball is hit to the shortstop, but the runner going to third collides with the shortstop while she is making the play.  I belive there is an immediate dead ball and that runner is out. What happens to the runners going to second and first?

Yes, immediate dead ball and runner is out.

Normally the runners return to their base Time of Pitch, but because batter/runner gets first, R1 is forced to second.

The umpire may also determine R2's interference was flagrant/malicious/etc, if applicable, and eject that player

[SH0102]

Side note....at least in baseball...if you deem intentional interference, you can get 2 outs here since this is likely a double play ball.

Now, judging intent is difficult, but if the fielder is in front of the runner, meaning the runner can clearly see the fielder and could have avoided the fielder, I am getting 2 outs there.

If the fielder was charging the ball and runner interfered from in front of her (SS collided with runners side), I am probably not calling that intentional.