Sorry for the long posting, but here goes:
Situation: Runner on 3rd, no outs. Batter bunts a pop up in front of the plate. Catcher gets disoriented and can't see the ball in the air. Runner on 3rd crosses home plate and stands in the batter's box on first base side (does not attempt to return to 3rd). At the last second, catcher realizes where ball is and starts running toward ball in fair territory in front of home plate to make a possible catch. During this run, catcher is hindered by the player (formerly the runner on 3rd base) standing in batter's box, the catcher falls to the ground, and the ball drops to the ground before he can catch it and remains fair. Possible rulings:
A. Umpire judges ball could have been caught by the catcher for the putout. Since runner has crossed home plate and is not attempting to return to 3rd base, he is no longer a runner and considered an offensive teammate. As a result, batter-runner is ruled out for interference by his offensive teammate. Since the infraction occurred after the runner scored, the run counts and former runner does not need to return to 3rd. The former runner, however, is vulnerable to appeal for failing to retouch 3rd base. If defense appeals at 3rd base, the former runner is out and his run does not count.
B. Umpire judges ball could not have been caught by the catcher for the putout. Rather, the umpire judges the catcher could have one-hopped the ball and thrown the ball to 1st base to putout the batter-runner (i.e batter runner was lazy and stopped to watch the play only 20 feet up the 1st base line). Since runner has crossed home plate and is not attempting to return to 3rd base, he is no longer a runner and considered an offensive teammate. As a result, batter-runner is ruled out for interference by his offensive teammate. The former runner is not vulnerable to appeal because the umpire judges the ball would not have been caught and therefore he does not need to retouch 3rd base.
C. Umpire judges ball could not have been caught by the catcher for the putout. In addition, the batter-runner was hustling and only a one step away from 1st base when the infraction occurred. Umpire judges there was no way the batter-runner could have been thrown out at 1st base. Umpire does not rule interference and the ball is live unless he judges the batter-runner is taking advantage of the catcher being on the ground and is trying to reach 2nd base. In that case, the umpire rules interference (weak interference?), ball is dead, and batter-runner is forced to return to 1st base.
Do you agree with these possible rulings? I couldn't find anything tin the rule book or case book to address these situations.
Are there any other ways you would rule in these situations? Please provide appropriate NFHS rules references in your responses.
In the cases of A and B, is the umpire required to announce whether batter-runner is out due to a caught fly ball or a thrown ball putout at 1st base or should he remain silent and just say the batter-runner is out? By announcing the manner of the putout, the umpire is letting the defense know whether the former runner on 3rd is vulnerable to appeal.
Thanks.
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