interference/obstruction

danocaster10+ posts

Little League- My son was on 3rd base. Batter hits a 'swinging bunt' up the 3rd base line. Pitcher and catcher both go for the ball, blocking the base path, and my son had to go around them. He almost got tagged out because of the initial bumping into each other, and then having to go the extra distance around the defensive players.

Would that have been interference if contact was made when they were going for the ball?

I wanted to know the ruling on this and also ask what you would tell your base runner to do in this situation.

Thanks.

4/21/102:01 PM

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3FingeredGlove1,000+ posts

LL plays under modified OBR, and here's the OBR rule.
7.08 Any runner is out when—
(b) He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball;

It can be interference even if he doesn't make contact. The fielder has priority on a batted ball. Actually only one of the fielders has priority, but most LL umpires aren't going to be able to handle the priority issue in real time.

In baseball which allows leadoffs, a runner at third should always lead off into foul territory. (That way, if he is hit with a batted ball, he won't be out.) So in real baseball, the runner will be in foul territory, and isn't at much risk of interfering. I'd advise a LL player to also run in foul territory.

If a defensive player ends up without the ball and in the runner's path, there may be (but not necessarily) a case for obstruction.

4/21/102:12 PM

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