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Ok here is the situation. The offense, we will call the Chargers, has a runner on 2nd base and the infield, we will call the Wildcats, is playing in. The batter hits a short looping ball over the shortstops head and lands just on the outfield grass. The runner on second briefly collides with the shortstop who turns to run back to try and run down the ball. The umpire declined to call interference on the Chargers because the Wildcats were beating them badly. Yet the Wildcats coach insisted it was interference. I argued that the play was actually obstruction on the shortstop since he did not have the ball, nor was he in the process of fielding the ball. He was simply running after it. What is the correct call?
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Fielder has a right to field the ball, it's the runner's responsibility to avoid contact if he's doing so (doesn't matter if it's inadvertent or unintentional). As described, runner should be out for interference. If the SS wasn't attempting to field the ball (say for instance the popup went over the 1B's head), then you'd have an obstruction call, though in that particular case with no play being made on the obstructed runner, the ump is supposed to allow play to continue uninterrupted and to then impose penalties at the end of the play if necessary.
quote:
Originally posted by rho26des:
Ok here is the situation. The offense, we will call the Chargers, has a runner on 2nd base and the infield, we will call the Wildcats, is playing in. The batter hits a short looping ball over the shortstops head and lands just on the outfield grass. The runner on second briefly collides with the shortstop who turns to run back to try and run down the ball. The umpire declined to call interference on the Chargers because the Wildcats were beating them badly. Yet the Wildcats coach insisted it was interference. I argued that the play was actually obstruction on the shortstop since he did not have the ball, nor was he in the process of fielding the ball. He was simply running after it. What is the correct call?


What ruleset?

Under FED, this is obstruction. Under OBR, I need more info.

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