as seen on the diamond yesferday

[corlay]

Runner at 2B
Hit and Run play
Batter grounds one to SS
Runner leaps to avoid ball on way to 3B,
in front of SS who is playing the ball.
No contact made.
SS bobbles the ball a little.
Runner safe at 3B. Batter-Runner safe at 1B.
Umpire calls Runner on 3B out for Inferference.

Agree?

I say no.
Runner may pass in front of a fielder making a play on ball without interfering,
if she maintains her gait and doesnt do anything intentional to prevent the Fielder from playing the ball.
This Runner did leap a bit to avoid making contact with a batted ball, but surely that shouldnt be misconstrued as Interference, should it?

These were ASA umps. If that matters.

 

[Comp]

The rules specifically state the runner may run in front of a fielder fielding a batted ball. As long as the runner did not purposely time the crossing with the ball, hold up in front of the fielder or pass so closely it didnt give the fielder room to field the ball it is nothing.

ASA 8-8-A, The runner is not out when a runner runs behind or in front of the fielder and outside the base path in order to avoid interfering with a fielder attempting to field a batted ball.

Simply running in front of the fielder is not in itself interference. There must be some other act associated with it in order to rule it interference. Just had this argument on an umpire board a few weeks ago where several tried to invoke umpire judgement. Yes, interference is umpire judgement, but when the rules specifically state the runner can pass in front of the fielder you cannot cite the passing in front as the reason for the interference call. There must be some other action by the runner.

 

[corlay]

thanks for confirming Comp.

I see this rule misinterpreted a LOT.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I work that very thing with my teams. It makes the fields concentrate and the runners do not hesitate when they are on the bases.

 

[djcarter1966]

Put this in the gotta be there category, it's a judgement call as to what the runner did or more importantly what the umpire thought she did, it could be interference or maybe not.

 

[HoweMan]

this EXACT thing happened on DD's team this past weekend. Our runner on second broke for 3rd right away. She had to jump over the grounder that was hit to SS. there was no hesitation, but the leap was exactly in front of the SS. SS bobbles the ball and makes a late throw to 1B. PU called safe all around. After the game when i was recalling the play, our HC cautioned me about it, saying that her leap could have been construed by the PU as interference since it is a judgement call.

 

[T.J.]

this EXACT thing happened on DD's team this past weekend. Our runner on second broke for 3rd right away. She had to jump over the grounder that was hit to SS. there was no hesitation, but the leap was exactly in front of the SS. SS bobbles the ball and makes a late throw to 1B. PU called safe all around. After the game when i was recalling the play, our HC cautioned me about it, saying that her leap could have been construed by the PU as interference since it is a judgement call.

Where'd you play this weekend? I'm from NE too. We played at Pratt & Whitney.

 

[HoweMan]

Where'd you play this weekend? I'm from NE too. We played at Pratt & Whitney.

sorry TJ, just saw this ^. We played in Salisbury, MA - Brawl @ the Beach. This weekend one is at Dracut and the other at Woburn.

 

[Ken Krause]

I had that happen many years ago at a tournament in the Wisconsin Dells. My runner was called out for interfering with the SS even though no contact was made and she wasn't even close to the SS. Very frustrating. I even tried to get the UIC there for a ruling but was told he was at another field and unavailable.

Honestly, I wasn't sure of the rule at that moment. But I looked it up and thought the call was wrong then. Glad to hear my interpretation all those moons ago was correct. Sorry to hear it's still be called that way anyway.